— It must have taken us an hour to get from the frozen Chuitna River to the top of these bluffs, carefully switchbacking in skinless skis, then wading through a drift of chest-deep snow near the bluffs' upper edge. A major salmon river on the western side of Cook Inlet, the Chuitna River is at risk from a proposal to build a large coal mine just upstream on several of its tributaries. While the lowlands around the river are being explored for coal development, Mt Spurr has the potential to provide geothermal power.
