Alaska Basin Eclipse Weekend

It’s been a month now since the eclipse but those few precious minutes of totality are forever cemented in my mind as one of the coolest phenomenons I’ve ever seen.  Bria and I spend the long weekend up in the alaska basin and had a great couple of days.  The hike in Friday evening after work went smoothly and we set up camp just before dark. 

entering the basin with buck glowing in the evening light

We spend the next day taking a leisurely hike up to hurricane pass, to take in one of the best views in the range.  Sunday was spent scrambling the east ridge of buck, with a long, slow descent linking together ledge systems down the east couloir from the notch below the south ridge.  But we persevered, bootied an old rap station along the way and eventually made it back to the buck-static saddle and onwards to camp. 

top notch wildflowers (bria photo)

remnants of a marmot, melting out from his cold grave

atop hurricane pass

approaching the east ridge of buck 

jammin' up buck (bria photo)

buck summit

weaving our way down 

had to get creative to get around the bergschrund (bria photo) 

imbibing on the bergschrund runoff

Monday morning we broke camp and moments after hitting the trail, were pleasantly surprised to bump into jeffrey, out for a pre-eclipse run.  We continued up the sheep steps to the devil’s shelf and started trending west towards the devil’s stairs til it was time to post up for the eclipse.  We were both taken back by the big temperature drop as we slowly added layers til we were both bundled in puffys and hats.  I’ll never forget how incredible totality was, with the orange sunset-esque glow to the west, the twinkling planets and the surreal feeling of being in a sci-fi film with a black orb blocking out the sun. 

not a bad spot to lounge and stare at the sun (bria photo)

sunset-esque glow to the west (bria photo)

moments later (bria photo)

hiking out through waist deep wildflowers 

Soon after totality passed we hit the trail, largely in part to warm up.  We would periodically stop to glance at the progress of the remaining partial eclipse but quickly agreed that partials are nothing exciting once you’ve experienced a total.  The main teton canyon trail and the park lot were a crowded mess (cars were parked along the road for nearly a full mile before the trailhead).  We made it home in a half hour (instead of the customary 20-25min), discussing how far we would have traveled (like most people) to see totality.  The answer was far, since it was truly such an amazing, unforgettable event. 

Rose: must I say it again…totality was spectacular

Thorn: over an hour of “will it go or are we cliffed out?” on our buck descent

Bud: maine or vermont in april 2024??