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Vista Peak
by Tom Meacham, Scree 4/90
Tom Choate, Gary Lawton and I met at 8:00 a.m. in Eagle River on what gave promise of a sunny or partly-cloudy day. We turned off from the Loop Road to Meadow Creek Road (which was surprisingly well-maintained), until that road forked near the end, although the maintenance continued. Tom had earlier had a run-in with a resident on the lower road, so we skied the upper road for a quarter-mile, then bushwhacked down through the open forest until we hit the Meadow Creek trail, which someone had conveniently pre-skied for us. The snow in the valley was deeper than I have seen it in my six or seven previous winter trips, and we saw no sign of moose, or even of ptarmigan.
After a quick ski up-valley, with several kick-wax experiments (and finally skins) by Tom, we cached our skis at the foot of the prominent northwest ridge of Vista Peak (5070'). Gary led the post-holing up the ridge in deep snow, since he was getting shape for a Denali Highway traverse the next week. Tom and I certainly did not object. Ski poles were a real aid on the lower section of the ridge, but they were cached near the exposed rock ridge, where the going got steeper and ice axes were employed. The promise of clearing weather proved false, as the wind picked up and we saw long steamers off the upper section of the ridge and the summit. The wind gusted upwards of an estimated 45 knots, with unpredictable calm periods, and we pressed on.
We reached the summit around 5:00 p.m., but spent little time on top, as the wind grew in intensity. After a fast and semi-blind descent (due to iced eyeglasses), we exchanged ice axes for skis and cruised down-valley in the growing darkness. Our earlier trail was hidden by drifted snow for a time, but in the more-protected lower valley, the reflected lights of Anchorage highlighted our earlier track sufficiently for easy going. At the highest house on the lower Meadow Creek Road, a cable was stretched across the road and a "No Trespassing, Beware of Dog" sign posted. This is a recent development. I believe that a public right of access over the past 20 years has already been established on this road -- something which we pursued. We reached our cars about 8:00 p.m., and adjourned to Eagle River for a beer.
When I announced this climb at the February MCA meeting, I claimed that it would be a good trip for bringing a dog, since I had done so twice before. I am now thankful that no one took my advice, because the snow was so deep this year that a dog without snowshoes would have been helpless. However, this climb again demonstrated what an excellent one-day winter objective Vista Peak can be, under all but the most severe weather or avalanche conditions.
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