On the Road

Ever wanted to build your own fireplace?  It’s a lot of work.  Here’s where I started:

Every piece of granite had to be carried from the next island (Mitkof) out of the woods through swampy muskeg to the car, driven about 10 miles to the boat harbor, loaded into my boat, driven across Wrangell Narrows, then schlepped up the beach to the house and finally selected to fit.  I have ‘climbed’ this fireplace about a thousand times!  Here’s the midpoint after we completed the ’square,’ fitting the mantel pieces:

And here’s the fireplace completed with a new cork floor.  I plan to weld my own doors in the style of the Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood–all built by the CCC of course! 

Next, we move in!   Stay tuned…..

If you want to stay warm in Petersburg Alaska, you need a good heater.  First, cut a hole in your floor and pour about 100 sixty lb. bags of concrete for a footing.  Next, order a Tulikivi masonry heater from Finland.  This unit has a thousand soapstone pieces weighing up to 200 lbs each.  We schlepped each piece up the beach from our landing craft (see previous blogs).  Here are Isaac and Brian, from Alaska Masonry Heat, sorting soapstone in the center of the house trying to find out which piece is which:

This is like building blocks when you were a kid.  Here’s a shot of the third course:

And four days later, we’re enjoying our first firing.  This heater is a contraflow system where the flu gasses circulate around and around and finally under the bench and up the chimney to the left.  The masonry remains hot 24 hours a day with a single firing once a day.  This will keep the grand piano happy!  Stay tuned…..I’ve been laying granite rock on the other fireplace, too….

To those of you who aren’t familiar with Fred Beckey, he’s still climbing at 85 years old–this time to Burkett’s Needle with two young ‘bucks’ Dave and Micah who are attempting a new route.  I climbed with Fred from 1967 to 1970 doing many first ascents in Washington State, Wyoming and Canada.  Fred only does first ascents–his name appears on every page of the the “Cascade Alpine Guide” which he authored first in the late 40’s, again in the early 60’s and 70’s (three volumns).  Check out his bibliography on the internet–close to 20,000 hits!    

This is what happens to you when you spend all day on Alaska Airlines with a baseball cap on.  At least Fred wears it with the bill forward.  Within two hours of arriving in Petersburg and some last minute shopping, they blast off north in a Hughs 500 ‘minicopter’ for the 35 minute ride to their destination.

By the way, Fred did the first ascent of Devil’s Thumb (beyond) in 1947 and he’s never stopped climbing.