Some of you may have seen my posts about Denali elsewhere, but I figured I’d post about it here for those of you who may be interested but hadn’t seen it.
This past June I had the adventure of a lifetime skiing Denali with my good friend Josh. Skiing one of the 7 summits had been a goal of mine since I was knee-high to a grasshopper. Getting to check it off the “Life Goals” list, and doing it in the conditions we did it in, was a dream come true.
Among other routes, we were fortunate enough to ski the Messner Couloir in amazing snow – something that is very rare. Skiing Denali (especially the Messner) put the exclamation point at the end of an amazing ski-mountaineering season in which I was also fortunate enough to tag The Grand, Longs and North Maroon.
It was a 3 week expedition and I put a lot of time into the documentary and in-depth write-ups. I’ve posted all the videos and some of my favorite pictures in this thread, but I don’t want to redo all of the writing work in this thread. So, at the risk of people flaming me for spamming, I’m going to provide links to the write-ups. Not trying to spam…if you don’t want to see them, don’t click on them.
And without further ado...
Highlight Video - 3 Weeks in 3 Minutes:
The Write-Ups:
Write-up Part 1 - Getting to Kahiltna Base Camp
Write-up Part 2 - Skil Hill Camp to Motorcycle Hill Camp to to Camp 14
Write-up Part 3 - Skiing Rescue Gully and West Rib/Orient Express
Write-up Part 4 - Summit Climb and Skiing the Messner Couloir
Write-up Part 5 - Denali Departure and Going Home
Documentary Videos:
This one is the entire documentary. All 5 parts in one go. Independent parts below.
Some Pics:
Denali comes into view after One Shot Pass.
At Kahiltna Base Camp with Hunter behind us.
Ski Hill Camp.
The High One as seen from Ski Hill Camp. ~13000' of vertical.
Ski Hill Camp Senic.
Enormous, cracked glaciers come into view as the storm lifts.
4 am color on the skin track.
The upper mountain comes into view during our cache run.
Hauling heavy loads up Squirrel Hill.
Route finding up the lower Orient Express as clouds rolled in and out.
Climbing on the West Rib.
Top of the fixed lines on the West Buttress.
Start of skiing Rescue Gully.
Pow in Rescue Gully.
Pow slash on Rescue Gully.
Navigating through crevasse fields.
Near Washburn's Thumb on summit day.
Walrus-mustache at Denali Pass on a cold and windy summit day.
Frustration after 1.5 hours of unsuccessfully trying to make water at 18500' on summit day. Cold.
The Summit Ridge.
Obligatory ugly-face-pic on the summit.
Standing alone for a few minutes on the summit - quite the experience.
About to drop into the Messner.
Skiing fast on soft snow mid-way down the Messner. One of the best turns of my life.
Really lettin' 'er rip on the amazing snow below the Messner's choke.
A look back at our turns on the last section of the Messner.
An all too common sight on our way down to Kahiltna Base Camp.
The brutal slog up Heartbreak Hill...already traveled 12+ miles lugging a lot of weight and the snow was heavy and sticky.
(If anyone can tell me how to display the images smaller in the forums please let me know. I tried several things with the bbcode but had no luck.)
Bookmarks