« Trip Reports on Winterbear.com Castner Glacier Ice Caves Three Jan-Feb 2020 trips to the Castner Glacier ice caves January 25, January 30, and February 4, 2020 The word “otherworldly” gets used a lot when describing outdoor places, and it’s … Read More

« Trip Reports on Winterbear.com Point 4630: An After-Work Microadventure 12.9-mile after-work solo scramble up the north face of Point 4630 August 12, 2019 The term “microadventure” was coined (or at least popularized) by British adventurer Alastair Humphreys, who defined … Read More

Packraft History Current Packraft Companies Below is an alphabetical directory of established companies in the packraft industry. Alpacka USA The company that launched the modern packraft industry in 2002. Today Alpacka offers a diverse range of customizable, USA-made packrafts for … Read More

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

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