paula and dylan giving me a farewell at bellingam airport, last time I'll see them for a while, now its really starting to feel like a vacation.

arriving at the talkeetna air taxi bunkhouse at around 11pm and woke up 2 czech climbers.

my gear on he right waiting to get weighed and loaded on the plane, the gear on the left was for a japanese team-notice the large cooler thery where taking to th basecamp, probably got some cold beers in there.

got a good view of camp 11,000 during the fly in, flew in with about 8 people taking a tourist flight around the mountain and I was the only one aboard that wouldn't return to talkeetna that day.

frst nights sleep after arriving at BC I hiked to 7000' and slept alone in the endless sun and beauty of alaska backcountry.

this is the first stop for most climbing parties, I would continue on o about 9500' for another nights rest.

my camp site (on the right) for the night at approx 9500', next camp is at 11,500'.

I got lucky and was able to scoop this great spot, it really didn't need any work. I would spend 2 nights here and then move to camp 14K. I would learn of the first of many fatalities on the mountain at this site.

Yep camp here was fully protected, and I had to do none of the work. Also the view was to die for, but man it sure was busy here

this camp, like others, was full of guided groups. It was at this camp that a guide was asking his clients if they had all used crampons before-and one of the clients said "NO", this was just the beginning. This is where I first met another soloist and we kind of kept track of each other throughout the trip

some people heading up the famous motorcycle hill

Lone climber doing a carry up motorcycle hill, notice all the ski tracks, this is a popular hill to ski as this is usually the highest people will take their skis until switching to climbing boots

that beard makes the whole trip worth it, oh and the view is nice also

at the top of motorcycle hill doing a carry to cache some gear at 13,500'

view down squirrel point to top of motorcycle hill, notice the blue ice patches, there where many blue ice spots to climb through, making long stretches of "no fall zones"

view up to windy corner while following another team

funny how you can be at close to 12,500' and only a couple miles away its close to sea level

from here its only about 20 minutes to the cache

what a campsite at 14,500'. The walls where in great shape and very little work was required, and it was located near the pit toilet

what a view, I couldn't afford this kind of view at home

another view from camp, notice the urinal marked by the "x", I got the pleasure of watching everyone go pee-or dump their night time pee bottle. At least everyone was nice

great view of the climbing activity on the headwall. You can see how much blue ice is on the actual headwall, it avalanched earlier in the season killing a climbing caught in its way

the nights where long and cold-sometimes dipping to -30c, and sleep was hard to get until early in the morning. This pic was from one morning when I didn't get all the sleep I had hoped, I think I aged 10yrs in 1 night

doing a quick run up the headwall to acclimatize, weather moving in and out was the normal, guided groups in front at this time

you can see in this pic the shrund that has to be crossed at the bottom of the fixed lines, it posed no real problems, just more fun

a look down at camp 14,5K from the fixed lines

just making a meal, I was lucky enought to have a real good set up for the kitchen. It was seperate from the tent area, and it was one of the only areas of privacy I had while at camp