The intent of Kigsblog is to follow the seasonal cycle: rock in Summer, mixed in Fall, ski in Winter, and alpine in Spring. To have the reader scroll down through cycles of white and gray, chronologically revolving like a true weblog. Currently, we are taking advantage of "compositing" to resolve the tremendous BLOGLAG (the time interval between the present and current post) afflicting Kigsblog by representing segments of linear time in superposition, aligned by season, in order to reign in BLOGLAG without compromising seasonal cycle. The following post, which depicts a wedge of time from October through December, carries a valence of three years, 2018, 2019 and 2020, making it a Covid overlap.
FOX MOUNTAIN
Author at Fox Mt. Bluff,
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| Splitboard John on Fox |
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Spot the dog
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| Fox Mt., near Mile 27 Kougarak Road, January 1, 2021 |
ANVIL MOUNTAIN
At the base of Anvil Mountain lie great mounds of dirt which make a wonderful "alpine climbing gym" for busy urban climbers who don't have the time for real mountains. The tailings have been extensively reworked the last few summers by heavy machinery, making the Anvil Mounds a strangely transitory medium upon which to climb in the same way that ice climbs are transitory. Each year, in late Fall, the big Excavators are parked for the season, and the coast is clear for climbers to sneak in there and confront a whole new configuration of dirt climbing problems formed by the awesome amounts of dirt moved by the miners. "Mud Mounding" is a brutish form of climbing, highly dependent on weather patterns and the saturation and temperature of the mud. The climber must whack their precious and expensive ice tools into frozen mud. At its best the mud behaves like water ice, but at its worst, the mud has the consistency of concrete which no delicate flick of an ice axe can penetrate. It is fun to wander in the fading light of an early winter day and scamper about in the mounds, canyons, bowls, cliffs, slabs, the whole playground likely toxic. Adrenalin is available upon request. Kigsblog avows any knowledge of climbing on these grounds and everything written above is merely speculative, however, there has been documentation of this changing, reimagined landscape from the state right-of-way. Here is a double-conjunction composite of Mud Mound shots from the previous two years.
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Higher on Anvil Mt., Vince is hooking schist
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Vince demonstrating there IS such a thing as "Dry Tool Bouldering" on King Mt.
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KING MOUNTAIN
KOUGARAK ROAD CORRIDOR ICE
Many years ago during his young turk phase, Mr. Collins reported to me that he and another young turk, Graham, had climbed a low angle "ice fall" above the road opposite where you park for Dorothy Falls. It came in again during this band of time. Mostly just a minor, unnamed, frozen creek, it's not even steep enough for a WI rating, but here, I will dress it up anyway with all the trappings of a big time second ascent for all my sponsors to view: Quayagit (He Almost Slipped), WI 0.5 So much fun to poke around the draws above the Kougarak Road in early winter hunting for ice that seldom or never forms, past the end-of-the-road signs that have been put up for the end of the season.
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| Quayagit (He Almost Slipped) |
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| Ben at Dorothy Falls |
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Nest Left, Engstrom's, (M4.) Great climb, but
off limits due to nesting Eagles |
AYASAYUQ
Here, embedded within the interference patterns of this post, lies another Ring of Ayasayuk, viewed through a valence of two years. Water finds its pathway down the tiers of the Cape Nome quarry and forms ice climbs. But just like the Anvil Mud Mounds, the quarry gets worked by machinery during the summer season and Fall finds an entirely new scarp for which climbers to practice absurd derivations of Mixed Alpine Climbing. The temperature gradient dropped a little too succintly this last Fall into the sub-freezing zone and the ice was scant, but previous years did better. The quarry is Bering Straits Native Corporation property and Kigsblog disavows any knowledge of climbing within the boundaries but will offer that the giant scar is a fascinating little ecosystem unto itself with its own awareness, moods, and ectoplasmic resonance from the past.
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| Nick 2018 |
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| Ayasayuq 2019 |
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| Iteration 2019 |
