ski mountaineering - Kellie Okonek

Argentina: Cerro Martienzo, Ruta 7

kokonek@gmail.com — Mon, 20 Jan 2020 17:30:02 +0000

Part 2 of Argentina 2011. . . skiing Ruta 7 area

After our trip to the Valle de Colorado, Graham and I decided to return to one of my favorite backcountry ski areas in Argentina: Ruta 7 between Mendoza and Santiago. We stayed in Puente del Inca at Portezuelo del Viento and skied from the road each day (no camping!).

Up to Ruta 7 near the tunel . . . I had looked at this peak a few years before, and have always had my eye on it . . .

Another cool looking line, a bit more up close in this picture . . . we looked it up on a map – Cerro Martienzo, named after a the pilot who perished in a nearby plane crash . . . 7 mile approach from the road and 6500′ climb

Although neither Graham or I thought Cerro Martienzo would be possible in a day, we both thought the other person thought it was possible, and were both willing to give it a try based on that . . . so off we went.. Unfortunately, Graham had inadvertently left his skins up the valle del Colorado for the mules to bring later . . . made for a long bootpack!

Amazing rocks up high!

And then we made the ridge and were staring Aconcagua straight in the face – a really unanticipated and humbling view . . . also makes it clear why they “great stone sentinel” is so called . . . an impressive piece of rock to be sure!!!

Summit self-portrait in more Argentine wind

Me on the descent . . . rolled in somewhat mellow, transitioning to super steep next to the ice (a developing theme), but this was the best snow we skied the whole trip, and the longest consistent skiing we had . . . a really cool day!

Graham found a super cool condor feather . . . all-in-all the day only took us 13.5 hrs and we made it back to the car by dark – not bad!

We had a later start the next day and were joined by dogs!

and we ultimately skied the centerline on that peak . . . bummer was that the snow never softened – pretty brutal skiing!!

After our Ruta 7 ski days, we headed back to Barreal where we hoped to swoop in, pick up our gear, and head to San Juan to get to know the city a bit and take a different route back to Mendoza. Argentina had a different plan, however, and we found ourselves waiting in Barreal all day, unsure of whether the mules would come due to a freak storm that had brought snow level almost down to town. It had that eerie feeling of waiting for a plane in AK, and the potential to seriously derail phase 2 of both of our trips . . . but all’s well that ends well and at the very last minute (8pm on the night before I had to fly the next morning at 6am out of Mendoza!), the gear showed up. Phew!

With that, Graham was off to Chile to meet a friend and continue skiing, and I was off to Buenos Aires, and my favorite boutique hotel in Palermo (1555 Malabia House). A day of shopping, eating gourmet food, and seeing good friends, and I was off to Miami . . . thankful for a safe journey through Argentina.

Me and Patricio, a great friend from my 2009 trip . . .

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Argentina: Refugio Frey

kokonek@gmail.com — Mon, 20 Jan 2020 01:56:38 +0000

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Backcountry skiing or ski mountaineering? Mt. Rumble N face and N face of E Kiliak

kokonek@gmail.com — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 03:58:00 +0000

Backcountry skiing up Ram Valley means big peaks and long days . . . did a weekend trip to ski the North face of Mt. Rumble and the N face of E Kiliak the next day . . . We camped near Bombardment Pass, skied Mt. Rumble N face, camped in upper Peter’s Creek, skied N face of E Kiliak on the way out and made it to Anchorage in time for Moose’s Tooth! Long bootpacks, steep skiing, skinning with weight, camp fires, adventure, and fun times!

For a sundry of reasons, including Kit DesLaurier’s recent presentation on ski mountaineering (where she defined it as “skiing with ropes”), the theme of this weekend skiing/slogging/bootpacking adventure seemed to be: When does backcountry skiing become ski mountaineering . . . since we needed something to entertain us on the thousands of steps bootpacking, we came up with a suggested list of how you might know when you’ve started ski mountaineering and stopped backcountry skiing . . .

You might be ski mountaineering when some of these conditions have been met:

You are actually skiing/climbing with ropes
You probably should be climbing with ropes
You are scared #$*!-less much of the day
If you fall, there are likely consequences
You climb (or ski!) with sharp things
The primary hazard is object hazard (rockfall, serac fall, crevasse fall)
The snow has a high likelihood of not being great
You are skiing for the line (not the snow quality)
The point is that it’s an adventure . . . and there’s an expectation that the fun may be “type B,” or retrospective fun . . . that is, there is a reasonable chance for suffering

That being said, I’m reasonably sure this little adventure was more toward the ski mountaineering side, although we did not have ropes, so I can’t be absolutely sure. Plus, the great thing is that it doesn’t actually matter

So, on with the story . . . another random adventure that didn’t really take form until it was actually happening, but seemed to work out incredibly well all the same. Phil asked me if I wanted to do a weekend Rumble trip, I said yes before I asked questions about what this would actually entail (typical). Looking for a 3rd, I invited Cody who, at the last minute, got a dog sitter and was in (with his brand new backcountry setup), and then at the last minute, Russ decided our trip was the better option and joined the fun . . .

So off we went – hiked in from Ram Valley/Falling Waters . . .

Smiling as we left the car because we didn’t actually know what we were getting ourselves into!

Nothing like some dirt walking to start a ski trip . . .

We camped on the Eagle River side of Bombardment Pass on tundra, and hiked up/over the next morning. The ski down the backside of Bombardment was somewhat annoying since many places had melted out and required skis-off walking, but it was all good when we got to upper Peter’s Creek and the snow was consolidated and easy travel . . .

Up and over Bombardment Pass, down to upper Peter’s Creek

We dropped our gear at camp, and headed up toward Rumble with lighter packs . . . the weather was in/out, but it seemed like we had a decent chance of making it . . .

Headed up toward Rumble after setting up camp

4000′ bootpack – fun times!

Lip smackin’ bootpackin’ . . . somewhere about 1500′ into the 4000′ staircase

Phil, the trailbreaking animal!!

Bringing up the rear

Summit was awesome – we had one spicy section on the climb that we were hopeful could be bypassed on the way down to avoid a downclimb . . . Russ and I “skied” off the summit by sidestepping/navegating the upper 15′ of rocks, but it was otherwise a super skiable line!

Phil, with his summit game face

Steep, scenic, alpine, engaging . . . super great turns on the upper 2000′ – cold snow, perfect edgeable, some sluff, but not enough to be scary.

Big mountain, petite girl

Phil

Me, with the long Peters Creek drainage in the background

Arriving back at camp, we got down to business and put on tennis shoes and lit a fire – sooooo nice to be camping on dry ground again. We really had an awesome campsite – running water, flat ground, plenty of firewood

home sweet home after a great ski from the summit!!!

First campfire of the season – what a treat!!!

We had a lovely morning, enjoying the serenity of where we were, drinking plenty of coffee, and generally relaxing a bit . . . and then it was time to pack up and head up river . . .

Headed upriver to drop gear at the base of Bombardment and head up Kiliak

Phil and me

We dropped gear at the base of Bombardment Pass and hiked up the Kiliak drainage to see what sort of ski line we could find . . .

Russ, me, and Phil . . . wondering if a ski line is going to appear

Skinning toward . . . somewhere

And ski line we did find! I really wasn’t expecting to see such a stunningly beautiful and appealing couloir, but there it was!

Oh, there’s a ski line . . . maybe a burly, close-out, scary one . . . but a ski line all the same

We had a lot of concerns over snow quality, if the line was wide enough to ski, how steep it was, and the list goes on. Ultimately we decided that we could turn around if we got into it and it didn’t go . . . so up we went up another bootpack!

Phil and I – ants at the base of the coolie

Cody, a new backcountry skier, decided to descend and save legs for the slog out . . .

Cody, with me and Phil at the base of the line (if you look closely!)

The line turned out to be one of the steepest and narrowest I’ve been in for awhile – 2500′ long, and a solid 50 degrees up top, we also had to downclimb a 15′ section in the middle where it necked down to about 2′ wide . . . the snow stayed very skiable throughout though, so it was manageable.

Another stairway to heaven, only this one was “short” at 2500′ – it got narrower as we went up, with a choke about 500′ from the top . . . really aesthetic line though!

I was definitely on a high after the couloir, which I suppose made the climb back up and over a bit more bearable . . . although our packs weren’t crushing, I was reminded how it feels like much more of a slog with a pack . . . but I was pretty jazzed all the same.

The views toward Anchorage did not suck!!

Back in Ram Valley . . . a bit of tundra skinning

As it turned out, we made it back to Anchorage and to the Bear Tooth for burgers by 11pm! All’s well that ends with microbrews and gourmet eats!! We were admittedly all feeling it a bit

After this trip, I put my skis away for the last time this season . . . again. Wonder when the real “last” time will be!!

For more stories of Alaska backcountry skiing, check out the full repertoire!

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Skiing Iliamna Volcano SW ridge – more Aleutian volcano love!!

kokonek@gmail.com — Tue, 29 May 2012 16:42:00 +0000

Skiing Alaska’s Mt. Iliamna volcano (10,016′) from the Umbrella Glacier at 500′ was a dream ski line. Add to it ski exploration of the nearby Neacola Mountains and that’s what dreams are made of!

Well, if the Augustine and the Hayes put a smile on my face, Iliamna restored my faith in the world and reminded me what it feels like to be happier than I know what to do with. I honestly don’t think I’ve been as elated upon my return from this trip (in combination with the previous two amazing trips, of course!) as I have been since Aconcagua . . . that kind of joy that makes me feel like I can’t really function in society – I SO LOVE THAT FEELING!!!

Enough gushing, let’s get to the story . . . another random adventure evolved over multiple conversations on skin tracks, talking to the universe, and dumb luck. Russ was really the instigator for this one, and when we needed a third I invited Phil Hess, who hesitated only slightly before making the life modifications necessary to make this one happen . . . of course, when I left for the Hayes, much of it was still up in the air: where are we flying out of? who’s coming? are we going? But, as with most things in life, it just took a little faith . . .

Enough gushing, let’s get to the story . . . I had one day to “recover” from the Hayes, so spent it at Alyeska because it was so sunny and beautiful – how could I pass that up?!?

I skied all day with Billy Sullivan, rallying in the sun – SO MUCH FUN, and a happy girl afterwards!

Thursday morning, Phil and I got up super early and met Russ in Kenai at 8am . . . maybe out of excitement for the trip (or nervousness?!?), neither of us could sleep, so we were both on about 2 hrs of sleep as we showed up and jumped into Doug Brewer’s (Alaska West Air) Bushhawk to be transported to the 600′ level on the Umbrella Glacier. Our goal was to ski as much of the mountain’s fall line as possible, and much lower than that was just a gently sloping slog to Chinitna Bay and Cook Inlet.

View of the Umbrella Glacier flying in – our landing strip was just out of sight in the lower left corner

Of course, just before we landed, we saw our first huge grizzly of the season, so it was pretty compelling not to leave anything at the runway!!

Phil and I rigging up to drag stuff to our base camp

We decided to take everything to the 2000′ level on the Umbrella, setup a base camp from which we could ski around after we’d skied the peak, and then setup an advanced base camp that afternoon . . . In retrospect, it’s possible to do in a day from the landing strip (9400′ climb), but we had absolutely no beta on the route so figured we should play it conservatively lest we lose our window completely.

Holy smokes, did I mention how tired I was from not sleeping the night before – soooo nice to relax!

Our base camp . . .

Then it was time to continue onward and upward – Russ and Phil – our camp was just at the base of the couloir-ish section in the rocks

Phil and I . . . making progress

Phil and Russ

It was a scorcher – amazing how hot it can be in the direct sun, reflecting off glacier!

Russ and I making our home for the night . . .

Really rough living – gotta say it was super nice to be up there at 9pm in direct sunlight!

Nothing like a room with a view – super nice to fall asleep to

The next morning dawned clear, and we were off to see what this lovely volcano had in store! Starting off with a booter up the couloir outside of camp, we transitioned to skins for about 3k between 6-9000′ – back to boots and crampons once we hit the rime up high. Overall, a pretty straightforward and efficient climb . . .

Phil and I – the Umbrella Glacier below

Me, and the mountains of the Aleutian Range

Chinitna and Iniskin Bays in the background – so cool to have views of the Inlet while climbing!

A rare moment ahead of Russ!

happy climber

Up top, we roped up as we encountered some bridged crevasses – Phil and I, with Chinitna Bay behind us, and Augustine just barely visible in the distance

And we’re a back to a steaming world – this one had a slight “rotten eggs” odor, but nothing horrible

Almost there! Phil and Russ with the summit cone above

And then we were there – gotta love volcanoes for being the highest thing around!! The views were stunning, on a summit big enough that some argue you could land a SuperCub on . . . I’d really like to see that!!

Russ and me – and Cook Inlet

Me, with enough inspiration to last a lifetime

Oh, hello lovely Augustine! This is the aspect that we’d skied just over a week before!

Phil on the edge of the world

And then it was time to ski! All things considered, the ski was pretty good – where we’d been climbing on rime ice, we were able to traverse over and ski neve . . . the sastrugi was reasonably kind, and the corn in the final couloir to our advanced camp was awesome!!

Russ

Phil

Pretty sure this is Phil

Pretty sure this is me

Russ incoming – our steam vent and/or the clouds moving in – glad we were on our way down!

Me and Phil, proud of our quickly broken-down camp, and sweet corn turns above!

Phil incoming – our lovely volcano behind

Helluva way to spend an evening – while I love gourmet dinner, gotta say that the just-add-water dehy program left a lot more time for chillin’ out and enjoying

The next day greeted us stormy, but we still managed to get out for a ski . . . nothing epic, but we skied good corn in a decent couloir-ish line. No complaints!! Arriving back reasonably early, I found myself engrossed in a book like I haven’t in a long time – makes me realize I can’t do anything halfway – was up til midnight until that damn thing was read!!!

Phil in the milk

Russ and Phil . . . looking downglacier at the zone we explored the following day

So, what I gotta say about day 3: I love bonus days. There is something so wonderful about that day you have to explore, already having done what you came to do, when everything is just bonus – nothing left to achieve, to prove, to try for . . . but yet, we skied harder/longer/more on this day than any other! We had eyed a line down valley that we called “the gunsight” and based on the map, we figured it would have an unobstructed view to the sea . . . sounded like a good enough reason to head that way – plus, it looked so close

But first, we took the chance to do some fishing for water – lovely not to have to melt water for the day, and nothing like the “taste” of clear glacier water!!

Russ, heading down glacier with our lovely volcano behind

Russ, heading up toward the “gunsight” – as it turned out, we toured up the valley to the right, and then came back and went up to the col in the sun on the left valley . . .

The area ended up being 4 miles down glacier and a loss of about 1000′ – the travel was good early . . . somewhat nervous it would get rotten by the end of the day, we figured we’d cross that bridge when we got to it and got down to exploring. As the area unfolded, there was an insane amount of ski terrain. South faces were pretty burnt, but the options were pretty inspiring for a potential future return trip, especially since the terrain was super varied – everything from meadow-skipping to holy-shit-this-is-the-scariest-thing-I’ve-ever-skied. The best part for me was that, after the Hayes, I was prepared to be pretty underwhelmed by this area, but I experienced the exact opposite! Silly me

Anyhow, we toured up to the gunsight line in crushing heat, and when we topped out, there was a sneaker couloir that took us to the backside and allowed us to wrap around to the peak, and the high point on the ridge. From there, our views were simply stunning – indescribable really. We had a clear view of Chinitna Bay, Augustine Volcano and Iniskin Bay . . . and even out to what we later decided must be Kodiak Island. Sitting on a grassy knoll under warm skies – looking S to our ski line on Augustine and N to our ski line on Iliamna, and surrounded by inspiration, I felt a deep sense of joy and gratitude . . .

Our objective – we ended up toping out on the high point – super stoked on the mellow sneaker route up the backside!

Me slogging in the heat, Iliamna partially obscured by clouds in the distance

Phil and me

Lip smackin’ bootpackin’

“Hey, looks like we can sneak higher – can I go check it out?!?”

The views did not suck – hello Augustine!

Russ

Phil

Happy camper

Our ski was great – corn turns off the top, then powder turns seemlessly transitioning to corn as we neared the main drainage (back to mashed potatoes!) . . . Russ eyed a super sweet little coolie, so we got to ski some spicy jump turns to keep things festive!

Me skiing off the top

Phil incoming off the top

Pow pow here we come!!

Russ gettin’ ‘er done!

From there, we decided to tour up the glacier line we’d passed before . . . another lovely skin to the col, and a slightly different take on a great view! The wind had whipped up, so we didn’t stay long . . . some family style skiing down the glacier, and we were back at the creek!

Russ taking it in . . .

Slightly different take on the same view: Augustine, Chinitna (near) and Iniskin (far) Bays

Mike Wiegle’s heli skiing comes to Iliamna! Russ and Phil gettin’ stylie!

Headed down to the mashed potatoes-filled valley!

From there, it was a slog back to camp, but we made it in just over an hour . . . with plenty of time to enjoy one last meal of dehydrated food, amazing views, and quality mountain time!!

Me on the slog . . . at least the views were still awesome!

For the long days we skied, we definitely had some great camp time too!!

Our last night was clear – great for lovely views and a good freeze to re-create a solid landing strip below . . . a charmed trip until the very end! We got up early, loaded sleds and packs and skied down just as Doug was landing . . . loaded up, and we were outta there.

Russ skiing down, weighed down by his fully-loaded drybag! We were thankful for the re-freeze so as to have a nice supportive crust to ski on!

Iliamna and the Umbrella Glacier from our flight out

The views on the flight out did not suck – this area is inspirational!!

Tuxedni Bay on the N side of Iliamna

Overall, an amazing trip – one of my all-time best for sure. Many thanks to Russ and Phil, as well as Alaska West Air for the safe transport!!

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Tordrillos base camp skiing on the Hayes Glacier

kokonek@gmail.com — Mon, 28 May 2012 02:45:00 +0000

Base camping on a glacier, backcountry skiing Tordrillos spines and beautiful terrain, bush plane access, and great friends – Tordrillos adventure ski week!

So, on the back end of Augustine, I had a day through Anchorage and then it was off to the Tordrilllos with Paul, Erin, and Corky . . . My friend Max and his 2 childhood friends from Argentina wanted a quintessential Alaskan experience, so we invited them to come along and share base camp as well.

The crew: Corky, Paul, me, Erin

With amazing luck, our fly-day was sunny . . . so I flew with Jake in the Beaver over to the Tordrillo mountain lodge and then out to scope our runway in the SuperCub . . . it was good to be back in a bush plane again, and I loved scouting the area!!

looks like there might be some ski terrain here . . .

Jake the pilot, and the super cub

The beaver landing with the crew

We spent the rest of that day styling out camp: cook tent, Arctic oven drying/sleeping tent, bathroom, walkways, etc. and doing some z-pulley setup and crevasse rescue practice. From the outset, it was clear that we would not be suffering – luxury camping, amazing food, and plenty of it!!!

home sweet home!

Next day dawned blue, so we took off in search of good snow – we headed up toward Mt. Gerdine and a peak which looked pretty climbable from below . . . long slog, super deep and steep trailbreaking, and HOT HOT HOT temps/sun reflection, but we made the high point we’d been gunning for and were greeted with a stunning run to start out with! We’d all intended to start out on mellower terrain, but we’d had good pit results, no indication of instability on the climb, and were able to start mellow and ramp up as our run went . . . so we gave it a shot . . . we ended up skiing “the shoulder of awesome” that we’d all eyed from camp that morning – we were stoked!!

Heading up glacier, roped for our first day as we got the lay of the land

Steep and deep trailbreaking, compliments of Paul

Erin coming up the ridge

I couldn’t decide if I love or hate that views like these have become “normal” in my life . . . it was stunning!!!

Erin making it look easy

Me, loving the blower powder we’d found – wasn’t expecting that!

Day 2 we decided to check out a nearby cirque I’d drooled over on the scouting flight . . . another day of amazing snow in super fun terrain – by the time we were done, there were 8 lines down it and not much remaining untracked real estate – another amazing day under blue skies with more stable snow! We named this the “bowl of delight” . . . for obvious reasons!

Looks like more good snow!

Corky creating a superhighway . . . our playground above

Me, Erin, and Paul

Erin and Corky at the top of the line – our mountain from the day before in the background

Paul and I at the top of run #1

Corky incoming

Our work here is done . . . super fun, super festive skiing in amazing snow – we win again!!

So, let’s just say we did not suffer in the dinner/camp department – Erin put together some amazing meals, and I brought tons of veggies to add . . . we had coconut curry, sun dried tomato/pesto/pine nut/smoked salmon pasta, moose filets and veggie mashed potatoes, salmon filets and veggie cous cous, chicken mole with fried polenta, and a spicy veggie curry . . . best food I’ve ever eaten on glacier, to be sure!!

We also had some nice mellow time at camp, kinda waiting for weather to settle so we’d know which way to travel . . . but we had such a nice space to enjoy it from, and likely all needed a bit of “vacation” on our vacation, so it was awesome!

Our third day was a “storm” day, but since it wasn’t really accumulating, Paul and I decided to head out with Max/Sacha/Joaquin in search of a couloir they’d seen on their previous day exploring . . . so off we went into the abyss!

I clearly think storm skiing is funny . . .

Off into the abyss . . . hope this one works out!

Sacha showing us the way it’s done . . . kind of like Christmas Chute on a storm day, but longer, further away, and a little different

Day 4 was an iffy weather day, but it cleared late in the day, so we were blessed with sunshine yet again. We decided to head up to an area we’d begun to call “The Argentine Spines” since it was Max and company that had skied them on day 1. I feel like a broken record at this point: amazing views, insanely good snow, lusciously curvy terrain . . . incredible pinch-me-I-must-be-dreaming skiing . . .

Looks like we might get a good day after all . . .

Erin and Paul headed up glacier

Paul enjoying himself

Corky with a little slice of paradise above him . . .

Paul ripping . . .

Me hidden in the powder cloud

Our last day dawned blue again, so we headed back to the “shoulder of awesome” zone from day 1 . . . we had some unfinished work to do, out skintrack was still in, and we had high confidence of finding more amazing snow . . . so off we went!

Me and Paul . . . going up up up

Corky and more horrible views . . .

Ready for run #1

Paul ripping the line Corky had eyed

Paul

Chilling out before leaving the sun back to our shady camp . . . the Lotus 120’s slay it again! Love these skis

So, with 5 days of great skiing, and zero down days, we didn’t have much to complain about. I was pretty impressed with the terrain, the snow quality, and the location overall. Many thanks to Sportsman’s Air for the safe transport!!!

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Skiing Augustine Volcano Alaska!!

kokonek@gmail.com — Sun, 27 May 2012 08:43:00 +0000

Skiing Mt. Augustine Volcano in Alaska has long been a dream of mine . . . and the adventure was all I hoped for and more! Ski mountaineering is always interesting, and doing so on a steamy active volcano in the middle of Cook Inlet just ups the game

So, I admittedly have a small obsession with the Alaska Volcano Observatory webcams – situated to consistently provide info on weather and conditions for the prominent volcanoes across Cook Inlet from the Kenai peninsula, they keep me inspired. This year, when the stars aligned to take a boat trip out to the Augustine Volcano, I was more than stoked! I’ve been wanting to get out there forever – one of those mountains that I have had countless conversations on skin tracks about . . . so when Scott Dickerson of www.surfalaska.com said we could get out there on the M/V Milo, living/cooking aboard and travelling at night to maximize ski days, I knew we had to make it happen.

Cue the hodge-podge group: Kathy and the Viking, Matt and Agnes Hage, Andy, Doug, Cody, me . . . many of us had never skied together, many had never met prior, we had varied levels of uphill/downhill experience . . . but sometimes those are the best groups – just random enough to ensure adventure!

Leaving on a Thursday night, we all slept as the Milo cruised west and awoke to stunning views of the volcano right at our fingertips . . . serene waters between it and us . . . game on!

Onshore we went – not having much beta beforehand, Mike the captain anchored at the location with the closest access to the mountain from shore. From below, there was no obvious route through the upper rime iced sections, but we chose what looked to have the best chance of going.

The climb was straightforward – skis transitioning to a stairway to heaven – and then we got into rime ice, fumaroles, snow bridged caves formed by the hot rocks melting the snow from below . . . I found myself exploring an alternate route up to the climber’s right that looked like a potential ski line and found myself navigating a series of precarious crossings, steam emanating from below them, with the distinct wonder of whether we should be there at all! Both Andy and I took routes that converged on a path to the caldera and then got shut down on going further by a steaming and unstable world around us. We had one more idea to try, gaining a nearby rock that looked to possibly connect to a higher zone of the caldera . . . but as Andy approached it, he fell in up to his shoulders – with that, we called it. We reasoned that for a volcano, reaching the caldera was accomplishment enough . . . no need to off ourselves to get the actual highest point J

After a brief snack and a few moments to soak in the view through the steam, it was time to ski! Of course, the rime ice that had surrounded our climb, and the contrived route up made for some interesting skiing! We picked our way through the top section and then started having fun on the rimed features as things started to open up and we got out of the fumarole zone – starting to relax as we got back on what seemed like stable ground. Like any good Alaskan volcano, however, Augustine had one up on us, and we had a brief scare as Matt was traversing over to setup for a photo, and fell in to his neck in a pretty darn unpredictable place . . . guess the hot rocks lasted further down that we thought! We definitely had a tense moment until we realized all was well, at which point the smiles/laughs/jokes started as Matt mountaineered his way out of the hole!

Back on track, it was ski fun back to the bottom . . . as Cody put it, the rime “skied like butter: really hard, crusty, chunky, frozen butter” . . . but these things don’t really seem to matter when the sky is blue, you’re surrounded by water, skiing a dream line with great people – mostly we just felt grateful to be there and loved the turns, whatever they were comprised of!

After the caldera run, Andy and I decided to go back up and ski the couloir we’d eyed earlier in the day – always believing “there’s no promise of tomorrow” it was too hard not to go up and explore a bit more. So, up we went – unfortunately, the clouds rolled in as we climbed and the sun became obscured, so we had some festive low light skiing in variable snow conditions in a super steep and narrow line – gotta love it! Gotta say it was pretty awesome to ski all the way to the water though, and in no time, we were on the beach looking back up at a lenticular on the summit and feeling thankful we’d eeked our day out of the weather!!!

As we cruised to our anchor spot for the night, with the hopes of being setup to ski a new aspect the following day, we saw multiple straightforward ski lines emerged and laughed at how we seemed to be on the most contrived spot possible . . . still, we were glad to have it that way – it was awesome to be in such a volcanic zone, hiking in the steaming world, slightly out of place and unsure – raw adventure!!

The next morning unfortunately dawned gray, but we could still see the summit (in and out), so we decided to see if we could eek out another ski . . . with 45 mph winds whipping across the inlet, white caps dotting the sea, and the ceiling obscuring the mainland we’d been able to see just a few hours before, we decided to turn back. Regardless, it was awesome just to be there in the weather – to feel the power of an incoming storm, to look down on the rough seas . . . and to be glad we had a warm boat to go back to!

Our third and final day was one for exploration on the mainland – after a rough crossing (that had most of us admitting defeat against the inlet!), we ended up in Iniskin Bay. Though raining, three of us motivated to get out and explore, but for me I was honestly motivated as much by getting on solid ground and prolonging subsequent exposure to the sea as I was by going skiing! Regardless of motivation, Erik, Cody and I booted up a super sweet couloir to the sea and found much better and more consolidated snow than we’d imagined from below – score!!! Soaked at the bottom, we were psyched to return back to a warm dinner and get horizontal before the final crossing.

Overall, this was an amazing trip – 3 days of exploring, super cool skiing, great people, and a wonderful adventure. Huge thanks to Scott/Stephanie and Mike for making it happen!!!

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Argentina: Valle de Colorado ski exploration (Cerro Mercedario)

kokonek@gmail.com — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 06:23:00 +0000

To be honest, I’m not even sure where to start with regard to writing about this trip – it was super challenging on multiple fronts, but in retrospect incredibly rewarding. By the time I left, I had made the agreement with myself that this was my last Argentina trip, and now I’m dreaming of my return. I suppose that the reason I can write about the whole experience at this point is that I feel a return of my deep sense of joy, aliveness, gratitude, and presence that didn’t necessarily characterize this trip for me . . . for much of it, I felt lost, like I didn’t even need to be there, didn’t love Argentina like I used to, could take it or leave it, didn’t have the hunger and drive that have always characterized my approach to skiing, and life for that matter. I still don’t know if I was just reacting to the conditions we found, or if it was where I was at that manifested those conditions into the trip we had – I suppose it’s some combination of the two, and the reality is that it doesn’t really matter.

So, what is the reality of Argentina 2011 and the Valle del Colorado ski exploration? I think if I had to sum up this trip in a word, the only one would be “intense.” What other way to describe the landscape, the rockfall on our climbs, the terrain, the conditions, the access, the logistics? Then there was being in these extreme conditions while also being pretty sick and developing my favorite “death cough” in the high-altitude dryness . . . intense.

I always said that if I ever lose myself, I’ll go to Argentina. This year, I didn’t feel like I did much finding, but in the retrospect of pictures and memories, as well as seeing how life has gone since then, I did just that. My memory now is of the rawness of the trip – raw beauty of the location, raw adventure of being so remote in a foreign country, rawness of vulnerability. Reflections on rawness make the trip feel perfect and beautiful.

I also look back and see accomplishment. While we may not have skied the prize of Mercedario, it really wasn’t right for us, and so I’m glad we didn’t go. Same for Polaco. While it’s natural to wonder or judge in retrospect, I am truly happy with our accomplishment of the steep lines and the amazing couloir off of the 18,500′ Cerro Negro summit that we skied . . . I’m glad we came back safe, given the amount of rockfall and object hazard we found. I’m glad we came back friends, and having made new friends in the mountains. And, I’m so glad I went . . . really drives home that you never regret going . . .

So, with all that said, I guess I’ll share the pics and tell the story . . . enjoy the view!

After a few days in Mendoza for food and fuel organization and waiting for Graham’s lost luggage, we were off to the sleepy town of Barreal in San Juan provence and then on to the Gendarmaria outpost of Santa Ana where we began our walk up the Rio Colorado.

Graham with Santa Ana behind him

Amazing erosional effects on the walk in

Las mulas con el equipo

Our first night in Las Vegas – finished at dark, barely finding the mules and our gear – wouldn’t have been the end of the world if we hadn’t, but it was nice all the same, if for no other reason than fixing the holes that had developed in our sacks from transport.

Una mula

Our first view of Pico Polaco with the valle del Colorado just around the corner

And then the Mercedario with her glorious south face appeared

El valle del Colorado

Skiing was a bit contrived to put it lightly – the sliver of snow heading up above Graham (on a water run since there was no running water near camp) to the ridge was our first ski line, topping out at about 16,500′

The plateau of Cerro Negro – in past years, all these lines have been filled in and skiable, but there were only a few that went . . . we ended up skiing the “obvious” line in the center, hiking along the ridge to the summit of Cerro Negro at 18,500′

Home sweet home

Our first day, I felt super sick, so just went on a mellow stroll up to the Italian Glacier. Our beta was that this glacier would be skinnable, but it was instead a super gnarly icefall . . . lovely day to be out for a walk, taking naps in the sun, and exploring for non-silty water sources

The not-so-inviting Italian Glacier

Oh, hello Mercedario . . . the face looked okay upon our arrival , but got sequentially blasted by the wind until lit looked like a shining sheet of neve . . .

Graham in our kitchen . . . luxury!

Another view of “home” with Pico Polaco in the background

Graham part way up our first run – cool line, even if the snow wasn’t inspirational

view across the valle

Graham struttin’ his stuff . . . perhaps a little bummed he’d forgotten his gore tex

Aesthetic alpine views, amazing color contrasts

Skiing

The next day, we went to recon the potential route to Pico Polaco

We got to scope this awesome line off the Negro massif .. . . we ultimately climbed and skied looker’s left of the ice/glacier tongue . . . a super aesthetic and unique line

Loving the color contrasts

Mercedario

The rare treat of clear water . . . we did a lot of carrying water on this trip . . .

Headed up our Cerro Negro couloir . . . we definitely returned to this spot just as it was getting dark . . .

Looking happy . . . if only I knew the awaiting pain of a 6500′ climb at altitude

Graham on the tongue

making progress up Negro . . . Cerro La Ramada in the background

Made the ridge! Built a cairn so as to find the right couloir on the way down!

Me on the top-out of our Cerro Negro couloir, en route to the summit – I think the ridge was around 17,000′

Lovely ski conditions heading up to the summit . . . took a lot of wind out of our sails since Mercedario looked similar from a distance

Summits deserve high fives! Ansilta Range in the distance

Graham still had energy on top! Mercedario in the background – I had originally thought this west face just behind him might also be skiable, but it was an obvious sheet of ice

It’s about the down . . . losing light

The ski was pretty sweet actually – good placa snow, nice fall line, amazing couloir walls, and we finished just before it was too dark to enjoy

Fox in camp the next morning . . . this little guy was responsible for lost peanut butter, dulce de leche, and other food items that we did our best to protect . . . wily little sucker!

Recovery day in the kitchen

And then the neighbors, Dave McCoy and Mark Angelos with their guides Indio and Coque, showed up

They were living just a little bit larger than us!

Amazing light over Mercedario . . . really a stunning mountain

Graham headed up to the cool glacier/ice line off of Negro

Me on the climb . . . approaching the ice tongue

super trippy to be climbing next to this huge ice/glacier chunk! We had one tight section, but the snow stuck pretty well, so we were able to navegate it just fine . . . really cool place to hang out (despite the rockfall raining down us for the first bit of the climb . . . by this point, climbing in rockfall was really starting to fray my nerves!)

It’s about the down! This was a super amazing line – a lot steeper than I thought originally – I really love the perspective in this photo!

Graham . . . and trippy ice formations

Did I mention I thought this ice was super cool?!?

The line really didn’t let up until the end . . . in fact, the apron was some of the steepest skiing

Ultimately we decided our best ski option would likely be Pico Polaco – it looked like it had a reasonably straightforward line on it, and we decided it was worth a try . . . so we carted super heavy packs a few thousand feet up to its base

Graham approaching horrible scree followed by 5th class scrambling with heavy packs . . . a really unpleasant climb!

But then we got to the Polacos glacier, which was one of the coolest glaciers I’ve ever been on!

Graham skinning up – we were lucky there was a ribbon of snow along the ice to make travel much more achievable!

Cool glaicer, trippy cool clouds

Heading up glacier . . . this place was badass!

Graham with Polaco and its ridgeline above him

Pico Polaco – we had intended to climb the line essentially below the serac . . . everyone told us it “never ” breaks and, although this angle doesn’t show it well, you don’t have to climb in the line of fire that long . . .

But the next day, we awoke to this sight – the serac had broken . . . and revealed some pretty shiny snow . . . we could also see that the upper mountain was a sheet of ice, making a summit descent nearly impossible.

Our glacial home . . .

We ended up climbing a cool line with another steep glacier in the middle of it, as opposed to heading up Polaco. Given the condition of the summit, the hazard on the route, my lungs which were in pretty bad shape, and our lack of gear to protect the route, we decided to leave the summit for another trip.

At the top of our line – lots more snow deeper in the range. . . . maybe we could have chosen a better zone to explore . . .

Looking down on the valle del Colorado and out to Barreal

More cool ice to climb and ski with!

Graham on the descent

Little me, big world

Our line . . . we climbed and skied looker’s left of the ice

Graham skiing down the ice penitentes with a heavy pack . . .

Did I mention how other-worldly this place was?!?

Me skiing the valle del Colorado’s equivalent of “trees”

Looking back up glacier and at Pico Polaco

Negro and the cool line from a few days before

Polaco in alpenglow

Dave, our new neighbor, decided to go out early, and we opted to go out with him and get a ride out of the mountains and back to Mendoza to go check out skiing on Ruta 7

Back in the lowlands, heading out a different route than we came in. Typical Argentine wind and a 1500′ climb I really wasn’t mentally prepared for!

A welcome sight . . . asado in a few hours!

An old ski club on the road out

Dave and Graham in the Nutibara lobby

Part 2 . . . skiing Ruta 7 area

Up to Ruta 7 near the tunel . . . I had looked at this peak a few years before, and have always had my eye on it . . .

Amazing rocks up high!

Summit self-portrait in more Argentine wind

Graham found a super cool condor feather . . . all-in-all the day only took us 13.5 hrs and we made it back to the car by dark – not bad!

We had a later start the next day and were joined by dogs!

and we ultimately skied the centerline on that peak . . . bummer was that the snow never softened – pretty brutal skiing!!

With that, Graham was off to Chile to meet a friend and continue skiing, and I was off to Buenos Aires. A day of shopping, eating gourmet food, and seeing good friends, and I was off to Miami . . . thankful for a safe journey through Argentina.

Me and Patricio, a great friend from my 2009 trip . . .

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Wrangells on a whim . . .

kokonek@gmail.com — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 04:35:00 +0000

It’s always funny how trips come about . . . I really wasn’t planning a Wrangells trip, but I ran into Lance Breeding at the base of Peak 3 and we talked about both having time off, and then I got a call a few days later with an invite to leave in less than 24 hours to meet his friend Kevin for a quick trip. Since I already had ski plans, I figured it was best to meditate over it on the skin track (to ski a super cool couloir in Ram Valley, I might add!) and go from there. I had a bunch to take care of before I could leave as well, so I eventually decided not to rush anything and to do as much as I could, going if I could fit it all in. I think it was about 11pm by the time I got home and I had to meet Lance at 4am in Anchorage, but somehow I managed to pack and drive back to town, even with about 2 hours in my bed He was kind enough to do the driving to Chitina where Paul Claus picked us up and took us to the Ultima Thule lodge, where we met up with Lance’s friend Kevin and flew in. Kevin had recently completed a new alpine route on University Peak and was looking to spend some time in the mountains enjoying before a summer of work at Ultima Thule.

So, off we went . . . Paul pretty much followed the weather, and of course knows the area better than anyone, so we ended up in a pretty sweet ski area in the Granite Range. These pictures didn’t load in order, and I lack the fortitude to re-organize, so enjoy the smattering of images from a wonderful mountain getaway Ski on!!!

This was ultimately our last day – we had wanted to ski that couloir, but we got up part of the base of it and were greeted with nasty windslab, so bailed

Me putting on skins in camp – the views did not suck!!

The famed turbine otter, on our arrival day . . .

Lance on the way up right outside of camp

This was a super sweet N face that was ultimately our best ski run of the trip . . . I ended up skiing pretty much 360 degrees of this peak throughout the trip . . . pretty sweet!!

Kevin in our megamid kitchen! Luxury camping Lance had gone pretty all-out on food too, so we were not suffering!!!

Not all days were sunny days . . . but couloirs aren’t bad in low vis either!

Those lines right outside camp were sweet . . . super steep near the bottom

This was a great south facing run Kevin and I ended up skiing – super satisfying!!

Me on the top of our first run of the trip . . .

The one scary part of this trip was that cornice breaking below my feet and sending a large chunk off the other side – welcome to the mountains . . .

Our final run – we actually had a miscommunication and Paul came earlier than we expected, so we were halfway up this face when he arrived . . . free trip back to camp, and ended up being good luck that we got out that day, as the actual pickup day was gray and likely not-flyable . . .

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Skiing Mt. Chamberlin and floating Hula Hula River to Kaktovik

kokonek@gmail.com — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 05:48:00 +0000

Mt. Chamberlin is the highest mountain in the Brooks Range of Alaska and we skied it in July 2010, packrafting the Hula Hula River to Kaktovik after the ski mission. In between, we witnessed the migration of the porcupine herd of caribou – amazing!

Is it really a year later and I’m just now writing about this? I guess so, but such is life . . . I guess that means it’s been a good year full of interesting things to distract me The group consisted of Bobby and me in his plane and Matt Harper and Nellie Love in Matt’s plane – the two had been introduced before this trip, then spent some plane and mountain time in the Brooks on the trip, which turned into a romance and now engagement . . . so yeah, a lot can happen in a year!

Suffice it to say this was one of the coolest trips of all time – we flew into Schrader Lake with Bobby’s Supercub and Matt’s 185, with the hopes of climbing and skiing Mt. Chamberlin. From there, we’d do a plane shuttle to take Bobby’s plane to Kaktovik and then he/I would float the Hulahula to the coast and Matt/Nellie could make it back for work as they had less time off . . .

Given the remoteness of the area and the infrequency with which the Brooks Range is visited, it was super difficult to get info on the “strip” we landed at, as well as intel on the area in general. The year before, Joe Stock and Matt Hage had skied Chamberlin for its first descent (although there was a claim made after their write-up that it had in fact been skied before – who knows!), landing on the Hulahula river and hiking in from the opposite side. I think they’d wanted to land on the Shrader Lake side, but the strip was too wet for the larger plane – thankfully we had the cub to check it out with, and do shuttles from a bigger landing strip if necessary . . .

Mt. Chamberlin from the air – we went up the far looker’s left

As it turned out, we were able to get both planes down with no problem – we had perfect weather too, simply stunning country!

We had a lovely evening by the lake and a nice dinner, getting up the next morning at a pretty mellow hour, knowing that with 24 hrs of daylight, we’d have whatever time we needed . . .

Hiking up, Shrader Lake below

Matt and Nellie

Gaining some elevation as we neared the glacier toe . . .

When we got to the glacier, Matt and Nellie decided this was more ski mountaineering than they were up for, and opted to descend and explore the area near camp. Bobby and I continued up to see what the peak had in store . . .

We started out with about 1000′ of cramponing up bare glacier – to the right of my head is the main face – we started up the gut, but got shot down by slab avalanche conditions near the ridge, which forced us to descend and ultimately climb on the far climber’s left.

So, we headed up the gut of the face, finding nice climbing conditions – the route looked super straightforward from below, but as it turned out, this mountain just did not give it up!!! Our first obstacle was a super gaping crevasse – I probed it and got air pretty much right away, so we decided to look for a better crossing. We descended to the climber’s right and found a nice snowbridge, which I was able to safely get across and then place a screw to belay Bobby across. He got safely across, and then climbed above until the end of the rope, which happened to also be when he got into some nasty snow – about a 4″ thick crust on facets – classic slab avalanche conditions – uggh. So, we again descended, first trying the far climber’s right, but realizing that we’d be over death exposure and it wasn’t worth it. So, we essentially decided to go down . . . but, as I was traversing back over to our route, I noticed a nice ice line (read: no avy danger) on the far climber’s right, so traversed over to it. Amazingly, the route went, so we were upward-bound once again – hooray!!! We gained the ridge fairly quickly and then climbed up the last face, happy that the slab we’d experienced below was not present up higher. We had one scare near the summit as I found a huge crevasse right near the summit that I was definitely not expecting, but we navegated around it and topped out about 10pm.

Climbing up the gut, just before the first crevasse . . .

Me on the final steps to the summit!

I have to say that this summit was one of the most special moments of my life. Being at the highest point in the Brooks Range in the full light of 10pm, with a sea of clouds below was almost surreal. That we’d suspended doubts and safely navegated the face, working well together throughout, was super fulfilling from a relationship standpoint. That the clouds had hung in the valley and let us continue climbing was wonderful . . . truly an incredible experience.

Enjoying the summit – hooray!!!

And then it was time to ski! Of course, on a big mountain with lots of object hazard, it wasn’t like we had it in the bag by any means, but it does always feel good to get to the skiing part of a ski mountaineering trip . . . the climbing part is cool and all, but . . .

All things considered, the line skied pretty well – we pretty much followed our up route, enjoying some glacier ice intermixed in some of our turns, but edgeable all the way down. We had a nasty breakable crust near the bottom of the face, but it was more annoying than dangerous, so we just suffered through it. Props to Bobby since he was a telemarker until a few months before, so he really didn’t have that many days on dynafits before this trip!

Me skiing off the top – hooray!

Our line below me . . .

When we got off the face, we still had all that bare glacier to navegate . . . being a skier, and a lazy person, I had no desire to crampon back down, so suggested we keep the skis on . . . it wasn’t that steep after all and it was smooth enough to navegate . . . and so we did I’m not gonna lie, it wasn’t all pleasant, but it did have that feeling of ridiculousness that made us roll our eyes and laugh, glad that we could do it!

Loving the glacier ice!

Bobby on the extreme lower half, our line illuminated in the background

15 hours after leaving camp, we safely arrived back to the tent, stoked on a successful climb and ski, and glad to be off our feet! The next morning, I was pretty out when Bobby woke me up abruptly . . . I thought something was wrong, but instead it was that our camp was completely surrounded by caribou!!! By some miracle, we were in the middle of the migration of the Porcupine herd of Brooks Range caribou – it was incredible!!! We got up and watched in camp as we ate breakfast, deciding afterward to head up-river a bit to perch on a rock and watch them up-valley as well. As we were joking about wanting to see some drama, a wolf appeared a few hundred yards in front of us and started hunting . . . it was insane to watch the caribou behaviour, how he chased them into sheep country (I had no idea caribou were so nimble!), and ultimately their ability to outwit the wolf – we watched for about 2 hours and the wolf was unsuccessful – seems kind of crazy in a herd that big that he couldn’t get one – pretty cool to watch, and awesome to armchair quarterback the hunt from our rock perch!

Can you say caribou?!?

After about 5 hours of watching caribou pass, with no end in sight, we decided to move on with the plane shuttle . . . so the boys did some flying while Nellie and I did some hiking . . .

Grasser strip on the upper Hulahula

Nellie and me on our hike

A heck of a place to chill for the night . . . upper Hulahula

The next day, Matt and Nellie took off, and Bobby and I spent most of the day walking upriver to check out the higher elevations before starting our float out . . . just as we got in the rafts, the rains came – uggh! Thank goodness for drysuits!!!

Day 2 of the float was about the coldest I remember being – I made Bobby promise me we could go to Chena Hot Springs when we got to Fairbanks, feeling like the only way I could handle the cold is if I knew there would eventually be an end in sight!! Given all the rain, we had the river at flood stage, which made the canyon section pretty festive!!! The wave trains were super big – when Bobby went before me, he would disappear in the troughs The cool thing was that it was just big waves, but no holes or other scary river features, so it was a fun section. Just after the canyon, as we reached the last mountain before the North Slope, we decided to stop and camp with the hopes that the weather would be nice enough to get a hike in the next day before we had to leave the beautiful country . . .

Before the canyon – pretty mellow floating, but the river was cranking so we made good time . . . too bad we couldn’t enjoy the views though!!

Trying out new styles in the Brooks Range

The next day was clear enough to get a hike in, so up we went . . .

Looking north . . . super cool country

Floating out of the Brooks – our hike is just on the left side of the photo – thankfully the river stayed decently fast for awhile . . .

The next day, we floated all the way to Arey Island in the Arctic Ocean – after a night of rain, we had a sunny morning (hooray!) and the river was still moving pretty well for the first part of the day. As we neared the coast, the gradient lessened substantially and we had a helluva crosswind that made it necessary to paddle 100% of the time or get swept out of the main current and into a gravel bar. I did not stay a happy camper in this section, wondering why on earth I would ever voluntarily go to the north slope . . . but eventually we made it and got to the bug-free island at around 1am . . .

Bobby in camp

Off ice in the river . . . I guess this is the arctic after all!

The next morning, I woke up super sick, but was eventually able to get moving and paddle the 4 miles into Kaktovik – it was a nice flatwater paddle in no wind, right along the pack ice – pretty cool actually. We arrived to find the plane there and waiting for us, got adopted by a native man the drove us around town behind his 4-wheeler and took us to the general store, and generally enjoyed Kaktovic on the rare sunny day we had been blessed with! From there, it was a flight through Kavik camp to gas up, then to Anaktuvuk for a bathroom break, and on to Bettles for the night before flying back to Anchorage via Fairbanks . . . definitely a long flight!!!!

I guess it’s really hard to capture a trip like this in a blog post, but I guess that’s the beauty about things like these

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Eagle Peak May 3 – one of the best lines of the season!

kokonek@gmail.com — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 22:02:00 +0000

Every now and again, the stars align for amazing days, and May 3 was definitely one of those days . . . we assembled a crew of Kathy and Eric the Viking, Galen Johnston, Eben Sargeant, and myself to attempt Eagle Peak . . . we knew it would be a long day and wondered if the alders down low would shut us down, if the couloir would get too warm, etc. but felt like we had to give it a try, so off we went . . .

We had an 8am start from the Eagle River Nature Center and walked up the trail to Echo Bend where we crossed the river.

Eric keeping his feet dry!

Out of the alders, climbing the lower apron of the mountain

It was here that my skins started glopping – lame!!!

From there came the super long marathon bootpack up the big face/couloir, transitioning into the tiny steep couloir and onto the face near the peak . . . that’s where it got steep and deep, but the snowpack was solid and gave us the confidence to venture into the new fall line and up to the peak . . .

And then we topped out – what a joyous moment!!!

The skiing was excellent! I was first off the peak, which was super steep and technical – I was really nervous about sluff taking me down the wrong fall line, but that didn’t end up being a problem. The turns into the little coolie were techy, and then it was steep jump turns, with the final transition into the wide openness of the main line . . .

In this photo center, you can see the upper couloir, and a skier on the main line . . . big alpine terrain for sure!

Eagle River visible below, great skiing where we’re at

At the base of the technical skiing, ready to transition to alder navegating . . . but for now, joyous and celebratory!

There are some classic alder pics out there, but alas! I don’t have em ., . . but it was class IV alders for sure! We followed the river out after that, re-uniting with the trail again at Campground Rapids and hiking back out to the car for a 10pm return and the conclusion of our 14 hr day!

Wow, what a great day! Truly one of the best lines I’ve skied in Alaska and such a classic group to ski it with – a true joy

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