MoJo Climb: Mt. Brooks

On July 16th, we headed up to the North Side of Denali Park to climb Mount Brooks. The weather looked marginal but we were sure it would give us a few good days in our 10 day window.

Packing at Jodi and Bill's before heading to the bus. Ed contemplating the largest bear canister.

Ed and Michelle heading for the bus

We hiked in from the Eilson Visitors Center across the Thorofare River and up Glacier Creek, the hardest part was staying dry

The beautiful Alaskan tundra:

After about 12 miles or so of hiking up Glacier Creek, it was finally time to get on the Muldrow Glacier for some real fun.

It wasn't quite as bad as it looked

One of many cool lakes on the glacier:

OK, maybe it was a tad difficult. Dinner break after a long day on the Muldrow

After about 8 miles of walking on moraines we finally got to the junction of the Brooks and Muldrow Glacier where there was ice showing. Great break from the moraine.

After five days straight of rain and fresh snow, we finally got a little clearing and started up the mountain.

Leaving the moraine and entering our first snow patch.

The weather came in and we were still going strong

Six hours later we were at our high camp at 9,000 feet; where it snowed and snowed.

After snowing hard all night long, we awoke the next morning to a partial clearing and decided to go for it.

It look like the middle of winter with all the fresh snow.

We plowed our way up calf to thigh-deep fresh powder snow for the remaining 3,000 feet to the summit.

The weather stayed okay for about 2 hours before it socked in completely, and all we saw for the rest of the climb was this:

It took us about 6 hours to summit from high camp. We couldn't see anything but it was good to be there.

On the way down it really started to snow hard, and it dumped another foot or more by next morning.

We awoke to a beautiful sunrise, with our first view of Wonder Lake in the distance.

Looking down the Muldrow Glacier:

Michelle shoveling off the tent and platform:

We started the descent which went pretty smoothly.

We arrived at the base and enjoyed 2 perfect hours of sun and a nap and some clothes drying before hitting the glacier again on our way back to the bus!