Alaska -

Since 1990 Alaska has been my home, and I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to grow up and live in such a spectacular place. I moved to Juneau in 1990 from Olympia, Washington when my Dad took on a new job. As a young Juneaite I had abundant opportunities to tramp about in the woods, hike the mountains, explore the glaciers, and enjoy the sound of salt water lapping upon pebbly beach. In 1997 I left Juneau to move to Fairbanks to go to college. There I met great friends and mountaineering became an important part of my life. I began my winter pursuits climbing in the Delta Range (the easter portion of the Alaska Range). Throughout the years I had opportunities to climb mountains in the Alaska Range, Chugach Range, and the Coast Range. I also lived in Glennallen, a small town outside Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, for a year and a half while I worked my first job with the BLM. Throughout the years I've been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to travel throughout much of southeast, southcentral, and interior Alaska, as well as to the North Slope and the Bering and Chukchi Sea coasts.

In my previous entry I posted a few links to friends' webpages. In an effort to streamline things a bit I'm going to add those links to this journal entry in a more direct fashion:

Black Rapids Glacier 2002 - 130 miles southeast of Fairbanks (or 30 miles south of Delta Junction)

http://www.uoregon.edu/~sbemis/pages/blackrapids_1.html

Ruth Gorge Trip #2 - Denali National Park

http://www.uoregon.edu/~sbemis/pages/ruth2003.htm

Ice climbing in Valdez, Alaska

http://www.uoregon.edu/~sbemis/pages/valdez/valdez1.htm

Mount Hayes - 125 miles southeast of Fairbanks (or 25 miles south of Delta Junction)

http://www.uoregon.edu/~sbemis/pages/hayes_1.htm

Kesugi Ridge - Denali State Park

http://www.uoregon.edu/~sbemis/pages/kesugi.html

Mount Marcus Baker / Scandinavian Peaks - about 40 miles east of Anchorage

http://asuaf.org/~ftted/MMBclimb.htm

Enjoy!

-Tom