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Some adventures are a long time coming. Big mountain riders Jeremy Jones and Griffin Post have been adventuring deep into the mountains of Alaska for most of their careers, but in recent years have turned to embracing a foot-powered approach to exploring these peaks. While it might be much easier to reach these legendary ski and snowboard objectives with a helicopter, both riders have learned to appreciate slowing down the process and doing it the hard way. A few years ago, after an illustrious career in halfpipe snowboarding that included two trips to the Olympics, Elena Hight joined the small but growing community of foot-powered big-mountain shredders. After joining Jones on several expeditions, including a trip through California’s Sierra Nevada range for TGR’s film Ode to Muir, she felt ready to tackle something much bigger. That progression naturally led to setting her sights on riding a technical Alaskan peak, so teaming up with Post and Jones for the mission to ski the East Ridge of Mount Bertha was a dream come true.
The team's base camp deep inside Glacier Bay National Park. | TGR photo.
The peak, which towers at 10,204 feet deep within Alaska’s Glacier Bay National Park in the Fairweather Range, is a formidable objective, requiring a multi-day approach from the coast to even reach, let alone climb. Mt. Bertha was first summited by the legendary American explorer and mountaineer Bradford Washburn, his wife Barbara, and their partners Maynard Miller, Michl Feuersinger, and Thomas Winship in 1940.
Visible from the Park entrance in Gustavus, Alaska nearly 50 miles away, Mt. Bertha’s icy summit beckons those looking to test their limits in steep and heavily glaciated terrain. For Hight, Jones, and Post, the peak has long held a steady place in their imagination, and in the spring of 2020, they were able to launch an expedition to film an attempt to climb and descend Bertha’s un-descended East Ridge.
The Pamela Rae - home for much longer than anyone had hoped for. | TGR photo.
With a mountain as remote as Mt. Bertha, the approach is often the hardest part. The team hired a fishing charter boat, the Pamela Rae, to cross nearly 125 miles of water through the Alexander Archipelago from Juneau to the base of the Brady glacier. Springtime Alaskan weather can be highly volatile, so the team knew they were dealing with short windows to make the crossing. However, they did not expect the window to close while they onboard the fishing boat. For days, they were trapped in an inlet a few miles from their anticipated landing point, furiously shoveling the rapidly accumulating snow off the deck to keep the boat from getting too top-heavy and capsizing. Luckily, after nearly a week, the weather broke just long enough to give them a chance to make landfall and start the approach across the glacier to the mountain.
Sometimes you have just put one foot in front of the other, for 20 miles. | TGR photo.
Of course, once on land, the hard work began in earnest. The team had planned to make the hike to basecamp over two days, carrying all their gear with them. A food cache had been dropped at basecamp earlier, so they only carried enough food to last that short window. With another storm rapidly approaching, they decided to push hard and try to make the nearly 20-mile approach in a single day. Despite being seasoned mountain travelers, it was one the hardest things the athletes had ever done and arriving at basecamp was a huge source of relief. They were safe – but there was still a mountain to climb and a massive line to descend.
Griffin Post walking the blank high on Mt. Bertha. | TGR photo.
We caught up with Post, Jones, and Hight at the New York City premiere of the new film, hearing them reminisce about their adventure together, and got a chance to ask them each a few questions.
TGR: What does the idea of “touching the void” mean to you?
Jeremy Jones: Touching the void, to me, is when you clearly cross into this new dimension of unruly nature. It’s where humans generally don’t dabble.
Jeremy Jones has had his fair share of experiences "touching the void". | TGR photo.
Elena Hight: To me, it’s about immersing yourself in nature, disconnecting from society and everyday life and really focusing on the present moment, having one objective. You get into this void, and it’s almost like a place where time doesn’t exist and all that matters is what’s right in front of you. I think that’s what we access when we step into the mountains on a trip like this!
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Griffin Post: Touching the void is what happens on these kinds of trips, where you enter into this headspace of not knowing what’s going to happen – it can really change you who you are as a person.
Griffin Post has quite the sum of experience in Alaska, but a trip to Mt. Bertha with his close friends was a long time coming. | TGR photo.
TGR: What is your connection to Alaska?
Jeremy Jones: My connection to Alaska is significant. I went to Valdez when I was 19 years old, back in 1994. I quickly realized this is where steep snowboarding in perfect snow and incredible is meant to be done. It’s the ultimate place and it was where I wanted to leave my mark. The vastness of Alaska is unparalleled. There are just endless ranges! If you want remote peaks and really good snow, you better be really patient, but the opportunities are endless.
Elena Hight: Alaska is really such a special place. There’s nowhere like it in the world. I’m enthralled by the mountains here and why Jeremy has dedicated his life to riding these mountains. Honestly, after one trip, I realized that I wanted to do the same. I’m kind of at the beginning of my journey, but Alaska has my heart and is the ultimate goal forever!
Elena Hight set the bar high with her first full-on Alaskan expedition. | TGR photo.
TGR: Elena, what was it like stepping into this kind of terrain with Griffin and Jeremy?
Elena Hight: I feel so lucky to have so many supportive, strong males in my life that are supportive of female snowboarding. They are willing to guide and be out there with women. It’s so important and has been such a big amplifier to my snowboarding. Being on this trip with Jer and Griff was an absolute pleasure, they have this way of making something that’s inherently scary pretty fun and are great teammates.
On the trip, I got to be the first person to drop in on Mt. Bertha from the summit. The guys kind of gave it to me as a nod to the mountain’s history and namesake. Dropping in on that steep ramp up top was equally as terrifying as it was exciting!
