By Brian Stoecker
Special to the Turnagain Times
Bird Ridge recently underwent a minor facelift, but like all cosmetic surgeries, only the scars are immediately visible. The improvements will ease winter access where drifting snow diverts hikers to alternate routes. The modifications weren’t designed to improve summer access, but preserve the natural integrity of the mountain by reducing springtime traffic on auxiliary trails.
Behind the early rising 53 year old mountaineer extraordinaire, Ellen Brown (who made her 300th Bird Ridge ascent in February), a hardy stream of hikers log hundreds of climbs from November through April. The preferred trail eventually becomes obscured or impassable due to high and heavy loads of drifting snow, trapped by walls of alders. Those critical areas needed a wind tunnel through the brush to keep the trail open. If successful, the summer trail will remain clear enough for passage.
Previously, climbers were forced from the trail and onto thinner snow, which by default becomes the winter route. Come spring, the snow melts beneath the winter route long before the drifts melt about the established trail in May or June. Consequently, the increasing number of spring hikers has established several high traffic periphery trails across the sensitive alpine tundra.
Among the many users, the Alaska Mountain Runners will ascend Bird Ridge every Sunday, from November until they run its mountain race in June. Their affinity for the mountain inspired their commitment to trail maintenance through Chugach State Park’s “adopt a trail” program. They’ve pruned sharp and hazardous or obstructive branches, and cleared fallen trees and other obstacles; but the brush cut was their greatest effort to preserve the mountain’s natural features on a permanent basis.
In late September, AMR volunteers, led by director Brad Precosky, removed the impeding alders along pivotal sections of the Bird Ridge trail. Precosky operated the chainsaw while volunteers—Corkey and Shirly Corthell, Barney Griffith, Clint McCool and others—hauled the brush beyond sight of the trail. Precosky cut the alders low to the ground so the stumps would pose no hazard, and avoided aesthetic foliage such as wild roses and elderberries wherever possible. However, the volunteers took no issue with razing alders to preserve the tundra. The 75 year old Corkey Corthell put it best, “Alders are Alaska’s biggest weed.” One cut even revealed an old trail, long obscured by alders.
The trail itself may have enhanced the growth, as is the case with alders.
The unfamiliar sight, sound, and effect of a chainsaw on Bird Ridge, naturally drew philanthropic questions from hikers, concerned for their lofty sanctum. The volunteers fielded those inquiries, uncertain as to how their answers may be received and the hikers seemed genuinely pleased by the explanation. Some gave their blessing. Some even grabbed an alder and hauled it off the trail.
As the winter hiking season gears up, those familiar with the brush cut, eagerly await its pay off. But even if the effort fails, the scars from the attempt will heal by springtime. The forest floor shall rebound in new life—fireweed, ferns, and other annuals formerly constricted by alders.
For information on the Bird Ridge race (The Robert Spurr Memorial Hill Climb) go to www.alaskamountainrunners.org. To view a Bird Ridge winter ascent video, go to www.myspace.com/nickumentary. For information on the Bird Ridge race (The Robert Spurr Memorial Hill Climb) go towww.alaskamountainrunners.org. To view a Bird Ridge winter ascent video, go to www.myspace.com/nickumentary and click the video on the main page.