twosmallcones

Our first trip to Wiener Lake left us wanting to explore more of the and climb more routes. We decided to head back for another weekend of camping, bouldering, and sport climbing. We drove the quick 3.5 hour drive, setup camp in the same cozy location, and snuggled in -15/-30 degree bags for the night. You may be wondering if we really needed a -15 and -30 degree sleeping bag to stay warm — yes, we sure did. The weekend dropped down to the low teens, however, never fear — with a smoldering fire and mummy bags, we slept soundly and warm. The beautiful light of the sunrise woke us up early. While E built a big man-fire, I prepped breakfast for us — turkey sausage and campfire hotcakes with melted peanut butter. Put them together and you have a turkey-cake with peanut butter smear! Believe it or not, it was delicious! Just long enough to eat and warm our fingers and toes, we were off to the crag.

This time around, we were able to climb a few routes before freezing from Alaska winds and the brisk air. The rock is a little different than what we’ve climbed on in the past, however, it’s featured, grainy texture kept the routes stimulating and pretty challenging. After spending all morning and a good portion of the afternoon sport climbing, we decided to boulder a bit before the sun went down. We stomped through the leaves, rocks, and tree bits before finding nice boulders to scramble on.  The bouldering at Wiener Lake is separated into sections. Each section has a few good boulders with some nice boulder problems. It felt good to scramble about, try easy and harder problems, and be only feet from our campsite. We bouldered until the sun ducked behind the Chugach Mountains, then headed back to rebuild our fire, boil water for hot cocoa, and start dinner. For dinner, we had rice and a mish-mash of potatoes and more turkey-sausage. Again, sounds a bit bland, but with some extra seasonings, it was pretty scrumptious.

After breakfast the next morning, we climbed bouldering lines at ‘The Loony Bin’, ‘Springfield Boulders’, and ‘Wake Up Boulders’. These bouldering routes ranged anywhere from V0 to V9 and, like the sport routes, they had funky features and a grainy texture. We scrambled about in the small forest of boulders until early afternoon before packing up and starting our drive home. On the way, we stopped, once again, at Raven Wolf Coffee Hut for a new and fancy espresso drink! An Albino White Mocha it was and it filled our bellies with sweet, warm goodness all the home. yummm.