[Slide Alder Slayer]

Excellent trail report and pictures, I'm starting to enjoy the antics of the two little wolves that hike with you. PS, I am referring to the Whippets.

[yukon222]

Hi SlowWalker, No, we didn't peak over the north side of Melawka Pass so I don't know if there was a large cornice there. The ski tracks that dropped down from Bryant Col traveled north up the valley. Since we did the high ridge route, we didn't see their (or anyone else) tracks again until just before the summit. I suppose it is possible a couple of the skiers didn't turn up the gully route and continued north over Melawka Pass. Steve

[SlowWalker]

That's cool. I was thinking of this view from the top when I asked:

Melakwa Pass and Chair Peak Lake from the summit of Kaleetan

(Oct 2007)

[Schmidt Alti-Babe]

My fear of heights kicked in about then, so your picture was as close to that as I got. The whippets were a little braver than me, but they didn't inform me of any cornices.

[bobbi]

[SlowWalker]

Hey, the skiers you mentioned posted a TR of their outing, too. They did ski over the north side of Melakwa Pass.

[twodogdad]

Impressive humans, even more impressive dogs. I tried to follow in your footsteps yesterday (thanks, Yukon, for the detailed directions) but got intimidated by some very dark clouds which engulfed Kaleetan in mid-afternoon so I turned back at the 5700 cairn. Hard to imagine how you coaxed Kief and Row into following you up the "scary" steep. (I knew that when Steve says steep ridge he means steep so I left my boys at home.) Did you lose a water bottle on the approach to Pt 5700? 2dd

[Schmidt Alti-Babe]

We did lose our Nalgene during one of Jeremy's numerous butt luges. That boy is addicted to butt luging. No coaxing necessary with the whippets. They have some serious 4WD capabilities that puts us all to shame.

[twodogdad]

I won't be tnabbing tomorrow (or this weekend) but next week I should be able to join you and return it to its rightful owner. Looking forward to your next TR, 2dd

[EastKing]

This was an amazing trip with great photos!!!! Thank you for sharing. Probably the most amazing thing was that the very next day you knocked off another 3500 feet. Truely in a class by yourselves. Simply amazing.

[BlaineKinnebrew]

Hi, Great post with great photos! What was your time from car to summit to car? Thanks, Blaine

[yukon222]

We didn't leave the winter parking area (about 1 1/2 miles from summer TH) till around 9:15-9:30am. Arrived at Melakwa Lake about 12:30? Hung out there for a bit. I think we were up on the summit around 2:30pm so perhaps 5hrs up with the routefinding and avi evaluations. We weren't concerned about the overall time as we had planned on using all the daylight anyway, with plenty of stops for pictures. Up on the summit for 30-45 minutes. Back at the car about 9pm. So roughly 5 hrs up, maybe 4 1/2 back down. Sections going back down were slower than going up as we had to downclimb a few of the really steep areas. I don't have my pics here at work, else I could look at the EXIF data and give you exact transit times. This time of year with travel over soft snow, plan on all day. Not sure of exact distance but around 13 miles would be close and 5800'+ elevation gain.

[BlaineKinnebrew]

Thanks for the beta!

[Mark Griffith]