Doing Field Work

Whew! The last month has been a crazy conglomeration of skiing, training, Denali practice, work, traveling, and weddings. In this post I wanted to highlight the last couple of days of "field work" to prep for Denali.

The pictures are from three different trips: 1) hauling sleds up the local ski resort, Big Mountain, to work on roped travel and our sled haul system. 2) hiking with heavy packs up and down BM to get some vertical and then practicing our crevasse rescue system. 3) backcountry skiing/traversing in the Jewel Basin covering over 10 miles and 4500 feet in a soft snow shred-fest.

The upside-down sled says it all: our sled system initially was not
working and I was ready to cut them loose and send them down the hill
on their own. Good mental practice to tell you the truth. It was windy
and things were not going right. But Dad has an uncanny ability
to stay positive and smile. Thankfully we figured out a better system
and made it back to the truck with no injuries or emotional trauma!

The next day we were setting up our tent and cutting a foam
floor for added insulation. 

Different tent? When we set up the good ol' North Face, we both
looked at the old fabric (I mean, it was my parents wedding present)
and shuddered at the potential of a ripped tent in -20 degree weather.
We promptly ordered a newer tent, which is going to be sweet. Check out
the Hilleburg Allak online if you want some better info on it.

Once again at Big Mountain "hanging out" on a cornice lip
practicing saving someone (Dad's pack in this case) after a crevasse
fall.  

Dad's turn at a rescue. Our cook tent, a Black Diamond Mega-light,
is in the immediate foreground and the gorgeous Flathead Valley
beyond that.

Standing at the summit of Mt. Aneas in the Jewel Basin, the highest
point of our tour. There is so much snow still in them there hills.
We skied from the summit to the east. See the tracks in the next pic.

Dad pretty pumped up after some flawless skiing.  Summit of
Aneas is behind him. Look directly above Dad and to the right of the
highest point on the ridge to see our tracks. Who said telemarkers
couldn't shred with the best of them?

Dad coming up the ridge to our second high point. Aneas is the prominent peak on left
of the far ridge. Running around on skis in the high country is an absolute blast. 

We feel in great shape for the High One. Shredding snow here in Montana gives us confidence to tackle things in Alaska (as well as gives some confidence to my mom...). Hopefully Denali goes easy on us and we are allowed passage on its flanks. We want our attitudes to be not one of conquerors, but of humble admirers of the mountains, blessed to be among them at all and closer than we've ever been to the Creator of it all.

Denali Update

So it's now more like 99% for sure that we will be heading to Alaska this coming June and romping around on the highest mountain in North America. We bought our plane ticket to Anchorage, planning to leave on June 14th and returning to Kalispell on July 8th. 

Loading a pack with water and metal weights to get to 50 pounds. 

With that kind of commitment, Dad and I are full-bore with training and preparation for the expedition. We've started walking around the neighborhood and at a local state park with heavy packs on our backs to prep for heavy loads on the mountain. This is in addition to continuing our strength and cardio training. I've been told by several friends that I will be more than prepared for the climb. That makes me feel good about my fitness. However, I want to get to the mountain and feel not only like I can climb the peak in the most efficient manner possible, but feel good enough that I could summit it twice and ski from the top. This keeps me going when I sweating it out in the gym or out on the trail.

Practicing in the basement setting up a z-drag system. I'm shown here
pulling that heavy pack across the floor. 

Since we'll be spending about 3 weeks on a rather large glacier we are practicing our crevasse rescue and glacier travel skills. Our plan is to pull sleds with 60% of our weight and then carry packs with the other 40%. Pulling sleds offer some more logistics and an element of risk if you were to fall into a crevasse, but we're willing to take the slight risk so as to not be carrying 100+ pounds on our backs while on skis. In the case of a crevasse fall and our partner being unable to ascend out of the ice, we plan on setting up a Z-Drag system (3 to 1 pulley system) with a 2 to 1 piggy-back giving us a mechanical advantage of 6 to 1. I haven't spent enough time in the weight room if I can't pull my skinny-winny Dad out of an ice-hole with that kind of added pulling power!

A diagram of the rescue haul system that we plan on using. I can't figure out how to crop it, so it's an awkwardly large image. I hope to fix this in the future. 

With all of that we are still kind of figuring this whole climbing-Denali thing out. There is still a lot to accomplish in a month before we leave with regards to gear purchasing and set-up. But that's part of the fun.

On the back porch, enjoying the intermittent sunshine, and planning some of
the many details of the trip.