Thrukon Alaska Team Guide, Jeffry Hesse, is already on the ground in Anchorage and has been busy scouting locations of interest in preparation for the arrival of Errin and Nathan in July. Jeffry has recently completed a preliminary survey of the Byron Glacier with a few friends, and we are excited to present Jeffry's photos and his account of recent events, as well as dejected to say that some of the ice masses in the photos taken in November 2014, have now disappeared. Reminding us that these structures are rapidly becoming extinct.
Thank you for getting us these words and images, Jeffry.
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By Jeffry Hesse
Keeping with the theme of hurting yourself getting ready for an expedition seemed like a good idea? For the past month or so since leaving Washington, DC towards Alaska, I've been pushing myself further than I ever have to exercise. In the past few weeks I've ridden my bike the vertical amount that equals the elevation of Everest, massive amounts of miles, and done some crazy hikes to boot including summiting Flattop twice, and a dry run of Byron Glacier. What on earth could possibly go wrong?!
Thank you for getting us these words and images, Jeffry.
_________
By Jeffry Hesse
Keeping with the theme of hurting yourself getting ready for an expedition seemed like a good idea? For the past month or so since leaving Washington, DC towards Alaska, I've been pushing myself further than I ever have to exercise. In the past few weeks I've ridden my bike the vertical amount that equals the elevation of Everest, massive amounts of miles, and done some crazy hikes to boot including summiting Flattop twice, and a dry run of Byron Glacier. What on earth could possibly go wrong?!
About two weeks ago my buddy Alex flew into Alaska and went on an epic trip to explore Denali and other areas. Follow Alex's adventures here
Before
leaving Anchorage we summited Flattop the hard way taking a much longer
hike in while wearing all my camera gear, and dodging moose. We had a
great run in with a bull moose, got to the summit, shot some test pan
footage and got down with no issues.
Kim Moosedashian on the Power Line Pass Trail, June 2015
Fast forward a week and Alex is back from Denali with his buddies. We make super last minute plans, I throw a ton of gear into my bag, and we all head down to Byron Glacier at around 2 PM on a Friday. We get in, we hike in, and it's a little bit of awesome, and a little bit of horrible. By horrible I mean our original plan was to go explore ice caves I had seen last November. In the space between November and now, not only did the first cave disappear, but so did the further caves I had found in November with my brothers.
Fast forward a week and Alex is back from Denali with his buddies. We make super last minute plans, I throw a ton of gear into my bag, and we all head down to Byron Glacier at around 2 PM on a Friday. We get in, we hike in, and it's a little bit of awesome, and a little bit of horrible. By horrible I mean our original plan was to go explore ice caves I had seen last November. In the space between November and now, not only did the first cave disappear, but so did the further caves I had found in November with my brothers.
First ice cave at the end of the trailhead end for Byron, now gone. Bryan Hesse picture, November 2014
Seeing
how we couldn't find any caves, we got much more ambitious with this
hike. We ended up hiking all the way up to the main "calving" face of
Byron. The view was amazing and absolutely worth the hike.
Calving face of Byron Glacier, June 2015
Alex and Oscar in front of Byron Glacier, June 2015
Right
beneath the calving face, and likely a horrible spot to be in with
regard to danger, we located a 20 foot deep ice cave near what I would
call the bergschrund of lower Byron, since the upper calving face is not
connected to the lower glacier which is largely a mix of firn and
ablation zone before becoming the tarn.
View into the blackness beyond, Ice Cave in Byron Glacier, June 2015
After
hanging out, setting ice screws and drinking some glacier water right
off the face, Alex and I took a late descent at around 7 PM
towards the van and safety. Unfortunately even with extreme caution you
can still mess up. As I was walking down the glacier I slipped on some
ice and caught my fall with my left hand. It bent some unbelievable
amount backwards as it held the weight of two huge cameras and a bunch
of other gear on my back. I instantly thought "Oh no, I broke my damn
wrist". Thankfully after a few minutes I was able to see some motion and
rotation, but extreme pain. We made our way back down the rest of the
way, but I fell twice more on the SAME wrist but with a bit more caution
each time.
Unfortunately or fortunately
depending on how you look at it, I don't have any pictures nor x-rays of
my hand, but I do have a tender wrist that I can barely use. The timing
is of course perfect. In the next week to finish preparing for Thrukon I
need to continue my hard work outs, do some rock climbing to get back
in the saddle, and as well I have to retake a test to get a drivers
license so I can follow these maniacs around in Alaska.
Moral
of the story? Do more rad stuff. This is certainly an obstacle but it
won't stop me. The day after hurting my wrist I summited Flattop again
with my friend Rena. Tomorrow
if I can get back on the bike I'm going to ride down to finish the
first part of getting my Alaska License. The day after, wrap up the
whole thing. We are so close to doing Thrukon, The excitement is building, and a little pain
certainly isn't going to stop us.
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