Ski, Climb, Fly

Been up down and across the past few days. First Brook and I went for a great ski on Sunday out towards the Ship Lake Valley (this is one of our favorite "backyard" ski tours that leaves from our doorstep). On Monday Bryan and I met for an after-work ice climb at the Beer climbs along the Old Glenn Highway. 45 degrees and sun doesn't get much better when you're climbing fat ice. The beer climbs are a little boring so we made it interesting with a rediculous traverse across rocks and stumps and fallen trees, all at about a 65-70 degree angle to the next climb over. Sort of like ice climbing, but a little more scary and a lot messier. Bryan pulled out his Canadian Straw (Full Post)to get some water, and then on the way out climbed a massive cottonwood tree and ended the day with some yoga moves. Today (Tuesday) I had my very first official flight lesson (after many unofficial lessons from Bush Pilot Joe D.) The instructor said I was doing great for a "first timer" and he pretty much hung out and enjoyed the scenery as I took him to some areas that were new to him as he explained some of the basic flight principles. As you can see from the pics, he doesn't fit the image of your sterotypical "bush pilot" but is a newbie to Alaska and has a lot of time flying in more calm places. After I get my basics down I'll probably look to spend some more serious time flying with some real Alaska-folk. In these shots you'll see the eastern edge of the Alaska Range including the Capps Glacier and Mt. Spurr, which we did a partial Climb of last May. More flying pics to come in the next few months!