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Ten years ago, during a recon flight to map out the mountains around Haines, AK, this face captured my imagination and never let go of it. The more I searched the world’s mountains the more I realized how unique and special this face was.
Because the peak was located just over the US boarder into Canada access was restricted to our US based heli operator. From the moment I realized the face was off-limits I started fantasizing about setting up camp and hiking to it from the US.
It became one of my reasons for starting the Deeper project. At the start of my first Deeper trip to AK two years ago I wrote, “if the stars align and somehow we are able to ride Corrugated then this whole project will be worth it regardless if I ride anything else.”
Three weeks into our first Deeper AK trip I finally made it to the ridge and looked down the face of Corrugated. Unfortunately, the conditions were marginal thanks to a harsh North wind that scraped the spines down to hard snow the day before. We decided to pull the plug and put it on the list for the following year’s trip.
This year I went into the AK trip with one goal, to ride Corrugated. I got lost on the way however (mentally, not physically), and ended up 50 miles past it at a zone in the Fairweather Range that was so stacked with spines it would become known as the Spine Institute.
After the best three week session of my life, and following the best morning of my life, I decided to push my luck and try to ride Corrugated on our way back towards Haines before an impending storm.
Our second 3 AM start came with out much pain. The excitement was high and we were off to hopefully shred Corrugated. Navigating the few miles of glacier in pitch black was easier than expected but a steeper than anticipated roll over had us all on guard do to the blackness it seemed to drain into. By twilight we were on the summit ridge and the sun started doing its magic, painting the high peaks around us pink.
The cornice guarded most of the face. I put Xavier on belay and he was guided to a 1 ft wide supported section on the ridge by the cameramen on the opposing ridge.
Dropping into the face was a feathering toe edge free fall with my head inches from the overhanging cornice. Twenty feet below my edge locked in and I made a long bottom turn and projected myself onto the main spine and proceeded to get engulfed by face shot after face shot of waist to chest deep powder. It seemed to go on forever and lulled me into a trance that I did not come out of until the large bergschrund at the bottom of the line.
The dream was complete. Corrugated was checked off the list.
As seen in Transworld Snowboarding’s 2011 Buyers Guide. Photo Tero Repo.
We skinned from camp up over the high ridge to the upper left of the photo and snowboarded down the glacier in the dark.
Our first look at the face. Our entry point is too the left of the rocks on the summit ridge. Missing it by a foot or two was not an option.
What dreams are made of.
Corrugated from the heli.
To see us ride the lines pick up a copy of Deeper or come see the movie at one the following tour stops.