3rd Annual Alaska Ice Climbing Festival March 4,5,6 Portage & Anchorage, Alaska

Ice Climbing in Alaska in the Winter can be FUN!!!

Hey Matt,

We just wanted to thank you for the great time we had yesterday. Of all of our adventures in Alaska, including: snow-machining, skiing, hiking, and sport shooting, our ice climbing trip with you was by far our favorite activity. When we began, the climbing was difficult, however, by the end of the day we both had reached the top of our climb multiple times. Not only was the climbing challenging, but it was beautiful and greatly rewarding. Your expertise, guidance, and lessons made the climbing much easier, as well as more comfortable and enjoyable then we could have ever imagined. We look forward to climbing with you again in the future.

Thanks again Matt,

Vince and Cate (Manhattan, KS)

More Ak Ice Fest 2010

Getting air above the crux over hang dry tool curtain
Ah ha, proof that this guy was out of bounds...the rules were that they had to work the rock section with only ice tools in the ice band to the right of the orange paint.
Pulling Down Hard
Hitting the mixed comp route, all 6'8" of Roger Sparks hailing from the amazing athletes of the 210th PJ section, who are basically the Air National Guards Special Forces Unit. Three PJ's competed & all flashed the comp in great style! I think even two of them won 2nd & 3rd place, too....
This guy had great technique & form!!!

Ak Ice Fest 2010

Ice Climbing with Joe Butler

We would like to thank you for the fantastic ice climbing experience that we had last week. Joe Butler was a true professional and he quickly gained our trust. His knowledge and experience was greatly appreciated.



Thanks for a great time, we will be back

George and Abigail O'Connor

I love getting these emails

Bills Crampons
Clients crossing the frozen river
Ice Climbing hardware, ice screws, carabiners, slings
Getting Rowdy on the mixed line on the left of Ripple!

"Matt & Bill,

Thanks so very much for an outstanding Alaskan adventure! BJ and I had an amazing time! We are hooked! Bill was a great guide and a lot of fun! He did a great job at putting up with us! ahhaha!

We have some great photos and some wonderful memories!"

Thanks again, Allison Post

Ice Climbing Kids Corner Caribou Creek

Just wanted to say thanks again for helping us set this up (ice climbing). We ha a fantastic time and Bill was a great guide. Definitely one of the highlights of the trip so far. The other being the two moose who licked our rental car clean outside our window this morning!

Mary

Sent from my iPhone

Snowshow Hike 01/02/2010

I snowshoed with a really nice couple and their 13y/o daughter today from New Mexico. We went to the Glen Alps area and hiked the Williwaw drainage. We saw many tracks of: snowshoe hare, ptarmigan, fox and the best LYNX tracks!!!! I have never seen Lynx tracks in the snow and they were unmistakable (larger than fox and dog but just smaller than black bear and super furry!!!) The tracks led right to a year-round creek that I tend to snowshoe around for that very purpose; to look for animals and their tracks. We didn't get to see the fury elusive Alaskan wildcat but I just pictured it in my mind stalking its way through the snow to a very cold drink of fresh spring water in the winter darkness of Alaska.

Heather

Alyeska Skiing at Telepalooza

Elmendorf Military Ice Climbing Day

Great day out ice climbing with a group from Elmendorf. Some had just gotten back from Iraq and others were getting ready to deploy. This was a teambuilding and life readjustment type trip. Ascending Path was super excited to teach climbing to these active military. They were super strong as a result of what they called "muscle failure" training; which was where they would work out lifting weights and run until they could not move any more. Then they would repeat the next day for 5 days or 6 days straight!!! Fun folks and we hope to continue working with this program. Climbing is a great mind and body sport and it reduces a ton of stress!

Snowshoeing Day Trip from Anchorage

Nice ladies traveling from Wisconsin up for the Iditarod. We Snowshoed up in the Willawaw Lake drainage for a few miles roundtrip. We found sights of recent moose in the area with fresh chew marks on the bark of Alder trees & moose scat. Saw lots of snowshoe hare tracks and even a little fast one that passed through the brush in front of us. The sastrugi was very large in the creek drainage. We even found areas of wind scoured snow that had inches of moose fur in a region where I know they like to den down in the winter. I was wishing I knew some anglers who tied flies for fishing so I could tell them about the moose fur find. Despite the cold we had awesome hoar frost on the trees that made them look as if they were coated with powdered sugar crystals. The sun came out and I feverishly tried to take in every ray as we hiked back to the car. My guests were laughing at me as I was taking tons of photos of them in DIRECT sunlight. They realized that I and many others in Alaska were just receiving some of the first direct and warming sun rays for the first time in months (unless you traveled to southern latitudes, of course). I was ecstatic :) :) Another great day out-----Heather Szundy

First Annual Ice Climbing Festival in Anchorage area

First Annual Ice Climbing Festival in the Anchorage area. Jayme Dixon, The Ascending Path, AMH, Alaska Ice Climbing, MCA, 210th PJ's, Alaska Rock Gym, AAC, Access Fund and many others worked continuously for half a year trying to get together the first large scale Ice Festival and Competition in Hunter Creek. The 3 day event provided beginner to advanced climbers the opportunity to learn skills in many clinics. This was a momentous occasion as it brought together a lot of talent and different groups of climbers in Alaska. People flew in from Juneau, Kodiak, Fairbanks and many were present from Southcentral Alaska. AMH, The Ascending Path, Petzl & BD provided demo gear. While instructors ranged from some of Alaska's best: Harry Hunt, Joe Stock, Ralph Tingey, Ascending Path Guides, 210th PJ's etc. It was a lot of work as most figured out by the end of the weekend. I would say the attendance was around 200 or so climbers, outdoorsy folks, and family for the 3 day event. All in all it was a great weekend with a killer mixed comp route complete with moss and choss, Chris Lindsey DJing, kegs from Moose's Tooth, a slide show, wrap up dinner at Organic Oasis with live auction and direct sunlight!!! Waaahoooo :) Can't wait for next year's event! I will not be off the sofa next year for the comp though, Harry!!! ------Heather Szundy

How many people can fit inside an Ice Climb?

Working on Star Trek 11 with Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures came up to do a second unit plate shoot for CGI work with the new Star Trek 11 that released summer 2009. Paramount hire The Ascending Path and about 9 of our guides to work as glacier safety, glacier support, stunts, helo coordinators, medics, and stunt doubles for Capt. Kirk & Spock!!! We worked for few days on this in March of 2008 but were sworn to secrecy until the movie released in the theaters. Basically they shot images that they then used in the Ice Planet scene, they used the ice caves on the Knik as a template to build on on a sound stage. Bill Billmeyer and Pete Gresham were both on camera and made the final cut in the movie as stunt doubles in the Monster chase scene and the large scenic aerial shot of Capt. Kirk walking on a glacier by himself after crash landing on the ice planet. Awesome project to work on!!! ---Heather Szundy