I ascended Thunder Mountain minus the last couple hundred feet.
Starting from the Jennifer Drive trailhead, the route meanders through a
marsh, followed by a convoluted trail that branches off into
unconnected side-trails. After searching for 30 minutes, I finally
found the trail that leads upwards toward the ridge line of Thunder
Mountain. The trail is very muddy, quite steep, and actually involves
some class 3 moves over a few vertical sections of tree roots. After 2
hours, I reached snowpack, and an hour later, I was above treeline right
below the summit ridge. However, a large cornice covered the narrow
ridge...being unropped, I decided to skip the summit. There was also
plenty of evidence of small avalanches below the summit ridge. The view was
spectacular despite coming up short of the summit...all of Mendenhall
Valley lay below me, as well as the Juneau Airport, and the inner
channels to the west.
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| Mendenhall Valley. |
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| Inner Channels west of Juneau, AK. |
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| Slope beneath the summit of Thunder Mountain. |
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