Anatomy of a Packraft Packraft Cockpit Configurations The cockpit of a packraft is the area in which a paddler sits. There are three broad categories of packraft cockpits: open boats, decked boats, and self-bailers. No one cockpit type is necessarily … Read More

« Trip Reports on Winterbear.com Tokositna to Talkeetna A 68.5-mile packraft trip down the Tokositna, Chulitna and Susistna Rivers, from the Peters Hills to Talkeetna July 13-14, 2019 Some weekends are just weekends, and others are a week of adventure … Read More

The Wedge The Wedge isn’t exactly an unknown peak: it’s visible from most of Anchorage and is easily accessed from Glen Alps. But it is often strangely overlooked. Guidebooks tend to lump it in with the Ramp, even though the … Read More

« Trip Reports on Winterbear.com Portage Glacier Calving Report and analysis of a March 2019 calving event at Portage Glacier March 6, 2019 There are many metaphors for the sound of a glacier calving: A rifle going off. Trains colliding. … Read More

Skates Skates for Wild Ice First, some good news: all ice skates will work on wild ice! In that sense, every skate can be a “wild ice skate.” However, different types of skates perform very differently on wild ice due … Read More

Bold Peak Bold Peak(7,600 ft.) Stivers’ Gully Route: 14.7 miles each way, 7,561 ft. elevation gain. Difficulty: Class 3(c4) ▼KMZ Bold Peak’s cliff-laced summit towers over the southeast end of Eklutna Lake, and to a casual observer the prospect of … Read More

« Trip Reports on Winterbear.com Cantata Boots and Boats 20.3-mile hike and packraft loop around Cantata Peak, in Alaska’s Chugach State Park September 8, 2018 The September 2018 heatwave was so intense that Alaskans started referring to it as a … Read More