Pedal Paddle - Yukon and Tofty Road with Kim and Tony and Peter

 

https://www.strava.com/activities/5804933055

Denali West Buttress (attempt - no summit)

On May 10th Ted and I flew in to the Alaska Range (Kahiltna glacier) to attempt the West Buttress of Denali. Climbing Denali had been on my mind way back in 1996 when I first started climbing. At that point, though, I quickly fell in love with Yosemite Valley and found it hard to think of anything else for at least a decade.

Now living in Fairbanks, I see Denali in person somewhat frequently. My old aspirations were rekindled despite my having "quit climbing for good". The West Buttress is "just steep hiking" I told myself, as a justification for falling off the wagon.

We made it into the Kahiltna Glacier with Talkeetna Air Taxi. Our pilot, Paul Roderick, did a great job of giving us the climber's sight-seeing tour along the way. Over the next 3 weeks I learned a couple important lessons about the weather: climbers talk about it incessantly because it determines day to day activity, and it is highly unpredictable. I imagine the folks at TAT would be rich if they had a nickel for every time a climber asked them "so what is the weather going to do?"

Or first day of travel was a long and cloudy ski to the 7800' camp. It then snowed a foot or so that night. We were stoked just to be there.

The following morning we were treated to amazing views with the light sneaking through the clouds. The huge scale of our surroundings was a shock, especially after so much time in the interior.

I was second in our rope team for most of the trip, so had a view similar to this. Not skiing over the ropes was a challenge, but Ted never complained when I inadvertently jerked him backwards. Note the trough we are following.... It was Sarah and Grant from Fairbanks blazing the trail that morning after the snow. Thanks you two!

I'll only complain about the crowds once - I knew it would be bad, but did not anticipate what a negative effect they would have on my experience. We followed this stop-and-go conga line for "ever" on our second day, and try as I might, just could not manage to actually have fun.

Amazingly clear views approaching Kahiltna pass.

More images from the slog up to the 14k' camp:

It took a total of 7 (?) days to get all our stuff up to the 14,000' camp, from which theoretically we would be able to reach the summit without slogging heavy packs up steep hills. We (this is common) double-carried loads between 7800' and 14000'. The steeper the terrain, the more weight would go into the pack and the less in the sled.

Nice views from the tent.

We met these two Alaskans, Patrick and Evan, who eventually ended up reaching the summit after patiently waiting out more crappy weather. Nice work dudes!

A guided group setting up camp, Sultana (Mt. Foraker) in the background.

Our quarry for digging and sawing snow blocks. This was the strangest "climbing" trip I'd ever been on... We spent a week carrying heavy loads up steep hills, then a couple days sawing snow and ice into bricks to "build a wall!" around our tent, then another week in said tent listening to to the snow fall and the wind howl. I read four fat books. My definition of "climbing" has now been expanded to include a wide variety of activities such as digging, hiking and reading.

The fortress, pre-storm:

We had a solid block of tent time......

A panoramic image of the tent fester....

I can see how a snow cave would be preferable to a tent in certain situations. If our tent had failed it would have been a very uncomfortable couple hours until we were able to dig in.

A high pressure system finally moved in, the sky turned blue, and the 50 or so people hunkered down at 14k started up the headwall. Our strategy was to wait until midnight to let things settle (both in term of crowds and wind) before attempting the summit. I counted 45 people on their way up this morning. The headwall (up close to ridge where we see ice in the image below) has some fixed ropes in place and we were concerned about a bottleneck situation.

The sky was a gorgeous mix of purple, pink and blue on our way up that night, reminiscent of winter daytime skies in Fairbanks.

Still having fun. We had not yet reached the windy ridge. The Kahiltna glacier (our approach) in the background. 

Check out that moon!

Once we neared the top of the ridge, the wind picked up. Once we got to the ridge, the wind was strong enough such that we essentially crawled on walking terrain. We were roped together and headed up the ridge, looking for some place with shelter enough to stop and put on puffy jackets, eat some food, hand-off carabiners, etc. It was one of those "have to keep moving" situations, which are OK as long as you can keep moving.

At 16,900' we found a spot in which we could hide behind a boulder, put on all our clothes, eat some food and wait for the sun to come up over the ridge. We decided to turn around at this point. Downclimbing the ridge in the wind after having been on the move for another 12 hrs or so seemed like a bad idea. That afternoon, back at camp, the wind increased and we felt pretty good about our decision. This is an image from our high point.

We descended to "KIA" Kahiltna International Airport, waited for about 2 days to fly out, and shot a few images and timelapses:

I wonder - will I go back? The Alaska Range has an infinite number of opportunities for more "steep hiking", but at his point the bike / ski / river adventures are much more appealing. 😋

Denali NP - skipulking 6 day adventure

Spring Break 2021 - the mission was to ski into Wonder Lake, then back out. After being spoiled by the manicured trails in the White Mountains (thank you BLM!!!) I thought 20 miles a day would be "no problemo". Ha ha ha. The mushers (winter) trail was hard to find, would disappear, was drifted in with snow, icy, etc. For most of the journey the road was the better option, which involved windslab (nice), exposed gravel (bad) or deep untracked powder (even worse). My average moving speed was 1.9mph, a nice stroll in the park pace.

Days 3 and 4 were absolutely gorgeous. The type of day that makes me realize all those overcast and snowy days simply serve the purpose of providing contract with the bluebird days. I broke off the road, travelling south of Polychrome summit, on a wide open expansive river bed.

Some of the deep powder travel, while going uphill pulling the heavy sled, necessitated waxing the entire length of the ski as well as using the kicker skins. The image below was taken near Sable pass. I couldn't ski forward so removed my skis and postholed. That was some high quality blue-collar slogging!

Peter came along for the first day and broke trail - this was probably very good for my spirits, as I didn't really realize how deep I was burring myself into the adventure until we parted ways on day 2 and I was already committed. Thanks Peter!

The machine - way off in the distance. Note the pleasant trough for me to follow.

The beast of burden. This was easy-to-travel windslab.

No trip to the park is complete with a view of Denali - back left... THAR SHE BLOWS!

Despite the failed objective and painfully slow progress at times, I have fallen for this mode of travel. The sled saves my back and knees from the weight, and as long as I'm content to just ski along at a leisurely pace and take in the views, I can bring enough stuff the stay warm and happy for quite some time. The expected 8 days for a Wonder Lake out and back was overly ambitious (foolish) - it will be more like a 2 or even 3 week trip. Next Christmas / New Years? Exactly!

WM 100 unsupported overnighter (bike)

 Peter and I took advantage of great conditions to ride the loop in a CCW direction. We camped below the pass (north side) at mile ~48 or so. Lots of pushing the bike up the pass, but otherwise excellent conditions for pedaling the bikes.

It was such a treat to have some clear(ish) skies. This is the time of winter where we start to actually feel the direct sunlight, realize we haven't used sunglasses in months and have no idea where they are, and are shocked to see blue in the sky instead of just pink and purple.

Quite a bit of overflow. It was mostly the frozen, not slushy kind so we were able to just ride over most of it. Studded tires were a big plus on this ride.

I think of the interior as very flat, but the terrain around the windy gap area has a mountainous feel. Going scrambling up in them thar hills looks fun!

Peter was stoked the whole time.

As was I.

I haven't really done any filming here is AK, but made an attempt to get footage while moving down the trail.