In Talkeetna & ready for the off!

We arrived in Talkeetna yesterday having left a dreary overcast Anchorage, and were greeted by a glorious sunny afternoon. Amazing views across the Talkeetna river into the Alaska Range with Mt Foraker, Mt Hunter, Denali, and the Mooses Tooth dominating the horizon. We had a minor panic after out transfer bus drove off back towards Anchorage with our food supplies for the next three weeks onboard...

Beautiful crisp and sunny start this morning and hopefully we should be flying into the mountains within the next hour! We're all really excited and can't wait to get climbing.

Pic 1: The Talkeetna River
Pic 2: Checking out our new ledge in the comfort of Talkeetna Air Taxis' shed

Sat phone photo test 2

Sorry folkes, forgot to disable the wireless internet... this time it is sent on the sat phone.

David

Alaska Landing and Prep

Arrived here in Anchorage, not sure if it was yesterday the day before
yesterday or today! We woke up at Earth B&B all still pretty jaded
after the long trip over, we have spent the day sorting gear, doing
food shopping and most importantly drinking large amounts off
capuccino, before un packing and then re packing to get the equipment
sorted for the taxi ride up to Talkeetna in the morning.
Matt
Pic 1. Stopover in Minneapolis
Pic 2. Matt having his daily fix.

Alaska bound..

Our journey begins today with the long flight westwards across the Atlantic towards Anchorage. This is probably one of the scariest parts of the whole trip for me as I'm not a big lover of flying. Although the hardest part is going to be saying goodbye to my wife and Joshua, my little boy!!

'Posing Productions' join the Team

Alastair Lee from Posing Productions has decided to dispatch one of his top cameramen to film our exploits in Alaska. Having produced several award winning climbing films, like The Asguard Project, On Sight, and Psyche we are very happy that these guys want to be part of our expedition.
Watch this space....

Peak Training Week

With just over one week now until we leave for Alaska training hits max intensity and volume! Matt has been hitting the hill running hard with 6 laps up to la Flegere per session, high volume PE (power endurance) bouldering, and 3 hours of circuit training per day. I've been out on my road bike doing more volume, plus better times on my regular TT route up to Col des Montets (although still a long way off my PB set a year ago when I was still doing ski alpinism racing), skinning, bouldering, dry tooling, running, and circuit training when my eight month old son Joshua is asleep!!
Today we had another session at la Balme (Arve Valley limestone) getting slicker at aid/big wall techniques- not our normal style but we are going prepared for all eventualities.

Training hard and getting organised!

During April we have been stepping up the training to make sure we are is the best possible shape for Alaska. Alongside working as IFMGA mountain guides and having plenty of big days out in the mountains, we try and fit in at least 20 hours/week of specific training:
1) Endurance - running/road cycling
2) Resistance- circuit training/weights/hill reps
3) Climbing specific- bouldering/dry tooling

Yesterday we went for a climb together on the North face of Les Courtes in the Argentiere basin, which was great fun and it really helps with mental preparation to be climbing together in the weeks proceeding an expedition. We soloed the Swiss route in 1hr42mins going at a steady pace (av. heart rate for Jon 150bpm) and then down-climbed the NE face back to our skis.
We also had a day rock climbing in the sun at Balme this week. We used the day to practice different hauling systems as we may end up taking a haul bag on Mount Hunter due to the sustained technical difficulties we foresee.
Recent evenings have been spent getting all our logistics sorted, and we have also received some good news from the British Mountaineering Council in that they have offered us an expedition grant.

 Matt Helliker on the Swiss Route, Les Courtes N face

Jon Bracey descending the East ridge of Les Courtes