MT. BEAR
EXPEDITION
Multi Day
- Mountaineering
- Ski
MT. BEAR EXPEDITION
- Expert
- Mountaineering
- Ski
- Multi-Day
The ideal first Alaskan, high-altitude peak
“This is NOT a Colorado 14er…”
Towering above a wild landscape of snow and ice, Mt. Bear (14,831’) lies nestled deep in the St. Elias Range and only 5 mi from the Canadian border. A formidable wilderness climb requiring mental and physical fortitude but no technical climbing, Mt. Bear is the ideal first Alaskan expedition for budding mountaineers and also experienced ski-mountaineers.
Unlike the crowded slopes of Rainer or the trails to the top of CO 14ers, the St. Elias Range is completely undeveloped and your grit will be put to the test on this self-supported wilderness epic. Due to its extremely remote nature, this peak is rarely climbed with only a handful of attempts in the last few years so you could be one of less than 100 people to stand on the summit of this Alaskan majesty!
- Perfect 1st Alaska big mountain
- Non-technical, high-altitude peak
- Excellent ski-mountaineering objective
- Spectacular views of remote snowy wilderness
- 9th tallest peak in the US!
Trip Details
Elevation
14,829′
Expedition Length
13 days
Total Milage
18mi
Total Elevation Gain/Loss
6,300′
Max Group Size:
8
Difficulty:
Alaska Grade 2
Rates:
Private Solo
$19,275
Private 2 Participants
$13,225/person
Private 3-4 Participants
$8,575/person
5-8 Participants/Group
$7,385
Group Trip Dates:
May 18-30, 2024
Private Trips with custom dates may be available. Schedule a call with our Expedition Coordinator to plan your Private Trip today!
The following is a sample itinerary for this trip. Due to individual abilities and goals, as well as the strong environment swings of Alaska, all of our trips are customized as they unfold. Your guide will fluidly make decisions based on weather, conditions, logistics, safety, and group dynamics to maximize each day’s experience. There can be quite a bit of variation, but we always strive to make every trip your best ever!
Fri, May 17th
Sat, May 18th
Sun, May 19th
Mon, May 20th
Fly out to the south fork of the Klutlan Glacier and begin your approach to the magnificent Mt. Bear! Feast your eyes on the stunning sights of this remote and seldom visited area. Landing at about 8,000′ you’ll start your ascent, wrapping around the massif to set up your base camp.
From here, you’ll progress up the massive mountain – long, steep slopes interrupted by vast plateaus making for obvious camping and phenomenal skiing opportunities. Navigating crevasse fields and icefalls, and shuttling gear will provide time for acclimatization as you gain serious elevation so you are ready for the big summit day push. After the summit bid is made, you’ll reverse your route and make your way back to the landing zone. If you’re on skis, we cannot emphasize enough the glory of this ~6,000′ descent!
Wed, May 29th
Thurs, May 30th
- Customized trip planning
- Van transportation to and from Anchorage*
- Lodging in our historic bunkrooms*
- Two 45min scenic bush flights to and from the St. Elias Mountains
- An orientation day at headquarters and group packing
- Your professional guide(s)
- All the food on the expedition and in McCarthy
- Group gear (ropes, sleds, cookware, fuel, tents, etc)
*Upgrades to more comfortable lodging or bush plane transport may be available.
We highly recommend you bring as much of your own technical equipment as possible so you can learn how to use it and become more familiar with it.
What’s not included?
- Gratuities
- Personal camping and technical gear
- Lodging and logistics in Anchorage
- Trip insurance (required)
Easy peasy! This trip is run as a Trip Package so logistics are included and taken care of! You’ll get picked up in Anchorage and brought to McCarthy where you can stay at our historic HQ bunkrooms, sleeping on the same bunks that held many of the first explorers of this Park! Food is included and provided by your guides while in McCarthy and out in the backcountry. Upon return, your guide will stoke up the sauna for you and tuck you into bed in the bunkrooms again, providing a ride back to Anchorage the next morning. Upgrades to more comfortable lodging or transport logistics are available.
The more climbing experience you have prior to climbing Mt. Bear, the more comfortable and safe you will be, and the better chance you will have of summiting. This is an advanced climb that requires a dedicated training regime. The mountain is too severe to be learning some skills for the first time. The following is required of every climber:
- Excellent fitness, core strength, and endurance
- All climbers are required to submit a climbing resume
- Several mountaineering climbs that required roped glacier travel, winter snow camping, and the use of an ice axe and crampons
- Some examples include: Mt. Rainier, Mt. Shasta, Mt. Hood, Mt. Baker, Mt. Shuksan, Mt. Adams, Mt. Whitney or Pico de Orizaba
- Skiers and splitboarders must:
- be very comfortable with off-piste terrain and black diamond-level resort runs
- comfortably ski/ride down 30 degree slopes with a 40lb pack
- have a minimum of 30 days of backcountry skiing/splitboarding, but more is highly recommended
Graduates of our Introduction to Alaska Mountaineering Course are perfectly set up for this expedition
GALLERY
GET IN TOUCH
WITH AN EXPEDITION
COORDINATOR!
FAQ
Some of our mountaineering and ski expeditions, especially the objective-based trips, require participants to submit a climbing resume. A climbing resume lists out your relevant outdoor and climbing experience. We use these to get to know you a little better and to make sure you are signing up on a trip of an appropriate level for everyone’s safety and enjoyment.
This does not have to be a formal document with fancy letterhead, there is no particular format to follow and as long as the info is there, you can email this to us at any time. You can include mountaineering expeditions, rock climbs, ice climbs, alpine climbs, scrambles, and traverses – you can definitely include attempts that didn’t quite make it, but please make that clear in your notes and why. The important details to include about each outing are the name of the area or mountain, the route name, the difficulty rating, the month and year you did it, and your role on the team (was it a solo attempt, where you guided by a professional, were you guiding a group of friends?). You may choose to include other details about your climbs like the distance or elevation gained, how the climb felt to you (was it super easy or were you at your limit?), or anything remarkable that happened during the outing. It can also be helpful to know a little about your general fitness and outdoor experience so you can include information on your workout habits or other relevant athletic feats (extended backpacking trips you’ve been on or how many miles you run a week, for example).
We will review your resume and may have follow-up questions and from there we’ll be able to advise you as to which expedition is best for you!
We pride ourselves on cooking healthy and delicious meals even under the most adverse conditions! Your exact menu will depend on the trip, your guide, and the dietary preferences/restrictions you list in your Trip Application. No matter what kind of cook your guide is at home, all our guides are well-trained backcountry chefs and use time-tested recipes from our proprietary cookbook for their trips. We carry a plentiful and varied stock of ingredients and most meals are prepared from scratch (allowing for easy substitutions, additions or subtractions of ingredients). We onlyt use pre-packed freeze-dried meals on summit pushes on our mountaineering expeditions.
On our backpacking and basecamp trips, you can expect 3 meals a day, plus snacks of your choice. Breakfasts and dinners are usually hot meals and lunches are served cold. On mountaineering trips lunches consist of a variety of snacks as it can be hard to organize group meals while on a rope team.
We use a combination of fresh, dehydrated, and freeze-dried ingredients to make our delicious meals, however on longer backpacking and mountaineering trips your guides will use more freeze-dried foods than fresh foods to keep pack weights as low as possible. On our rafting trips, we cook full multi-course meals with fresh ingredients and enjoy hot and cold breakfasts, cold lunches and hot dinners.
Meals for most trips start with Lunch on the first day and end with Lunch on the last day. *
*If you are signed up for a Custom Trip Package with us, it may include more meals. Check with us if you’re not sure. Mountaineering trips also include meals in McCarthy before and after the backcountry expedition.
Likely, at some point or another, at least a little bit, yes.
On a Rafting Trip, you can help the guides unload the boats, set up camp, and carry your dry bag(s) to your tent nearby. After breakfast, you can help take down camp and load up the boats.
On a Basecamp Hiking Trip, you will need to carry your gear about 5-20min from the backcountry airstrip to set up camp at the beginning of the trip and then pack up and carry it back to the airstrip at the end. Throughout the trip you will hike with a small day pack – this is usually 5-15lbs.
On a Basecamp mini-Backpacking Trip you will need to carry all your gear between the airstrip and your camp, which will be 1-3mi away. This means at least 2 one-way trips with the big backpack (usually 30-40lbs). After setting up camp you will enjoy day-hikes with a much lighter day pack (usually 5-15lbs).
On a Backpacking Trip, you will move camp almost every night and will need to carry everything you need with you. For a trip up to 4 days in length, you can expect packs in the 35-45lb range and for trips in the 6-8 day range, please be prepared for weights closer to 45-50lbs. The burly gear that is required for the Alaskan backcountry isn’t very light so forget “ultralite” and think heavy-duty!
For all Basecamping and Backpacking Trips, the pack weight will really depend on what you bring, so we do recommend having a minimalist mindset. In addition to your own gear, we will be giving you a bear canister full of food and supplies, potentially another item like a fuel canister or a stove, and maybe a part of a tent if you’re not bringing your own (we recommend sharing tents to save weight). Your guides are weight-conscious packers and will never burden you unnecessarily. It’s likely that over the course of the trip you’ll be able to start adding your own things into the bear canister and your pack should get lighter as you eat your food and use supplies.
If you would really like to do a Point-to-Point Backpacking Trip but are concerned about the pack weight, we also offer Porter services. Porters cannot take your entire pack for you, but they can help alleviate your pack weight significantly and offer other assistance as an assistant guide on the trip.
On our objective-based Mountaineering Expeditions, you will be required to carry all your own gear and some group gear between camps. Depending on the terrain, you may bring sleds with you for all or some of the route. Depending on the route, you may do stretches of the route multiple times, caching gear as you go, so you may not always have the full weight of all your equipment with you at all times. At maximum, you can expect weights of 80-160lbs to be split between a backpack and a sled and at minimum a 30lb bag for single-day excursions.
