The Seward Highway between the villages of Bird and Girdwood tracks along Turnagain Arm at the base of an avalanche swept slope in some places rising over 4,000 feet in a mile.  Along the Highway, the so called Penguin  Ridge at the top of this avalanche slope gives the impression of having flat, fast, running potential.  Not so amigos and amigoettes.  After a spicy ascent through old growth rain forests on the California Creek Trail the climb weary adventurer is greeted with a continuous series of ascents and descents on broken rocks with Wilkinson blade edges.

On the Quintessential outing, thick fog greeted us as we topped out after about three miles.  Surprisingly, even a razor sharp ridge is not all that easy to follow in pea soup conditions.  Mr. Compass led the way for the first half of the adventure until we finally arrived at the portion of the ridge where there is simply no other logical way to proceed.  To the left cliffs tumbled into the void and to the right slopes ramped ultimately into a sea of alder and dense forest.

Terrain rugged enough to induce acrophobia required delicate four point maneuvering for about a quarter of the route.  This was truly a grand day out and a Quintessential Alaska adventure!