Talkeetna, AK: After two weeks on the mighty East Fork of the Tokositna Glacier, my longtime partner in crime Joey McBrayer (formerly of Bend, currently of Talkeetna) and I are eating bagels, drying gear out at the Alaska Mountaineering School headquarters, and trying to fatten ourselves back up. Two weeks in the shadow of Mt. Huntington behind us, my toes are thawing out and I'm beginning to think about squeezing in some more climbing before coming back home to Oregon. 
A complete trip report will eventually be forthcoming, but to check in quickly, we were able to climb the beautiful West Face Couloir (aka Nettle-Quirk) [V AI4 3200'] as well as the Colton-Leach [VI AI4+ 85° 4000'], although (heartbreakingly) both climbs ended at the summit ridge and not the summit proper, the first attempt being halted by the triumph of unconsolidated sugary snow over fast and light tactics (i.e. it got dark and we had no bivy gear),
the second being halted after two days of climbing into a storm. Either way, a memorable first trip into the Alpine dreamscape that is the Alaska Range. Rad.
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