Denali Prep, final thoughts before the climb

     So today is my last packing and prep day before working tomorrow and then off to Talkeetna, the fly-out location begin climbing Denali.  We are allotting 21 days total, planning to ski as much as possible.  We are going un-guided, a team of 4 ski-buddies.  I think we have an excellent group dynamic.  I am incredibly stoked for this trip, to say the least, it's a bucket-list item.
     I am finding this trip is similar to my training for my ironman.  Lots of preparation, practice, planning, experimenting, personalizing gear and methods, all of which leaves you at the start line with a chill peace knowing you are ready and the work has been put in.  From here it is all game time, the pinnacle of my flow-state will begin when we arrive to the glacier and step off the plane and also when summiting.
     I feel I am not over-confident, my expectations are realistic and I know my respect for nature and the mountains will be enhanced with this trip.  I hope to learn a lot.  There is quite a bit of published information and anecdotes about the climb but I find everyone has advice of what worked for them and there are many things that have worked.  Here a few random thoughts as my mind is still in a packing-frenzy:
My first priority is safety. 
Second: a good time. 
Third: summiting.
My greatest fear is a fall/slide. 
My greatest challenge will be the heavy load.
My food weighs ~46lbs, maybe a few more after adding last minute stuff.  I won't weigh my gear, it's too intimidating.
Lucy can't come with on this one.
3 weeks without my better half will be tough: no communication, the most since we got married.
The expected highlight of the trip will be summiting in good weather.
     I'll be missing out on early running/biking season and a few fun races for each, but it will be worth it and I can do that stuff anytime.  There will likely be a lengthy post or several posts about the trip when I get back.  I hope to take many photos.  I also hope to execute my game-plan without to much selective deviation, mostly regarding hydration, pace and layering/gear use. 
Wish me luck.



Denali from Talkeetna. 



My 21 days of food.

50lbs



I need a name for this type of snow.

     So today called for a late afternoon ski since temps were no longer below freezing at night and I had a few other things going on in the AM.  Today it would be North Bowl for the sake of convenience.  Speedy Gonzales came along, so did Mr. Newtonhat and Repeat Random Person.  We also met another Eagle River local at the TH. 
     Weather was looking iffy: partly sunny at first shifting to cloudy with light sprinkles here and there at the peak.  Temps were pretty warm: we saw several others making the wise call to short-it-up.  The temps were making the snow challenging, variable, sticky, heavy, less-than-friendly, wet, almost like it was trying to force the end of the season.  I won't have it.  If there is snow I'm skiing it whether it likes it or not.
     Overall snow was less than desirable.  We were entertained by several wipeouts, flailing, and awkward off-balance movements while we all attempted to ski the stuff.  The dogs didn't seem to mind the snow conditions.  They found a tennis ball part way up which stayed with them and accumulated just as much vertical as we did.  We skied North Bowl then traversed out to the pass as snow got bad near the bottom.  Then we skinned back up the ridge and skied it down to the cars. I love the ski-out-to-car way of ending the day. 
     I've seen better ski days, but it was great to get out with good company and not be working.  The views from the top/ridgeline are like my minds' breath of fresh air.  I've been running the Lucy pretty ragged this past week but she seemed to be doing well today, maybe it was that super salmon, or that tennis ball.  She loves tennis balls. 
     Just a heads-up, I may take a hiatus from posting for awhile as my Denali trip nears(12 days away) and preparations will take priority over local outdoor activities.  Then on May 23 we will hopefully be flying out of Talkeetna. 
     On a separate note, the McHugh-Rainbow section of the Turnagain Arm Trail is looking really good right now.  Probably the first mountain-ish trail option free of snow for now.  It was good to see so many taking advantage of it.

 

 

peak 4, 50 days

     So today random meetup person, Speedy Gonzales, 2 dogs and myself headed up peak 4 area for some spring skiing.  The weather was perfect.  We started a bit early to hit prime conditions, peaking out around 1:30pm.  The more shadowed sides of the gullies were still crusty as were the upper elevations.  The aspects with direct sun lower down were OK for softness though.  We ran that down and as we got lower......softer snow....alder dodging.....drift jumping.....I wanted to ski it all the way down to the creek and got a little carried away.  Nothing a bit of traversing and skinning can't fix though. 
     After fixing my over-zealousness for the good conditions lower down I reigned it in and headed back up for the gully off the back of peak 3.  Speedy and I headed up there, skinning up what would be some fabulous spring snow on the way down.  Random person hung behind and later got cut off by a group of black bears and turned back to the vehicle.  She was tired anyway.  We skied that run and didn't see any bears, but some doo-dodging was in order.  After that, we headed to the car to return to the real world obligations, savoring the high of the mornings' outing.  The parking lot was filling up, I was stoked for what they were about to do.  Ski on people, ski on.
     Today marks 50 backcountry days for me.  Despite the weak beginning to the winter, it has been great getting out so much.  It is crazy how therapeutic it is, how good I feel while out and after coming back, and how restless I get when I can't get out.  The season is not over for me, but will be soon.  I will likely call it after our Denali attempt and transition to running, biking, hiking, camping, etc.  I also won't be counting my ski days again.  It was just one of those things on my list, checked off, now on to the next.
     I gave Lucy some freezer-burned salmon tonight as a reward for putting in the miles with me this winter, especially the past 3 days. Note from the pic, people might start paying me to cut their dogs' hair. 

Yes, it's still ski season

     So yesterday Hardcore and I headed out for a front range tour with the dogs.  The weather started out mostly sunny with clouds threatening overcastedness from the west.  Temps have been trending high 20s in the AM to mid 30s by afternoon.  We started at Glen Alps and headed up the gully to the ballfield.  The goal was to investigate a line I had seen off the back of O'Malley not too long ago: a lookers' dog-leg right down to Black Lake.  This was an Andy-expedition.
     We skied a thin and rock infested slope down to Black Lake and then headed up the other side.  Too steep and crusty to skin down low, we started booting.  We attempted to skin again after gaining the ridge, but encountered variable and slippery snow, ultimately booting all the way up the backside of O'Malley.  We decided to ski the hopefully soft south side of it instead of returning the way we came. 
     The view from the top of O'malley was great: Williwa, Elliot, Koktoya, the Wedge and other front range peaks.  We scoped out several gullies down and found most to be melted out, all but two.  The one we chose was crusty but carvable the first half and soft melting the bottom.  Overall a good long run.  Ill do this one again next season as well as the couloir down the back that we booted up for a bit.
     Hardcore was up for more so we skirted the ridge that hides hidden lake and skinned up the Wedge to attempt a line that had been on my list all season.  My legs were tired, but we were already out there with a mostly downhill ride to the car.  Just as we were approaching the top of the Wedge the clouds moved in.  This line starts as a bowl and funnels to a chute spilling south into the Powerline Pass drainage. 
     I took a more conservative angled slope while Hardcore steeped it down the crusty in flat light.  It softened up about half way down, much like O'malley.  We elected to do a little down-climbing over a small rocky area after choosing the less-than-obvious route.  Good training we tell ourselves.  A nice mellow and soft ending, we skied the apron to the valley floor and side-hilled/poled it as far as we could before skinning back to the parking lot.
     Wildlife seen yesterday included Hardcore and ground squirrels braving the snow.  I learned I should start carrying some glop-stopper stuff for snow-temperature changes in the spring.  I had gloppage going on at our farthest out point and no thank you anymore, it could have been miserable skinning.  Another repeat lesson was to bring more food and water.  On our way back it started flurrying snow but we also saw 2 rainbows, not a double, but 2 seperate ones.
     On a side note, we were passing a duo of a backcountry skier and border.  After a brief and friendly chat he informed me I was skiing 'women's skis'.  He told me he didn't mean any offense of course.  Dumb comment of the day if you ask me, with no opportunity for redemption.  So all you out there skiing the BD Justice, give yourself a good masculinity check, hide your skirt, and try to grow some facial hair.  If he were upwind I would have farted in his general direction. 

Hardcore eating




The line off Elliot for next season

O'Malley Line





The Wedge is the left high-point on the near ridge.  Also visible
are the Suicides and Ptarmigan.