Whale Tail Ski

Mid-April is the week of Cathy's birthday and our wedding anniversary. During this week I'm either scoring mega-points, or in the dog house. In past years I've been sharing a micro-tent with fermenting dudes in some god-forsaken mountain range in Alaska. Those were the dog house years. Since then I've focused my uxorious nature. I've learned that micro-tents are best with my wife. Last year I scored huge points with Cathy on the Haute Route Grand Lui. This year I also scored huge points with her on Denali's Whale Tail.

On a mid-April Friday morning the forecast tipped to the good side of marginal. Annie at Talkeetna Air Taxi told us to be ready at 2pm. We loaded our rucksacks, drove two hours to Talkeetna and jumped into Paul Roderick's turbo bird. 

We stopped at Little Switzerland to pick up some pro dog skiers. The pro dogs said, "We skied everything." I saw their tracks. They did ski every big feature in Little Switzerland. Then Paul dropped us off at the Mountain House on the Ruth Glacier. 

At 7pm Cathy and I started skiing down the Gorge. The chubby seasonal snowpack let us ski unroped. Being able to ski unroped makes the Alaska Range way more cool. 

An hour down the Gorge we stopped for cocoa and a catch-up with our friends Silas and Peter. They were having a great trip, scratching up ice-encrusted corners on Mount Bradley.

Peter Doucette's photo of Cathy and I heading toward 747 Pass between Mount Bradley on the left and Mount Dickey on the right.

We camped our first night below 747 Pass. In the morning we looked up Dikey's 5,000-foot wall. Eeep!

Skinning up 747 Pass. In a few places we used the rope with stopper knots. Here Cathy has unclipped and I'm dragging the rope since the avi danger was more eminent than the cracks. 

Second camp, up on the Tail with Denali and the Backside Glacier behind. My favorite part of the trip was sharing this small tent with Cathy. Even better, she didn't like her book. She's more amuzing without a book. 

Skinning above the Tokositna Glacier. Last summer I hiked Denali's Whale Tail with Nik and Dmitry. The fun and views were world-class. Thank you Nik and Dmitry! But if you cover the Whale's Tail with snow, and don't have to hike, then the funness levels goes into the next category. 

Cathy heading toward Tokosha Gap. Tucker Chenowith cooked up the Whale's Tail ski trip four years ago. Tuck said it was the best ski trip he's ever done. Since Tucker is THE MAN, skiing the Whale's Tail went to the top of my list.

On our tour, Cathy and I had one powder run, some beautiful corn and lots of bullet-proof crust skiing. 

My trophy wife of 11 years at our fourth and last camp, just below Tokosha Gap, 4,000 feet above the Susitna Valley.

Cathy skating toward Porcupine Butte at 5am to beat the isothermal slopfest. Tokosha Gap behind. From Porcupine Butte we skied 12 miles of snowmachine highway to the Chulitna bridge. 

A slow hitch on the Parks Highway. Eventually The Prospector took us to the Talkeetna spur road. Then the Baptist minister's wife - a recent transplant from Arkansas - gave us a ride to TAT. She'd just been on a scenic flight with K2 Aviation. "We landed on the summit," she said. "On the Ruth Glacier?" I said, referring to their usual scenic landing site. "No, they landed us right on the summit of Mount McKinley." I went into the TAT office and told Annie to upgrade their scenic options. 

Wrangell Ski Tour

The Wrangell Mountains are not the Saint Elias Mountains. The Wrangells bulge 100 miles north from the Saint Elias Mountains. They are characterized by sprawling glacier neves and several of North America’s highest peaks including Mount Sanford (16,237’) and Mount Blackburn (16,390’). We'd never visited the Wrangells, nor did we know anything about these stout peaks.  

Trip Reports

• Osprey Blog
• Osprey Fall Catalog
• Genuine Guide Gear House Blend
• Alaska Public Radio Network audio story - Part I
• Alaska Public Radio Network audio story - Part II 
• Danny Uhlmann's Blog

Huge Thanks 

To Osprey Packs and the Shipton-Tilman Grant for making this trip possible

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 Gear Support

We used Aether 60's. Osprey comfort we have trusted for almost 10 years.

Feathered Friends 20-degree, 1 pound 15 ounce Swallow sleeping bags kept us warm and cozy and our packs light.  

Genuine Guide Gear for skiers. This is our fifth season to work with G3. I used Saint skis carpeted with Alpinist Skins and rigged with Onyx bindings.

We used our all-time favorite tent the Nammajt 3 made byHilleberg. 

 Scarpa F1 AT boots. Mega light, mega stable, mega warm.

Dermatone SPF 33 Sun Protection Creme and the Z-Cote Lips 'n Face has kept our skin burn free and looking like babies.  

Smith I/O goggles keep out raging groundstorms and Pivlock sunglasses kept us steezy on the drive.  

Warm, fuzzy Wigwam socks. Like a party on your feet. Our favorites are the Snow Whisper Pro and the Mountain Air.

For the trip I recruited Dylan Taylor, an IFMGA guide who lives the international life in France, Alaska, Antarctica and Colorado, and Danny Uhlmann, an aspirant guide who also lives in the steep and cold regions of the world. This was my fifth Alaska expedition with Dylan, but my first with Danny. I'd met Danny only once, but I knew his type. Guides have a safety mentality. That's our job. I also knew Danny toted a bulbous resume, both guiding and personal. When Dylan and Andrew Wexler both stamped Danny's Brother Passport I knew Danny and I were destined for some lengthy excursions.

Over eight days in the Wrangells Danny, Dylan and I battled high hazards through dramatic terrain. Despite the harsh conditions, we nailed the trip in typical fashion: moving as an inseparable group, laughing at every break. We had zero arguments and thrived on the tough decisions.

First decision: is the pilot our man? Here, Gary Green, owner of McCarthy Air, is beta-loading Danny and Dylan. His flight suit included earplugs. Gary is the man.

Our plans often make drastic changes after talking with the pilot in the moments before flying to the start of long ski expeditions,  In 2009, the pilot informed Matt Hage and I we'd be landing on the opposite side of Mount Chamberlin than planned. That's Alaska. Carry lots of maps. 

 Gary gassing the world's last piston Pilatus Porter. All other Porters, like Mount Cook Ski Planes, have been modified to turbo. Gary is hand fueling since his fuel truck blew it's gas line moments earlier. 

 Hoofing it from Solo Creek where Gary dropped us, through a heard of caribou to the Middle Fork Glacier. We had 10 days of food and the unknown.

High winds in the Middle Fork Glacier formed hair trigger avalanche slabs around our camp. Trapped, we spent all day deciphering a route through the surrounding walls. That evening we moved one mile and 1,500 feet and camped, still stumped about a safe route out of the Middle Fork Glacier

Day four, tiptoeing over crevasses and watching the avalanche runnout angles of the loaded slopes. Danny triggered this face from 300 feet away. The weak layer was the interface between two feet of new snow and the glacier ice. It was a bony season in the eastern Wrangells.

Dylan probing for crevasses at 9,000 feet between the Middle Fork Glacier and the Chisana Glacier. The shallow snowpack hid crevasses with skims of snow making travel slow and scary. 

Small slots, but enough to keep us tied together like dogs and nervous about every step.

        Honing our slogasaurus maximus skills on the Chisana glacier. No slots, no crevasses but it was flat! We wondered if we'd ever ski unroped on a steep slope. 

Finally! Powder skiing! Too bad it's only 15 degrees for 300 vertical feet.

    "Whoa! Let's get that rope back out!" Every time we unroped we'd punch a ski pole into the void of a bridged crevasse. We carried two 30 meter ropes. If an unroped rope-carrier slotted himself, then another rope was still available for fishing him out. 

Back to endless groping through crevasses. Roped together and expecting every step to send us into a black abyss.

         The bedtime ritual--where to next? On our sixth night we opted for the Nizina River valley back to McCarthy. The Wrangells were showing us great adventure, but we craved real skiing with speed and summits and no nefarious crevasses or insipient avalanche weak layers. 

From Chisana Pass we skied 25 miles down Whiskey Hill, the Rohn Glacier and the Niza Glacier to this Nizina proglacial lake.

The Alaskan lowlands in spring mean hungry bears. We saw four bears on day six so we hung our food around camp with pots and ice axes perched on top. If alerted by the clattering pots, then we'd launch the heavy artillery.  

Every real Alaska trip must have bushwacking. Here Dylan is tossing his skis through cottonwood, devil's club, rose bushes and alder near the Nizina road to McCarthy.

Ninety-five miles and 9,000 vertical feet through the Wrangells with two great friends. Let's have another adventure soon! 

Hatchers to Talkeetna

Clear skies, low freezing level, stable snow and two friends. From April 19-21, 2009 Dana Maddog Drummond, Andy Newton and I skied 42 hours over three days from the Motherlode Lodge at Hatcher Pass to Montana Creek near Talkeetna. 

Andy, Maddog and Joe at the Moderlode Lodge with 34-pound packs and a pile of maps. 

First crux. Maddog, tied to a 5.5mm rope, kicking off a slab before sneaking under a 40-foot cornice into the Kashwitna River valley.

Andy and Maddog schwaking along the Kashwitna River.

First camp at 2,800 feet along the Kashwitna River.

Andy above the Kashwitna Glacier.

Maddog at a glacier cave on the receding toe of an unnamed glacier.

Three stinky dudes in a small two person tent.

Andy on the fifth and final pass.

Every proper Alaska trip has bushwacking and a whiteout.

Montana Creek, 15 miles from the road.

Joe, Andy and Dana at the Latitude 62 in Talkeetna.

Calorie stop in Willow for great burgers and dubious coffee.

Our tour was about 71 miles and 15,300 vertical feet. 

Tordrillo Ski Traverse

Over nine days in May 2008 Andrew Wexler, Dylan Taylor and I made a 100-mile, full-length ski traverse of the Tordrillo Mountains in Alaska. The Tordrillos are a western subrange of the Alaska Range. Our traverse traveled from south to north, climbing 38,000 vertical feet and making ski descents from the four highest peaks including Mount Spurr (11,069 ft), Mount Torbert (11,413 ft), Mount Talachulitna (11,150’) and Mount Gerdine (11,258 ft). 

Special thanks to Drew Seessel and the Hans Saari Memorial Fund for putting together the first grant in the US specifically for ski mountaineering.

Also thanks to Gore-Tex for helping this trip with a Shipton-Tilman Award. Eric Shipton and Bill Tilman are arguably the greatest adventurers of this past century. The annual Shipton/Tilman Grant was established as a tribute to the spirit of adventure embodied by the endeavors of these two men.

 Beta

• From the south slopes of Mount Spurr to the Happy River outlet into the Skwentna River
• with Andrew Wexler and Dylan Taylor
• 100 miles
• 38,000 vertical feet
• Ski descents from the four highest summits in the Tordrillos
• 9 days + 2 days return to Merrill Field in Anchorage
• May 16-25, 2008
• Pilot from Kenai to Mount Spurr: Doug Brewer of Alaska West Air
• Pilot from Happy River to Skwentna Roadhouse: Mike Meekin of Meekins Air Service
• Pilot from Skwentna Roadhouse to Merrill Field in Anchorage: Spernak Airways
• Info: Tordrillo--Pioneering Climbs and Flights

Articles and Trip Reports

• G3 House Blend
• Alpinist.com
• Climbing.com
• MEC
• Black Diamond
• Powder, Nov 2008
• Off Piste, Dec 2008

Presentations

• Neptune Mountaineering, Boulder, CO, 60 attended. Sept 18, 2008.
• Hans Saari Memorial Fund, Bozeman, MT,120 attended, Oct 22, 2008.
• University of Idaho Outdoor Program, Moscow, ID, 35 attended. Oct 23, 2008.
• Feathered Friends, Seattle, WA. 65 attended. Oct 30, 2008.
• American Alpine Club, Anchorage, AK, 35 attended. Nov 11, 2008.
• Alaska Alpine Club, Fairbanks, AK, 25 attended. March 24, 2009.

The Tordrillo Mountains as seen from downtown Anchorage. Our route started at Chakachamna Lake and traversed northward, linking up the highest summits and finishing on the Skwentna River. Joe Stock photo.

History

The Tordrillos are well-documented in Tordrillo—Pioneer Climbs and Flights in the Tordrillo Mountains of Alaska by Rodman Wilson and Paul Crews Sr. The most significant traverse in that book was by the burly team of Scott Woolums and Mark Jonas in March 1982. Aiming for tower climbing in the Kichatna Mountains, they left from Beluga Lake, climbed the Triumvirate Glacier and descended the Hayes Glacier. Because of frozen toes, they finished their trip at Rainy Pass, shy of the Kichatnas, after covering 80 miles. In April 2007, Andrew Wexler and I spent 10 days skiing south through the Tordrillo Mountains, making a ski traverse of Mount Gerdine. In 2004, Dylan Taylor climbed Mount Spurr from Lake Chakachamna. This season, we used that knowledge to link these sections together for a high, full-length traverse traverse of the Tordrillo.

Joe on the summit of Mount Gerdine, the second highest Tordrillo summit at 11,258 feet in April 2007. Andrew Wexler photo.

The Trip

 After waiting six days in Anchorage, the weather cleared on May 16 and Dylan, Andrew and I drove the three hours to Alaska Air West in Kenai. Doug Brewer flew us in three Piper Super Cub flights across Cook Inlet to a 2,400-foot ash bench on the south slopes of Mount Spurr. We started up Crater Peak with 12 days of supplies loaded into agonizing 65-pound loads.

Dylan climbed Mount Spurr, the Tordrillo’s fourth highest at 11,070 feet, in 2004. What had been a rounded summit in 2004, had become a 300-foot deep crater lined with crevasses and venting lung-burning sulfur gasses. After summiting, we camped in splitter weather at 10,000 feet on the Spurr Plateau overlooking the Hidden and Neacola Mountains.

Traversing the Tordrillo Crest from the Spurr Plateau to the Torbert Plateau is a technical, unclimbed route so we chose to descend from the Spurr Plateau via the Southeast Cirque of the Capps Glacier via a 4,000-foot icefall. After several attempts that ended in a maze of gaping crevasses, we climbed onto a cleaver that splits the icefall and used belays to ski steep powder above open crevasses to the valley floor.

From the Capps Glacier we climbed the Triumvirate Glacier to a 7,000-foot camp below the Torbert Plateau. The next day we day-toured 20 miles and 8,000 vertical feet to the low-angle summits of Mount Torbert and Mount Talachulitna. The next crux was down climbing The Great Wall, a 14-mile long serac-ridden barrier that straddles the range and stopped our traverse attempt in 2007. Using a route scoped in 2007, we down climbed four, 150-foot (100 foot rope tied together with three 20-foot cordelettes) pitches on snow-covered ice above a bergshrund to another lobe of the Triumvirate Glacier.

After summiting Mount Gerdine, we continued another two days under cloudy skies over lower elevation passes and valleys to the north end of the Tordrillos. At the tippy north end of the Tordrillos we descended to the Skwentna River at the confluence with the Happy River and found the gravel bar landing strips covered with two feet of snow. Chugach pilot Mike Meekins was in the area with his Super Cub equipped with tundra tires for moose surveys. He directed us to a snow-free gravel bar two miles downriver where he shuttled us 30 miles to home-cooked burgers at the Skwentna Roadhouse. The following day, Spernack Airways took us to Merrill Field in Anchorage.

Doug Brewer starting his Super Cub the old fashioned way in Nikiski.

Andrew on the summit of Mount Spurr above the 2006 crater. Check out cool photos and the volcanic history of Mount Spurr at http://www.avo.alaska.edu/volcanoes/volcinfo.php?volcname=Spurr.

Andrew likes how the vegetation in his boots is progressing.

Andrew stripping in the low elevation heat after descending the 4,000-foot southeast cirque icefall of the Capps Glacier from the Spurr Plateau. Our route descended lookers left, crossed over the cleaver and finished the lookers right icefall.

Dylan leaving our cached packs for the summit of Torbert.

Dylan skiing at 10,000 feet on Torbert. Hidden Mountains beyond.

Joe belaying Andrew down from the top of the Great Wall. We found the 45-degree face had 12 inches of powder over ice and an open bergshrund below. With light packs this would have been a great ski. We used a 100-foot rope and three 18-foot cordelletes tied together to give us 145-feet.

Andrew telemarking into the 3,000-foot Trimble Glacier icefall from near the summit of Mount Gerdine. Martin Peak in the near distance, central Alaska Range in far distance.

Dylan in the fog on our last camp in the mountains.

Typical in-the-fog route finding discussion above the Skwentna River.

Dylan and my favorite part of every trip. Andrew doesn't partake.

Guru Chugach pilot Mike Meekins at our gravel bar pickup on the Skwentna River.