In late May, 2005 Gregg Rosenkranz and I climbed Shishaldin Volcano with two other climbers, Nancy Pfeiffer and Frans Mueter. Shishaldin at 9300 feet is the tallest volcano in the Aluetians. It is a perfect cone shaped stratovolcano and is often compared to Mount Fuji in Japan.
This is the view of the mountain from our base camp at 2500 feet. We had reached the summit the day before and skiied back down to camp. It took us four days to hike and ski to our camp at the base of the volcano from the village of False Pass on the East end of Unimak Island. Shishaldin is rarely so visible. Nancy Pfeiffer had tried to climb it once before but the fog had never cleared and they had to give up and go home.
Shishaldin is an active volcano and if you look closely you can see steam at the summit. The caldera at the summit was quite small - only a couple hundred yards across at most. And the steam was impressive! (PGS)
2 comments:
Sorry for the random comment, but I saw that you had climbed Shishaldin and I was looking to do the same this year, but there is very little info I can find about such an undertaking.
Would you be able to share some logistical details? How did you get to the island would be one kind of major piece of info for me. I have seen charters/flights via Grant Aviation, not aware of other options. Any help / pointers would be very much appreciated!
Is transport on the island limited to foot/ski/bike?
What is the weather like. You went in May, is that roughly the best time (knowing of course predicting 'the best time' is impossible with any certainty).
Ryan Molden
I think we flew the whole way to False Pass on Alaska Air miles - but the last part was thru Grant Aviation. But I remember that my ticket was free because I used miles. And then we hiked from there. It is designated wilderness so no motorized allowed, and this is good because it keeps it nice. I also do think late may is probably the best season. The snow has stabilized and yet you can still ski pretty much the whole way. Much earlier and you can get serious winter weather and lots of snow - much later and you lose your snowpack down low and have to hike the whole way.
Hope this helps,
Patrick
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