Outer adventures

Friday, July 22nd, 2011

Denali adventure part 6 – Good times in Alaska and skiing in the Chugach Mountains

Denali seen from Talkeetna

The next day we skied all the way down to BC. On the way down we got surprised how much snow that had melted during the weeks we had spent in ABC. Nothing seemed to be in really good shape and to be able to climb the good stuff one had to climb at night. We didn’t feel up for more high objective risks or more rock n rolling so we put ourselves on the waiting list to fly out to civilisation. But it turned out to be harder than expected. Just when we got up in the air the next day we had to turn around and go back to BC as the clouds had completely filled all the ways out. The pilots obviously have to see where they are going so with no visibility there are no flying.

So we just had to spend two days in BC finishing every drop of alcohol we had left and hanging out with all our new and old friends. We where not really complaining, but non the less it was really nice to eventually get on that plane and get back in Talkeetna. The first thing we did was to take a shower and then next on the list was eating dinner. We met the North Face team that was just about to fly out to Denali and had dinner with them and when they left for packing we kept on going to the next restaurant for a second dinner.

We spent three days (and long nights) in Talkeetna before we left with Lisa and Greg to go to their friend Kramer’s compound in the middle of no where. We spent two days there and then we kept on going for Girdwood and the Chugash Mountains. Our team was made up of me and Magnus, Greg and Heidi Adamson and the goal was to find some good skiing in the coastal mountains.

So what we did was to just drive along the way and pick the most beautiful mountain we could find and then ski it. With that combined with Greg’s local knowledge we ended up at the foot of a mountain called Mt Byron. It turned out to be a great and long ski in perfect spring conditions. Ok, maybe a bit warm, but nothing some ski cutting couldn’t handle. We ended up having a blast and it was with mixed feelings we left for Anchorage the next day and said good bye to Heidi and Greg. We still had one more night in this town before we jumped on our flights back to Europe

All in all we had a wonderful Alaska adventure. We got to fulfil all our small everyday goals, but more important we had a beautiful time together, we met really cool people and it felt like we got the full Alaskan experience.

Skiing down with heavy sledges

Rice porridge in BC

Team Iceland

Trying to fly out the 1st time

Our pilot

The master Greg Collins

Seth and Lisa

Greg and myself

The Magnus!

Alaskan wilderness

Dinner with the North Face team

Lisa, Greg and Seth

Happy climbing friends

Road trippin

At Kramer’s compound

Gypsy skiers lifestyle

In Alaska, thats a small car

Alyaska

Approaching Mt Byron

Greg showing us some great ski-mountaineering skills

Anything is easy after a few weeks on Denali

Greg skiing

And Magnus

Greg, Heidi and Magnus

Alaskan icebergs

The mythic bar

Finally back in Europe… Chamonix mountains from the plane window.. Mt Blanc on the right

And the Eiger Nordwand

Thursday, July 21st, 2011

Denali adventures Part 5 – Skiing the Messner Couloir

The most classic ski descent on Denali must be the Messner Couloir above ABC. The 1500 vertical meter couloir could be the Gervasutti (the most classical easy steep ski in Chamonix) of North America and it’s often the objective for skiers coming to Denali. I really wanted to ski this classic and I knew I would never come back to Denali just to ski this single couloir so I went for it on the second day after we where back from Cassin.

The weather was not very good, with strong winds and fair visibility. But on the other hand it’s a couloir and the navigation was easy and the snow stable. It took me about 5 hours to climb the couloir, but then again I was exhausted long before I started. Most of the couloir was filled with knee-deep snow making the tracking hard work. At the upper parts the wind was really strong and it was cold. I climbed up to the top of the couloir close to the Football field, but I did not go all the way to the summit because the weather was really bad and I was just after the couloir not a third summit ascent.

It felt refreshing standing at the top of the couloir in the storm and it was with a smile that I took of with the first turns down my last ski on Denali. The skiing was not perfect with a bit of powder here, a bit of stratugis there, but I enjoyed every bit of it. At one point I ended up on blue ice, but I just dug my axes in, put my crampons on and down climbed 15 meters before I kept on skiing.

At the end I traversed the schrund, took my rope and extra clothes that I had left there on the way up and cruised down in the fog all the way down to camp.

It was a nice and easy solo adventure without too much pulse, but I could definitely feel that my body had had enough of this strain. Eating dinner that night I felt like the Denali mission was accomplished and that it now was time to get down to enjoy the thick air.

Tuesday, July 19th, 2011

Denali adventure part 4 – The Cassin Ridge

When I got back from the south face adventure I was really tired. But on Denali the time is always ticking and the weather windows can be short and sparse. The biggest reason people fail on their objectives is that they run out of time and I did not want this to happen to us. I had already done what I came there for, but I also wanted Magnus to get his objective done so I tried to rest as well as I could.

The forecast foresaid a four day weather window before a low pressure and I needed to get my rest pulse down to at least be able to perform on 80% of my potential. On my rest day in camp my rest pulse where around 85-90, and even though we where on high altitude that meant I was really over trained.

So I could have waited for my body to be at its strongest and missed the window, or I could rest as hard as I could for one day and then go for it on the next. I chose the later. So after sleeping in on the second day in camp Magnus and myself took of in the afternoon towards the West Rib to approach the route via the Seattle Ramp.

After less than an hour we reached the rib, but we where greeted with really strong winds from the east and dark clouds coming in. What was supposed to be a high pressure seemed to be something else. I was tired and the weather was anything but perfect so we sat down up there to gather ourselves and see if it was going to improve.

An hour later nothing had changed. But then we thought that at least we can start down the big glaciated ramp and then walk back up if it didn’t feel good further down. I went first with the map in my hand focusing on my altimeter on my wrist and the next few meters ahead to not walk in to one of the monster crevasses. The visibility was almost zero and at times it was even hard to see each other in the fog. The navigation however was pretty straight forward so we slowly descended the big glacier, but what would have taken 2 h in good weather took 6h in the clouds. We also stopped two times to talk the fairly bold decision trough, to keep on going or not, when we got under the big seracs. Once we where under them it would have been a very bad idea to turn back and expose ourselves for hours under these objective dangers.

My altimeter told me the pressure was not changing, the forecast was really good and warm, and we both had a good feeling for the situation we where in. Its funny how the mind games play such an important role in the mountains. Just because we had a bit of a whiteout we where thinking about retreating. Didn’t we learn simple navigation in first grade? We kept at it, now with stronger determination as ever, we where going to climb this route.

After plenty of down climbing and crevasse hopping we found ourselves in the basin where the route started. Our next objective was to find the initial Japanese couloir as we where under the clouds and everything above us where just white. As we where melting snow at the bergschrund we tried to count formations from the guidebook, to read contour lines on the map and to meditate on the problem (just kidding), but in the end we just had to make a guess.

Of we went up in to the unknown. I had the first lead and as we where planning to climb everything on running belays I wanted to climb the 300-meter icy couloir in one go. Entering the couloir I found pitons and old fixed lines and finally we where sure we where on the right track. As planned I climbed the couloir in one go, just placing a Ropeman after the crux pitch. The calves where burning on the black ice, but in an hour or so we where past the couloir and up on the ridge. Arriving at the first rock crux we where above the clouds and Magnus took over the lead. The views where magical and it felt great moving steadily up the mountain.

Magnus took us up past the razorblade arête and then I kept on going past the first rock band after we had brewed up for a second time. The climbing was really fun with no really hard sections so we where able to keep on moving the whole time. Just before the top of the rock band we got passed by our British friends Jonathan Griffith and Will Sims, who had started e few hours after us from camp and had followed our tracks. They would later break the speed record (top to bottom) in 14,something hours.

We kept on moving at a steady pace, but at the top of the rock band we found a perfect bivy spot and Magnus told me this is it for the day. I felt strong the first day, but as we would see the roles, as always in the mountains, would change.

The night was clear and relatively warm and we slept well without freezing too much. Eating, sleeping, brewing up and eating again took us 9 hours and then we where of again.

Magnus took us past most of the second rock band before I finished with the last cruxes and then we only had the slough left. The great big slough of the Cassin Ridge – 1000+ meters of snow climbing to the summit of the highest mountain in North America.

Most people that have climbed the route remember the last slough with a tormented smile. One has already climbed 1500+ meters of fairly technical climbing on altitude and then gets a bit of a smash in the face. I started of feeling strong, but about half way up Magnus had to take over and lead us up to the summit. We where both exhausted and on the last few hundred meters we walked a few steps before we lied down on our axes resting for half a minute, repeating this procedure for what seemed like ages. But as we kept at it we finally ended up on the shoulder just a couple of hundred meters from the summit.

Magnus had arrived ten minutes before me and as I got up and lied down on my backpack I gasped out; “lets finish this”! Most parties seems to descend from the shoulder ignoring the summit, but in strict climbing ethic we knew we had to get up there to be true to ourselves. If we had suffered for the last few hours, we might as well suffer a bit longer. And as always suffering in the mountains are relative. We thought we where slower than ever in the end, but we where still almost running past the line of down balls struggling up from the normal route.

Arriving at the summit for the second time in a week we hugged took a photo and then started the decent. Luckily enough the descent from Denali is dead easy and 2,5 hours later we where back in camp finishing a 33 h round trip with a 9 h bivy included. I will always remember the descent though, as I had developed trench foot in my warm mountaineering boots, every step down the mountain felt like I was walking on needles. Magnus wanted to stop and brew up, but I just wanted to end my suffering so I kept at it letting him catch up further down.

The next day I could not walk on my feet and we where both spending most of the day in the tent – happy to have got everything we came there to do.

The low pressure had come in and we planned to get down to base camp to maybe do some ski touring or climbing at lover altitude. But even though my feet where hurting and I was more tired than ever I knew I just had one more thing to do before I could leave – The Messner Couloir.

On the way up towards the Rib

Down climbing the Seattle ramp

Walking around in the fog

Looking back at the Seattle Ramp

Magnus brewing up

Looking down the Japanese couloir

Looking down from the top of the Japanese couloir

Magnus with Cassin ledge in the background

Magnus on the first rock crux

On the Razorblade Arete

Mt Foraker with a hat

First rock band

Jon and Will

On the summit of Denali

Walking down

In camp afterwards, Magnus are telling the stories!

The Chamonix crew: Jon, Will, Nils, Myself, Colin and Magnus!

Friday, June 24th, 2011

Denali Adventure part 3 – Skiing the south face

Denali with its south face to the lookers right of the Cassin Ridge in the middle (Photo: Maxime Turgeon)

We left camp at around 10 o’clock in the morning. There was almost no wind but it was very cold. I was ready before Magnus, but I couldn’t wait around for him because I was freezing my toes of, so I set out by my self up the Autobahn. I was racing for the sun that was shining half way up the face as I could hardly feel my toes. I had passed a group of climbers just above the bergschrund and could not see them anymore when I arrived in the warmth of the sun. It was still really cold, but nothing like in the shade further down. I sat down on my backpack and took my ski boots of to warm my feet and wait for Magnus. He caught up in a few minutes and then we continued to Devils Pass where we met a nice party climbing the mountain from the other side. They had a really cool adventure biking in to the mountain from the other side, then doing a full traverse, descend the normal route and next hike down to the big river where they floated back in small rafts all the way to Talkeetna.

We kept on ascending the route without being to stressed and were enjoying our time on the mountain. At around 2 pm we got to the summit and I became really happy on discovering the conditions up high. The hard wind the week before had not ruined the conditions too much (I would discover it had further down) and the weather was stellar and actually pretty warm in the afternoon. I didn’t want to waste too much time on the summit, because I was guessing that it could take a while to get down the face.

Magnus had been carrying my rope and gave it to me and I gave him my extra pair of gloves and then I took of my thick down jacket and down pants. I remember asking Magnus for some water, then I gave him a hug, checked the bindings and set of down the summit ridge. I was surprised on how normal it felt skiing this high. It felt like any day in Chamonix, and even though the snow on the arête was pretty hard, it was easy to get the edges in to the snow. I met a man in a one piece down suite. He said good luck and kept on going towards his big goal. Mine were in a different direction.

After the ridge I turned left on to the south face. It starts of fairly steep and the snow was as hard as snow can be and still not being ice. I could just get my edges in to the snow and was skiing really slowly and even sidestepping with the ice axe on some parts. But after the first pitch the slope eased up a little bit and the snow turned in to chalk, really easy to ski.

I kept at it down the face enjoying every turn and the fact that I was just being on a place few people had ever been before. At one point I stopped and caught my breath and told my self; this is not a place for human beings, this place is huge. I was skiing and skiing but the slope just kept on coming. Finally I arrived at the seracs and by traversing skiers right I could find a way trough, navigating on a little bit of ice and jumping over a small crevasse. Next I started skiing towards skiers left and the traverse, but even though it looks like a big traverse on photos the slope is leaning a bit to the left still giving a falline feel to the skiing.

I crossed a few thin crevasse bridges and soon I ended up on big windslabs created by the winds, probably in the last few days before I got there. I was now quickly traversing in high speed between safe spots because the snow was feeling really hollow. I even got the infamous “whoomp” two times, and this was not, as you can imagine, a place to get a ride with the snowpack. Doing something big in the ski or climbing world people is always raising their heads exposing their necks from nature’s blows of objective danger. We all just have to hope we are not unlucky that day. It’s just a simple fact.

At the end of the traverse at the rocky spur I had hoped to be able to keep my skis on, but when arriving there I discovered that it was a between 50-70 degree ice and mixed traverse for a bout 50 meters. I had no other choice than change over to crampons and ice axes, put the skis on the backpack and do some ice climbing. A half hour later I clicked in to my bindings and skied in to the hidden couloir. The snow got harder and harder and I only skied a few hundred meters before I had to change to crampons again. But this was only 60 meters above a big cliff so it didn’t take too much more time. After the cliff I once more put my skis on and skied about 200m and then again changed to rappel mode. I wouldn’t ski for a while after this point but I didn’t know this yet.

It was warm, really warm and the time where around 4:30 pm. A few rocks had already flown past me but it just got worse and worse. I did the first rappel over a cliff and started to have a bad gut feeling. I immediately started to search for a safe spot. Another rappel down I found one and sat down behind a rock and started to play the waiting game. For a while it was raining rocks from the sky and I felt pretty calm and happy behind my rock while the time was passing by and I had time to look in to myself as well as out on the view.

At 11 pm the situation had calmed down and I continued rappelling down a few cliffs and icefalls in the couloir. Its worth to mention that I only had one 60m iceline with me as two ropes had been out of the question because of the weight, and my Chamonix rappel line in Kevlar just take to much time in the rope work because its really hard to handle and is not good for multiple rappelling. When I got down to the face below I discovered that it was not at all in the same conditions as it had been on our recognisance trip before the hard winds. Most of it was still skiable though and I would have done an effort if it had been day time but in the middle of the night it felt a bit contrived to start skiing something that was faster to just down climb and I still had to do plenty of short rappels over ice patches and still almost every couple of minutes a rock came down the face. Priority no 1 was to get down safely. So I down climbed around 400-500m before I put my skis on on the slanting traverse above the bergschrund. There I was mostly sliding and sidestepping but it was still faster than with crampons. When I got down to the schrund I couldn’t see the bottom, it was all just a blur in the dark and I did one free hanging rappel down into the darkness and, with knots on the end of the rope, hopped I would get down before the rope ended. The bergschrund was well over 20 m and I just made it over to the other side with the rope. Continuing skiing down the glacier was not an option so I slowly skied down to the middle of the glacier, negotiating the crevasses in the bad light to find a spot where I should be safe from the rock missiles. The time was around 2.30 AM.

And then I just sat there, in the middle of this glacier in the middle of the night; tired, hungry and thirsty. But happy to have done what I came to Denali to do. The first thing I did was to start melting snow and to put on all the clothes I had. Then I drank three liters of water before I ate my food. The sleeping was out of the question; I was way to cold to be able to sleep.

At around 5 AM I started skiing down the glacier towards the last big crux of the outing, the ice fall, a 200 vertical meter big and highly crevassed steepening in the glacier. I was hesitation quiet a bit on which way to go at first. The crevasses were really big and the bridges thin and I was walking back and forth trying to find a good way on the convex slope. Finally I remembered I had taken a zoomed in photo of the icefall on the recognisance trip so I took up my camera and started memorizing the run. It felt like in the old days; memorizing a competition run for a freeride competition. I found one way that seemed possible on the whole face so I knew I really had to get right from the start.

The snowpack was very slabby an I got “whoomps” every now and then. Skiing down the face went really well. I skied fast and found my way from the start and got to straight line a wall of ice in the end; skiing in high speed out on the gentle glacier. Skiing down the east fork I knew that the hardest challenges were behind me, now I only had to keep the concentration to not end up in a hole. When an hour later finally arriving at the big track leading from basecamp to ABC I, for the first time in a while, felt safe. I skied down on the lonely track, (the climbers had yet not started out for the day) as far as I could and when it started to mount towards base camp I just did not have any more energy left. I stopped, lay down on my backpack and fell asleep. After some time passing climbers started to wake me up to see if I was ok. I told them I have had a long day and then got back to my dreams. I lay there for 6 hours before I continued the last 30-40 minutes up to base camp.

On arrival there I put up my extra tent and opened a pack of Pringles chips to celebrate the adventure. I had hoped that my friends Colin Haley and Nils Nielsen would be around so I could borrow a sleeping bag from them. But they where up on the north buttres of Mt Hunter and didn’t come back before early morning the next day. I got another cold night.

The following day I hang out with my friends in camp. We where a tired group and spent most of the day eating and enjoying the sun. It was a great feeling having the big objective behind me and I thought that if I got to do anything else on the mountain it would just be a bonus.

After a warm and long night in Colin’s extra sleeping bag I packed a sled with some extra food and took of towards ABC. I really wanted to get back to Magnus as soon as possible so we could concentrate on trying to climb the Cassin Ridge. I had done what I came for, but I also wanted Magnus to get his big goal realised.

It was the hottest day on the whole trip and I was tired from the last adventure. It took me 5 hours to get to 11000 camp where I brewed up and ate dinner, but then it took another 4 hours to get the last 3000 feet up to ABC. I was tired for sure, but when the sun went down over the mountains it got really cold and windy. In the end I had all my clothes on and walked as fast as I could but I was still so cold that I could not even put on my ski crampons for the last hills up to camp. I stumbled in to Will and Jon’s tent late that evening just begging to get warmed up again. I instantly got handed a few warm water bottles and a sleeping bag and it didn’t take long before I was warm again – Its worth more than anything having good friends on the mountain. That day was for sure my hardest day on the whole trip.

The next day I did barely leave my sleeping bag except for eating. The weather was good and the forecast said it was going to hold up for another 3 days and then a big low-pressure system was on its way in. Time was running out. I had to rest fast…

Some last thought on the south face descent…

I don’t see this descent as a true first descent, more like a great mountain adventure and a challenge and dream lived trough. I’m a challenge driven person more than sensation based ditto and I usually look for adventures where I wont know the outcome or the result. Can an adventure be an adventure if you do know the result? I don’t think so.

Skiing big faces one will never know the conditions before one is there trying – and that’s where I think the beauty of skiing, climbing and alpinism lies; in the act of trying to realise a dream. And if you are not accepting the risk of failure that is the thing that’s going to keep you from realise your visions.

The skiing on this face was by no means difficult. Its snow, ice and rock like any other face in the world. The challenge was to not get touched by the collective fear that is always built up around something that is not done before as well as having a strategy that will give you the best possible chance of success and survival.

Mark Twight’s saying that; “strategy is beyond technique, technique is beyond the tools” always rings true in the mountains.

I down climbed and rappelled around 400 meters of the face that would be easy to ski in the day in good conditions. And 250 out of those meters where still possible to ski when I was there, but it would have been pretty contrived. Around 200 meters will probably always be obligatory to rappel or down climb if not generations to come will take true freeriding in to the big mountains where you cant fall. That still means I skied just over 3400m of a total of 4000 meters

There are three different ways to pass the rock wall a bit more than half way down. I was aiming from the start to take the far skiers left because I thought the rock rib was going to be possible to negotiate with skis on and that looked like the way to get most skiing in.

I took the middle way on my descent because I was already past the rib and the slopes further skiers’ left was much icier. I think that, with the knowledge I have now, I would recommend taking the skies right option that will skip the rib and then follow a ramp after the rappels to get back to the main slopes.

I know two parties who have tried climbing up the face intending to ski it. Dan Corn and a friend climbed halfway before they returned down, also doing some down climbing and rappelling to get down the main slopes. Greg G Collins and a friend also tried it a few years back, but they turned around early because of rock fall.

This is definitely one of the best ski descents I can imagine. It is huge, it goes from the highest summit in North America, and it offers great skiing potential, some challenging skiing and ski mountaineering and it is a mind game. It also demands a good strategy to avoid the objective dangers such as stone fall, bad weather, the cold and avalanches. I would not by any means call this a contrived ski – but an excellent face for really big mountain skiing, with everything that comes along with that.

I don’t know what it would take to do a complete descent or even what would be fair to regard as a real descent and the subjectivity of the sport sometimes tires me. I’m happy to give things a try as long as they give me a challenge, beauty and a good adventure – that’s all I’m looking for and then, afterwards, I just want to let them be as they where when I was out there – great adventures.

I’m greatly thankful for everything I got to experience on this adventure as well as for the great people I got to meet and hang out with and I’m already immersed in the research for the next quest to come!

Myself and Magnus hanging out at Devil’s Pass

Magnus snow walking. Mark Twight once said he failed to climb the West Buttress even though he summited – he couldn’t find any climbing…

Its all a snow walk…

But a very breath taking one… in many ways…

The summit ridge

Taking a look down the south face

Magnus and myself on the summit of Denali

Skiing on the south face

Looking up towards the summit

Mt Foraker in the sun rise. At the end of the descent I didn’t really focus on photos, so this is the first one just before I took of down the glacier.

After the icefall with the mighty south face of Denali in the background

Me having a rest in the tent…

Colin Haley and Nils Nielsen in camp

Myself and Nils, the south face of Denali in the background

Mt Hunter in sunset

It’s a long way from basecamp to ABC

Looking back at my sled and the view after Squirrel hill

And later on I enjoyed a beautiful sun set over the Alaskan lowlands…

Tuesday, June 21st, 2011

Denali Adventure part 2 – ABC and the Orient Express x2.5

I would say that arriving in ABC was the start of the fun part of our Alaska adventure. When we finally got there we where able to do what we came to Denali to do: ski and climb. And of course hang out with old and new friends. Upon seeing the poor ski conditions Magnus quickly decided that skiing up high was not for him, so I got the whole mountain for my self.

Being keen as always I woke up early our first day in camp with the goal of getting as high as possible and then ski back down. I first went for the Messner couloir but turned around because of a sketchy bergschrund (I later found a better way) and turned to the Orient or rather the West Rib. At around 17000 feet I got hit by the altitude and felt like that was enough for the day so I sat down on my backpack, put on all my clothes and turned my attention to the view and my iPod for about two hours. I wanted to profit as much as I could from the thin air and when I started to feel cold I clicked in to my skies and skied down to camp in one go. It was a great feeling to finally do some semi steep turns on higher altitude.

The next day came with bad weather and the following day hard winds but I still made another try on the Orient. I didn’t really care where I was going as long as I got as high as possible and got some good old workout done. This time I made it within 200 meters from the top cornice but I got so cold by the wind (even though I had down pants and 3 down jackets) that I turned around and enjoyed some pretty good chalky skiing. The weather turned in to a storm the next day and gave me some good rest and then calmed down a bit the day after allowing me to get all the way to the top of the Orient Express and then ski all the way back to camp.

These where some good calm days where I got to tune in to the mountain and get a feeling for the conditions. Magnus joined up with our British friends Jonathan Griffith and Will Sim and did a couple of fast pushes to 17000 camp as well as the Devils Pass (18500).

But the weather was not really allowing for summit pushes and no one had sat their foot on the summit since we got to ABC so we started to feel like we wanted to optimize our time, get acclimatized and be closer to where its happening. So we moved up to 17000 camp even though the forecast was not to good. We had met some really nice guys from Iceland: Siggi and Balder and we wanted to help them out realising their big dream of making the summit. So the next day we went up the Rescue gully in three hours with their tent to build a mutual camp at 17000. It was really windy in high camp and we built a fortress around their big Hilleberg tent. While I were building walls Magnus turned down to meet our friends to get some food they had cached before and then came back up for dinner.

When evening turned to night our friends had yet not arrived and we started to be a bit concerned. It was a raging storm outside our tent and we where half asleep in our sleeping bags. But we felt like we had to do something. Magnus went down the ridge again by him self but turned around because he was to afraid going on to the arête by him self in the hard wind and zero visibility. Then we alarmed the rangers, but they did not want to take any risks in the storm, so we went down the ridge together as far as we dared but turned around when it was starting to feel to crazy. There were nothing we where able to do for our friends so we went back to our sleeping bags hoping they had turned around. However, at 3.30 at night our friends stumbled in to the tent after the biggest adventure in their lives and over 18 hours after they sat out. That was one of the happiest moments of the trip.

The next day it was still stormy and we all hang out together in the tent eating and drinking and listening to Siggis crazy stories from the past. Then the following morning we woke up to a cold and calm sunny day. We were on!!!

The Messner couloir and the Orient Express from below

Having a rest on the Orient

Mt Hunter

And Foraker

Skiing the Orient the 2nd attempt

And then the third

Further down

Our friends the volunteers building a shelter for the shit house

Jon and Will coming over for a visit

Magnus on a cold day

Our camp

Magnus making his way up the rescue gully

Magnus coming back with the food

And taking care of me on our rest day in the storm

Sunday, June 19th, 2011

Denali adventure part 1 – Preparing for fun times

Coming back home to the north of Sweden after our Alaska adventure it’s hard to know where to start my story. I guess it began a year or two back when I got to hear about the south face of Denali for the first time. I got to see photos of the face and the first thing that came to my mind were that; “I can do that, I want to ski that” and I immediately started dreaming about going there.

It felt like a good challenge and a great adventure and I put it on my invisible wish list. But as time went on and easier fetch able adventures came and went, this dream kind of fell asleep. However this winter, over a couple of beers, it got brought up one evening at good friend Max Turgeon’s house. He had been to Denali several times before and even climbed the huge south face by a new route. He was also looking for a good adventure and almost immediately agreed to go for the south face.

Said and done. It didn’t take long before we had everything booked and ready to go. But about 3-4 weeks before we where leaving I got a phone call from his girlfriend giving me the bad news. Max was sick, really sick. He had some growth in his stomach, he had just had a surgery and they where waiting for the lab results if he had cancer or not. In a moment I lost all my motivation for the mountains and just put all my hope and well wishes towards Max and his recovery.

During this time I went out skiing and ice climbing solo, knowing that’s usually what Max does when he’s in the same situation. But then, a week later, we got the results: Max did not have cancer and his prognosis for recovery was really good. The first thing that came to my mind was that I had to try to realise this dream, the big thing I had had in mind most of the winter. So I started calling my best friends to see if anyone was interested in joying me. One of the first I called was Magnus Kastengren. He is one of these rare persons that I know that are almost always free to take on any kind of adventure, and when you are out there, he does have neither negativity nor limits making him a wonderful friend and traveling partner. He is of course also really strong in the mountains. My objective was still skiing the south face, but our mutual goal now also became climbing one of the most famous alpine route – the Cassin Ridge.

So, less than three weeks before leaving Magnus joins the expedition and we start replanning the trip. There were just a few obstacles to overcome. First of all, someone going to Denali for the first time need to apply for a permit 60 days before the trip. We only had like 17 days before we where leaving. In the end we where able to ad him as a third member of our expedition, but it still meant we could not start climbing earlier than 30 days after registration. But starting the climbing a week later than planned was better than not going, right? That also meant I had to change my flights so we could stay longer in Alaska. After this was figured out it felt like we where on our way. Now we just had to sort out the equipment. Max and me had most of it planned, but Max, as he had been there a few times more than me he had most of the stuff we needed as a team. Now, we had to spend lots of our time just prior to the trip to get that sorted between myself and Magnus, and hours everyday where spent on skype.

But in the end we got everything sorted and after two intense layover days in Chamonix (see link) I flew to Anchorage, Alaska, to meet up with my friend at the airport. The one and only day we had in town before we took of to the wilderness was really intense. We had so much equipment to buy and then of course food for one month on the glacier. And it’s pretty important that one get everything one need while in civilisation because once out on the mountain there is nothing one can do if one is lacking something.

Shopping food for a month was the most difficult task, as we had no clue of what we where buying. Everything looked so different, it was different bags and measuring, new brands, etc and lots of the food is just so different. If we would have been in Europe it would probably have taken us 1,5 hour to get everything we searched for, but now it took us 7h. We walked around the whole store first without selecting a thing before a salesman came and helped us out.

After a full day of shopping we went back to the bed and breakfast and packed and repacked for most of the night. The next day we where off for Talkeetna, the last outpost before going to Denali. We stayed there for one night and then, the 9^th of May, we flew in to the Kahiltna glacier and the Denali Base Camp.

The Base Camp consists of a tent village and an airstrip and it’s where everyone aiming to climb Denali by its normal route, west rip or south face will fly in. It’s a place most people are coming to or going from and very few are actually staying there for more than a few days, even though great skiing and climbing is really easy accessible from here.

We left as soon as we could with the aim of reaching advanced base camp (ABC) as soon as possible. It took us five days to reach it and it was only on the third day when we had a rest day in 11 000 feet camp that Magnus said; “this is the first time I’m having fun on this trip”. Then again we had almost 80-90 kg of load divided on our sledges and back packs; Food for a month, full skiing and climbing equipment, clothes and all the camping gear. On the way we also made a detour past the east fork of the Kahiltna glacier to get a view of the south face. The weather was mostly really cold, especially at night and really windy making us pretty prepared for the storms higher up, but we also had a taste off how warm the sun can be when it just chooses to shine! Looking back at our first days out they where a good warm up, easy going acclimatisation as well as a preparation for the fun times to come.

Arriving late at night we slept the first night at the airport

And then had a huge american breakfast.

and then some shopping

Magnus and the plane

The south face of Denali from the plane

Magnus and his sled

First camp, Denali in the far background

First view of the Cassin Ridge

This stuff is heavy

Magnus above Squirrel hill

Our 11000 camp

First view of the upper slopes of Denali and the 14000 (ABC) camp plateau. Messner couloir in the middle, the Orient on the right.

Saturday, May 7th, 2011

Intense two days in Chamonix – Skiing on north face of Aiguille du Midi and Aiguille du Plan

Writing this I’m sitting on a plane in between New York and Seattle on my way to Alaska and are looking back at two really intense days in Chamonix. I got in to town on Wednesday late afternoon and spent my first hours in town meeting up with friends and sorting out equipment for the Alaska trip. On Thursday morning I had set up with Constantine Papanicolaou (CP), the filmer working with the upcoming Seth Morrison movie, for an interview and we went up to the mid station on Aiguille du Midi to get some good ambiance.

I had timed my days in Chamonix perfectly and a rainstorm had just hit town plastering the mountains higher up with perfect snow for steep skiing. I was figuring out that it would be good skiing on the north face of Midi, but being new in town and not knowing the conditions by heart, I wanted to wait one day for the snow to settle.

CP with his big camera and Aiguille du Midi in the background

But sitting down in the sun doing the interview I spotted some skiers slowly skiing down the Mallory. The snow looked super good so I directly decided to have a quick ski in the afternoon. Knowing the culture in town I where guessing it was going to be crowded on the face the next day. I called my friend and filmer Bjarne Sahlén and went home to get my skis.

The Mallory Porter on Aiguille du Midi

The north face of Aiguille du Midi. Mallory-Porter goes down in the centre of the photo

We went up with the 13:30 bin and where at the top at around 14:00. I started skiing straight away and where able to ski the first half of the run in almost one go – I had to wait for Bjarne once when he changed angle and for him to get in the lift, to film me as he was passing by on his way down. The snow was excellent and it felt great being back in Chamonix again and straight away be able to get some got skiing in.

After the intersection between Eugster and Mallory the small right trending couloir was not very well filled in. The party that skied it in the morning had rappelled the whole thing but I gave it a try and managed to ski it till just two meters from the left slanting thin traverse where one have to walk down on a rock slab and then do a small (really exposed) jump to get by. Three years ago I skied it in similar conditions in the autumn, but I guess I’m getting old and smart(er) – so I used the rope for those few meters.

Next followed the second big snowfield that felt more like freeriding than extreme skiing before I ended up on the second crux where I once again used the rope for a few meters, then skied down the third snowfield and then put up the obligatory rappel.

After the rappel the skiing get much less exposed and I calmly skied down a narrow arête in to the final couloir and then out on the big snowfields below the face. 5 minutes later I where back with Bjarne at the lift station looking back up the mountains.

Down in town we met up with photographer Tero Repo for a light après ski with ice cream and coke. With the conditions being that good we both agreed that it was time to get one of the most mythical faces done before the camera. Skiing the north face of Aiguille du plan the next day became a fact. But the day was not over just yet, I still had one more interview to do, this time with Trey Cook on Chamonix insider and then a lovely dinner with the best friends in town at Casa Velerio

On the top of the first big snowfield

And then on the second

Looking back at the exposed traverse after the small couloir

Above the second crux

Looking up after the obligatory rappel

And then down at the skiing

Bjarne Sahlén was filming the adventure

Tero Repo and Bjarne Sahlén enjoying ice cream aprés ski

Hard man Trey Cook at MBC

Skiing the north face of Aiguille du Plan (for the second time)

The first half of the north face of Aiguille du Plan, we skied the red line on the photo, except that we rappelled on the lookers right side of the big serac instead of on the left. (Photo: Tero Repo)

The next day I met up at Midi at 8 o’clock with filmers Guido Perrini and Bjarne Sahlen, photographer Tero Repo and snowboarder Xavier de le Rue for our project of getting some good material from the face.

The north face of Aiguille du Plan is not really a ski, its more of a mind game where problem solving and keeping ones head cold is much more important than the actual skiing. I already skied the face two years ago with Tobias Granath and then it probably was the first decent in 15 years, but this year it already had two successful descents. Last time I told myself I where not going to do the face again, and I guess I repeat that quote again after this repetition. You will understand why…

I would say this is the most beautiful skiable face seen from the Chamonix valley. It thrones up in between huge rock walls in the middle of the Chamonix Needles and is totally broken up by a big maze of seracs. The run finishes with a dead end above 300 meters of either active seracs or a compact slab. As a ski descent it is a rapp fest, but its also one of the biggest experiences one can get in the Chamonix range.

We accessed Aiguille du Plan from Aiguille du Midi via the Midi-Plan traverse in about two hours. A helicopter was booked for the photo/film crew for 12 o’clock so we knew we where in no hurry. Arriving at the start of the ski run, just bellow the top pinnacle we realised how good the snow where. Perfect light powder snow awaited us, but we still had to wait almost an hour in the cold before the heli would come. To warm our heads up, we got to witness a huge serac fall on the north face of Midi, reminding us in what kind of terrain we where going to enter.

Soon enough the boys arrived and the game was on. We skied the first 250 vertical meters fast and smoothly, but arriving just above the biggest seracs the snow got super hollow and slabby, so we had to start making good use of the rope as Xavier belayed me over the traverse to set up the first rappel. Then we rapped over the seracs, and arriving bellow them the snow was not any better so we kept on using the rope and placements to cut the slope for half the right slanting traverse as well. The sun had transformed the snow on the skiers right hand side, so from there we where fine to ski again. The hidden couloir awaited us with great snow, but we had to climb over some rocks in between snow patches to get down it and after this we skied down the last big snowfield and set up a rappel at the top of the last seracs.

From here one has two choices; either rap fast straight down the seracs or trend skiers right down the compact slabs. The first alternative means much higher objective danger the second means a real challenge in finding good enough cracks to build secure anchors. We choose the later alternative and trended right, finding some of my old anchors from before but had to mostly redo the procedure. I blessed my last knife blades and all the stoppers I had in the middle sizes. On the last rappel we where almost free hanging on two small nuts and a knifeblade, a situation not at all unusual when climbing, but a different story with ski and snowboard gear on a ski mission. Just when Xavier commented on the situation the serac fell on the easiest way down under the hanging glacier (the alternative one that I where talking about before) making even this awkward situation feel like paradise. Getting back down on solid ground I packed the ropes and let Xavier go first as we didn’t know when the last lift down would go and he is a bit slower on a board on traverses.

We ended up getting down in good time for the lift and celebrated with a Coke and a Twix at the little café on the terrace.

Taking my boots of at the perking lot I discovered something that explained the bad feeling I had on the top. Just before I took of I double-checked my boots and bindings like always, but this time there was a small gap under the left heel allowing me to lift the boot up and down 1 cm in the binding. I thought the bind was just getting old or something, but taking the boots of I realised the boot was broken and the metal piece on the heel was gone. Skiing was fine without it as long as I stayed on the middle of my foot, but I did not want to go to Alaska with a broken boot and my flight was in the morning the day after. So while the others enjoyed beer at Elevation I run of to Kai at Chamonix Freeride Centre and begged him to sort the boot out. I would have no time to get a new boot sorted for my feet before the next day so I was lucky to have one of the best boot fitters there is to get them back ski condition. Damn that was a hectic day – Then over for dinner, doing the last phone calls, do the packing and then of to bed for a few hours of sleep before the flight in the morning.