On July 22, Eric Parsons and I flew into the area known as Little Switzerland, which is located on the Pika Glacier in the Alaska Range, about 35 miles southwest of Denali. First discovered and named by legendary bush pilot, Don Sheldon, Little Switzerland features many high quality moderate rock climbing objectives on granite towers in an incredible environment. Unfortnately, days of heavy fog over the Pika caused us to wait at the airstrip in Talkeetna and watch our number of possible climbing days diminish. Eventually, though, a clear window presented itself and we were able to fly in and land under blue skies, although we did constant battle with rain and fog over our entire week in the Pika.

(Flying into the Pika Glacier)

Wasting no time with the weather window, Eric and I dragged our gear across the glacier, set up a quick basecamp, donned our harnesses and immediately began skiing towards the formation known as The Trolls, which are three very prominent towers located on the eastern side of the upper Pika Glacier, with our sights on the Middle Troll, the tallest peak in the group. (1,300 feet III, 5.8) The weather held and after some very enjoyable crack climbing, we summitted at 1:00AM, under the midnight sun in 24-hour Alaska daylight, which at times can be a bit strange. Experience being “darked on” a few times in my climbing career has taught me that when you see the sun heading towards the horizon, you don’t keep going up, you start going down. Of all the ojbective hazards and obstacles in the Alaska range, darkness is simply not one of them and you can literally climb at all hours of the day or night.

Our second objective was “The Lost Marsupial” route, which is the prominent rounded ridge on the south face of The Throne. (III, 5.8) Unfortunately, we were rained off on our first attempt, but went back the next day to finish the route and reach the summit. The knife edge summit ridge on The Throne offers some very interesting climbing over steep snow and wet rock, which made for an exciting descent as well.

My photo gear weathered the rain with no problems, and I kept a cotton bandana in my pocket at all times to wipe water off of the lenses. I climbed with my Nikon D200 camera and two lenses (17mm and 85mm) every day, usually keeping the gear in my pack for the vertical climbing sections and using my chest pouch or around my neck while skiing around the glacier and walking on summit ridges. While on the Pika, I experimented with some time lapse interval photography, a feature that’s built into the D200. I plan to combine the images into a short time lapse video and post here at a later date.

Although the weather prevented us from climbing anything else during this trip, our week in Little Switzerland has definitely inspired us to go back. There is certainly enough rock there to satisfy many trips into this incredible area.

Here are a few more images from my 2007 Pika Glacier trip. Also, check out the REAL Story of our Little Switzerland alpine climbing trip! Finally, here is a video that Eric shot of our exploits on (and off) the Pika Glacier.

Alaska Climbing by Joe Puryear

Special thanks to all the pilots and crew at Talkeetna Air Taxi for the incredible flights and for putting up with our shenanigans during our three days of waiting out the weather.

And finally, if you’re planning a trip to this region and you don’t already have Joe Puryear’s Alaska Climbing guide book, you’ll want to pick up a copy. It’s got topos and route maps for all the classic climbs in the area.

Related posts:

1. Alaska Teaser: Little Switzerland Images The Alaska Range is kind of like a box of chocolates: You never know what you’re going to get. I’m speaking of the weather, of...
2. Packrafting, Eagle River, Alaska Took a day off from my photo assignment in Anchorage to get out of the city and shoot some pack rafting with two friends, Eric...
3. Backcountry Skiing Photos, Rogers Pass, Canadian Rockies (Skiers near Young’s Peak, Rogers Pass area, Selkirk Mountains, Canadian Rockies) During the beginning of March, I accompanied two hardcore Fort Collins, Colorado skiers, Heath...
4. Mixing Aviation and Skiing Here in Alaska, instead of driving to the ski slopes, we fly right up to the parking lot, or rather the glacier, and land at...
5. On Assignment: Shooting Aerials of Denali I was recently hired by a client to shoot photos for an article they are running about Denali National Park, with the emphasis on getting...

4 Responses to “Little Switzerland, Alaska 2007 Trip Report”

1. Nick Weinberg says:

   August 24, 2007 at 5:54 am

   Hey Dan,

   Sweet blog. Great pics. It makes such a difference to have a nice camera (and to know how to use it). I haven’t seen Sam since we left AK. He mentioned that our photos might be lost. Hopefully they are not, since I am planning on putting on a slideshow of my to AK trips here in Burlington.

   We had a great trip out. Very straightforward (relative to my previous suffer-fest on the Kenai peninsula). I highly recommend picking up a packraft — they add a whole other dimension to any trip.

   Do you have any more adventures lined up? Allright got to get back to the med school grind. Boo Hoo.

   Nick
2. Emily says:

   September 19, 2007 at 10:24 am

   Dan,

   very cool pics of your trip. I’m sure cold is an understatement for the experience, but I sure did enjoy the warmth of my living room to take in the icy blues, whites and grays that make those scenes so unique.

   We should chat.
   Emily
3. scott morgan says:

   March 8, 2009 at 12:46 pm

   Hi Dan-
   Was reading your blog. A few of us are considering a trip to little switzerland in May (2009) to do some skiing. Having never been there, I thought I might pick your brain. Did you get a sense of the access to good descents in the area? It will likely be a bit late (mid-may) for powder, so we’ll be looking more at steeper, locked-in coloirs as objectives.
   Thanks for your help-
   Scott Morgan
   scott.morgan@dartmouth.edu
4. Adventures with Dan on the Pika Glacier, Alaska | Daniel H. Bailey's Adventure Photography Blog says:

   June 24, 2010 at 11:32 am

   [...] Here’s a full trip report of our July 2007 alpine rock climbing trip to Little Switzerland on the Pika Glacier, Alaska [...]