Castner Glacier from the Thayer Hut

These photos are from a trip in February to the Thayer Hut on the Castner Glacier (Sean Bemis, Nate Pamperin and Ryan Shackleton). Our original intent was to climb White Princess, which is up the Castner from the Thayer Hut. Unfortunately, we got a very late start, and just decided to go hike up a nearby ridge.

(Click images to enlarge)

Here's a photo looking west from the ridges above the Castner Glacier. The Castner Glacier is in the foreground and the glacier drains into the Delta River Valley in the background. It's an easy 8? mile ski in from the road along the moraine to the Thayer hut.

View up the Castner (looking east) on the way in.

Here's Sean and Nate getting oriented. We had a little debate over which mountain was Black Cap and which was White Princess on the way in.

The Thayer Hut with the Castner in the background. The hut's owned and operated by the Alaska Alpine Club. A very nice little hut within striking distance of a number of fun peaks that can be climbed in a day.

Starting out really late for White Princess. We started out in typical Delta Range weather: overcast with flat light. Unfortunately, you can't see crevasses very well in light like this, so we had to go really slow. Sean navigated the first crevasse field and we headed up the glacier.

Looking back at our tracks down from the hut, which is the grey dot in the flat snowy area on the ridge. Our tracks (the switchbacks in the shadows) lead down and to the right across the crevasse field.

Here's a shot of our route across the Castner from later in the day when the sun came out. If you look closely, you can see our tracks that start on the left side of the photo in front of the rocks, turn away from a crevasse, head out into the middle of the glacier, then take a sharp right turn (where we decided to go up the ridge instead of the glacier) and then cross the the crevasse field on this side of the glacier. It was pretty tough to find the way through crevasse fields on both sides of the glacier in flat light when everything's totally white and you can barely see topography on the glacier, even with goggles. Luckily Sean and Nate had a "probe" (Ryan) to go first through the crevasse field on this side of the glacier ("Keep me tight guys!")

The real rewards of mountaineering: the views. Here's Sean and Nate looking across the Castner at Item Peak (left) and Silvertip (in the clouds on the right). The Thayer Hut is the little grey dot on the flat shelf between Item Peak and the ridge we're sitting on (the sharp bend in the glacier points right at the hut).

Nate and myself (Ryan) pausing for a break on the way back down. Item peak in the background.

Alpenglow and moonlight from the Thayer Hut.

Sean, Nate and myself at the hut. Silvertip is in the background.

Oh yeah, here's a picture of myself with White Princess in the background (it's the snow covered peak to the right).

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Here's a photo looking west from the ridges above the Castner Glacier. The Castner Glacier is in the foreground and the glacier drains into the Delta River Valley in the background. It's an easy 8? mile ski in from the road along the moraine to the Thayer hut.	View up the Castner (looking east) on the way in.
Here's Sean and Nate getting oriented. We had a little debate over which mountain was Black Cap and which was White Princess on the way in.	The Thayer Hut with the Castner in the background. The hut's owned and operated by the Alaska Alpine Club. A very nice little hut within striking distance of a number of fun peaks that can be climbed in a day.
Starting out really late for White Princess. We started out in typical Delta Range weather: overcast with flat light. Unfortunately, you can't see crevasses very well in light like this, so we had to go really slow. Sean navigated the first crevasse field and we headed up the glacier.	Looking back at our tracks down from the hut, which is the grey dot in the flat snowy area on the ridge. Our tracks (the switchbacks in the shadows) lead down and to the right across the crevasse field.

The real rewards of mountaineering: the views. Here's Sean and Nate looking across the Castner at Item Peak (left) and Silvertip (in the clouds on the right). The Thayer Hut is the little grey dot on the flat shelf between Item Peak and the ridge we're sitting on (the sharp bend in the glacier points right at the hut).	Nate and myself (Ryan) pausing for a break on the way back down. Item peak in the background.
Alpenglow and moonlight from the Thayer Hut.	Sean, Nate and myself at the hut. Silvertip is in the background.