Cedar Bay Pluton* Peak Bagging

On July 8th and 9th, 2005 Cory Smith, Scott McArt and I (Tim Kelley) traveled from Whitier to the head of Wells Bay for a peak bagging foray in the unique and picturesque Cedar Bay Pluton area of Prince William Sound.  Under hot sun we scrambled up peaks 2790, 3101 and 3360.  Here are some of my pictures from this trip ...

(Note: With Cory being on this trip, you can count on a double dose of good pics and commentary of this trip out on the web.  Click here for Cory's web page.)

*Pluton: A large intrusion of igneous rock which cools slowly beneath the earth's crust ("Geology of Prince William Sound, Alaska" by Jim Lethcoe)

Whittier to the head of Wells Bay - 55 miles by boat.

Our route - Peak 2750, Peak 3101 then north to Peak 3360.
Scott thinks: "This place is sure gorgeous ..." "... but I sure hope Kelley knows how to anchor a boat! "  (Boat is white speck in red circle) Peak 3101 in the distance.  You can see haze above the snow.  That's sublimation in action - hot morning sun is turning snow, a solid, directly to water vapor, a gas.
The igneous rock intrusions in this area make for strange looking protrusions on the ridges.   Strange protrusions that call out to be climbed!

Cory powers to the top.

Scoping out the route from a distance.  In an hour we will be on top.
Once on the snowfields of Peak 3101, we found ourselves in a race to the top with a mountain goat. The goat beat us to the top easily.  

Topping out.

 Panoramic view from Peak 3101 summit.  Note all the icebergs from the Columbian Glacier in the large bay (Long Bay) on the left.

This shot is of Cedar Bay through a snow bridge in the summit cornice.  Fresh goat tracks can been seen on the snow.  It's a good thing the snow bridge held for this goat ... from the edge of the rocks it's a LONG ways down!

Scott looks out the "window".
Working back down the summit ridge.  Wells Bay in the background. On our way off the mountain our goat buddy kept a curious watch.  We were probably the only humans he's ever seen.  Or ever will see. We ran down the snowfields and began trucking across the ridges to Peak 3360 in the distance (indicated by the red arrow).

  The pace was hard, under hot sun, to get to Peak 3360.  So - no pics except for this summit panoramic.  
On top of Peak 3360 we could look back and see a lot of our route for the day. One more look from the top of Peak 2790 before running back down to the boat. Darn, should have brought a pack raft for the trip out!