Denali
In 2015 I drove from Boulder, CO to Talkeetna to climb & ski the highest mountain in the US. These are the photos.
Stop 1 - Roger's Pass
Our intended first stop - a combination of the Tetons & Wyoming's remote Wind River Range - showed us nothing but rain. We continued north in search of better weather & snow. We found it on Canada's esteemed Roger's Pass, and spent a few days skiing & exploring the incredible terrain.
Stop 2 - Banff
In search of steep corn lines, we headed east to Banff. Steep, glaciated objectives
Stop 3 - Valdez
In search of Alaskan spines & pow, we stopped at Valdez with the to ski the famed Thompson Pass. A low snow year severely limited our options, but we still found corn snow on long, continuous lines.
Stop 4 - Denali
After Valdez we drove to Anchorage to tidy up some last-minute logistics and purchase food for the glacier. Upon arrival in Talkeetna, we learned that a storm had hit the Kahiltna base came & landing strip, so no planes were flying in. We spent three days waiting in Talkeetna before the storm finally broke, and we flew in.
11 Camp
After flying into basecamp, we dragged sleds up to the camp at 11,000 feet, 11 camp for short. A short storm rolled in, and we enjoyed some low-angle pow turns above camp.
14 Camp
We set up our 'base camp' at 14,000 feet, the biggest campsite on the mountain. It gave us the best access to all of our potential climbing and skiing objectives, and kept us sheltered from the horrid conditions at 17 camp. From here, we would attempt to climb up to 20,000 in a single day and ski back down.
