If you are an endurance athlete with Type 1 Diabetes, you might be interested in hearing this podcast. About the Host Joe Marcello is from Boston who was diagnosed as a Type 1 diabetic at 21. Despite this challenge, he is determined to stay active in the sports he loves. He is also dedicated in…
Author: Backcountry Fever
Silver Lake Scramble
A group of us did a fun ridgeline last weekend that I’m calling the Silver Lake Scramble (since I don’t know how else to refer to it). Starting at Granite Flat above Tibble Fork, the overview looks like this. We parked at the trailhead across from Granite Flat Campground and walked the road a short…
Disappointed with Denali Prep from AMS
My Denali Prep course with AMS was both awesome and disappointing all at the same time. It was awesome because I was in Alaska for the first time, on the Kahiltna Glacier for 8 days, with “the tall one” standing right there. Our instructors were awesome too! Greg Runyan has an incredible amount of experience…
Denali Prep on the Kahiltna Glacier
DAY 3 – Flight In, Basecamp Setup, Anchors 101 The weather finally broke on the third day, allowing us to fly into the Range. We loaded an Otter aircraft, considered by many to be the quintessential “bush plane” due of its short take-off and landing (STOL) capabilities. Within an hour, our Talkeetna Air Taxi had us…
Denali Prep Grounded at AMS HQ
DAY 1 – Arrive at AMS HQ After a few days hanging out in Talkeetna, it was time to meet up at the AMS Headquarters to begin our Denali Prep Course. Participants arrived at 8am sharp with the anticipation of a big day, starting with a short tour, introductions and overall course orientation. I had…
Hanging out in Anchorage and Talkeetna
Traveling to Alaska for the AMS Denali Prep Course I signed up for back in February was finally here. Since this was my first time to the 49th state, I arrived a few days early to check out the Alaskan vibe. I didn’t capture a good picture of it, but downtown Anchorage is a few…
Sugarloaf Peak with a Heavy Load
I needed a big leg day, so I decided to go with a slower group this weekend but carry a heavy load. Since I didn’t have any sand on hand, I threw a 50lb bag of water softener salt in an old backpack. That, plus 2 liters of water and snowshoes strapped on, amounted to…
Bummed Out By A Broken BOA Binding
We just got home from an epic snowshoe adventure on Mount St. Helens! Our timing was fortunate to be the first tracks in after receiving 48″ over the previous 4 days. However, I was pretty bummed out by a broken BOA binding on my favorite snowshoes and had to rely on some older ones instead….
First Tracks up Mount St. Helens
A window of good weather finally opened for us to make our winter attempt at Mount St. Helens. We had been waiting around for three days hoping for our timing of this trip to align. It had been snowing here for the previous week and everyone was getting antsy. Summit day would begin with a…
Waiting On a Weather Window
A small group of us from Utah made our way out to Washington state again for another Pacific Northwest volcano. This time was to make a winter ascent of Mount St. Helens. Two from our group tried it last year at this same time but experienced a whiteout and had to turn back within a…