Mt Whitney Zone Forums Trip Reports O'Malley in January

Many of you may have seen the frequent news on the solo hiker who successfully completed the first Mt. McKinley solo summit in January. Well, that was not me.

But yesterday, I did complete a summit of O'Malley Peak in the Chugach Mountains next to Anchorage. It was by far by toughest winter hike I have done at 8 miles and 3,100 elevation gain. The conditions were tough yesterday. It was warm (30ish) but we often found ourselves postholing in boulder fields (carefully trying not to faceplant or break an ankle. Postholing up the snow chutes seemed safe by comparison. The pictures below look like moonscapes.

Entire album is here: O'Malley January 2015 Album

Nice pics, Chris.

On a related note - do you consider using snowshoes with televators for slogging up the steeps? I prefer the Tubbs Flex Alps, but some of my friends like MSR's, others Atlas. But televators make a huge difference. Descent on snowshoes is much easier as well as you have a partially packed trail.

Soooo . . . . .

You're saying this was tougher than Flattop?

Seriously -- well done!

Very few people here use the snowshoes for the steep parts. Perhaps a factor is cost and one more piece of gear. The %500+ pair of boots and almost $200 crampons ate my budget. I did mention postholing in the boulder fields but I don't think I would have felt comfortable with snowshoes either in the boulder field or the area such as my second picture posted above. There wasn't quite enough snow to have universal coverage and there was some climbing involved in the rocks that couldn't be done with snow shoes.

This was also my very first trip using crampons instead of just Katoohla microspikes. And only the 3rd time I've used the new La Sportiva Nepal EVO boots. Unfortunately each time I've used them I keep getting bad blisters but I am working through the tightness and in fairness did no work trying to break them in. I'm afraid they are a tad too big but I'm experimenting with different and multiple socks. Any suggestions welcome!

And as far as Flattop: Someone asked me how dangerous this trip was. The question came from someone who has done Flattop with me in the winter so my answer was: Flattop is just as dangerous. Although Flattop has quite the reputation for crowds in the summer, in winter it is a daunting hike with the final steep chute being quite dangerous--especially if snow cover is low like it is this year. And in high snow years the Flattop approach also has a bad avalanche chute that must be avoided by a hike around.

One final word about gear from the third picture: I LOVE that green ice axe. I'm still a newbie but I can't imagine hiking October - April/May without it. I suppose a rock climber could say the same about his ropes but the ice axe literally saved my life about 4 times on Sunday.

Chris - which Flattop are you referring to? Am thinking the one in the Cottonwood basin, SW of Woolyback since this a Whitney-centric board? IIRC, there's a Flattop near Longs in CO. Probably lots of others, too.

And on the subject of boots - the La Sportiva Nepal EVO boots are a thing of beauty, but ... a favorite in the Northeast where's it frequently subzero (real subzero, but flakey windchill subzero) lots of guys/gals use Cabela's Avalanche boot. They frequently go on sale for about $80. They're light, crampon-compatible (strap-on) & snowshoe compatible. When it's going to be lower than -5F, I tend to put in chemical toe-warmers (on the top of the toes) as I get older - a few bouts of frostbite will do that. I replace them about every 3 years as the 400gr Thinsulate tends to pack out, which is before they're actually worn out. But they're lightness, support and virtually zero break-in make them popular.

I've worn the Avalanche boots up Shasta a few times. OTH - if I were doing a real glacier (Rainier, etc), I'd put on the trusty Scarpa Invernos as I like the precise foot placement possible with a plastic boot. I'd put your LaSportiva's in the same class as the Invernos.

I can't remember for sure if WhitneyFan and I have ever talked about "Flattop" before but by his post I knew what he was talking about. Flattop is "the most hiked peak in Alaska". It is the typical tourist hike and very crowded in the summer and located only 15-20 minute drive from almost anywhere in Anchorage. The last part of the hike requires relatively easy scrambling up boulders in the summer. In the winter, this section is a bit dicey. Although I use Flattop as a training run in the summer (usually up a harder route), for regular hiking most would rather avoid the big crowds.

For most of my hikes I use my summer Asolo and strap on the Katoohlas in the winter. The new La Sportivas are allowing me to take it a bit further and really are amazing. I have a friend who uses them for everything---even in the summer.

Yeah, we'd had a few posts about Flattop previously.