06/25/08 - 06/27/08 Tanaina Peak 5350' and Koktoya Peak 5148' ~21mi +4800'

            The theme on this trip was wind, but that’s always the case in the front range. I got off work earlier, so we were able to start the trip around 7:00pm. Chris’s sister Meg dropped us off at the Glen Alps trailhead because we were wary about parking there overnight. We quickly ditched the people as we entered the Middle Fork Campbell Creek Valley. We hiked into a headwind towards the Williwaw Lakes. As we got near the pass the winds really started picking up. We descended to Long Lake in the dark and found a nice camp. It wasn’t even 1:00am yet, we were early!
            We had breakfast and started our hike up Tanaina the the next day. It was a tundra slope followed by a shallow gully to Tanaina’s ridge. First we headed to the West Summit, then to the higher East Summit. It was Chris’s first 5000’ peak! The cold winds continued throughout the trip. Near the East Summit we encountered “Cat Rock.” From the summit we headed towards Koktoya along the ridge. Before long it became apparent that the ridge wouldn’t easily lead to Koktoya’s summit. I bagged it for the day, and headed back to camp with Chris. There was a lot of talus to trudge over, but the couple of glissades above camp made it all worth it. It was a cold and windy night so we took refuge in the tent earlier than usual.
            After breakfast I decided to head up Koktoya solo. It was a straight-forward hike up the ridge to the summit. There were several snow gullies leading from the top. I started plunge-stepping down the steep soft snow until I emerged below the rocky flanks. From there I glissaded on foot down the snow. I started a really slow wet snow slide which I could walk past on the way down. I walked on snow almost the entire way back, which made the travelling quite easy. It was 2.5 hrs round-trip from camp.
            We packed up and headed out. We passed Long Lake and leisurely hiked down-valley. We eventually made our way to the alders. We tried to follow game trails through them but ended up muscling through to simplify things. After an hour we emerged onto The Dome Trail and meandered to the Basher trailhead, where Meg picked us up.