Alaska seems to have a strong pull on guides from SMG. Kirk heli ski guided there for years, Erik has done numerous trips, Marc H. has done guide training on several occasions, Hatch did a trip a couple years ago…and this year it was calling name. 3 months ago Evan Ross, a friend from Colorado, and I started planning our trip which would take us to the Turnagain Arm, the legendary Chugach Mountains of Thompson Pass (Valdez) and the Big Peaks of the Wrangell Mountains. Our itinerary: the whole month of May!
Mount Blackburn 16,390ft
Our main objective for the trip was to climb and ski Mt. Blackburn, which at 16,390ft, is the highest peak in the Wrangell Mountain Range. Blackburn doesn’t see much traffic, especially ski descents, and we didn’t see a soul during our 17 day stay. Our base camp was at 7200ft and we had 1 high camp at 9900ft. Skiable vert?, you do the math. We chose to go alpine style, light and fast, so we could enjoy skiing as much of mountain as possible.
At high camp we got rocked by weather, stuck with a dwindling food/fuel supply, completely buried by snow and skunked on the route twice due to avy and weather conditions. Things were looking grim as we sat snowbound in the tent for yet another couple days, pondering the the deeper things in life, while mainly cursing the weather. However, on May 17th after wallowing through waist deep snow, weaving gaping crevasses, seracs and climbing alpine ice, we were finally rewarded with a beautiful summit view and a 6500ft descent. With a meter of new snow from two days before, we had the bottom 4000ft to high camp in perfect boot top to knee deep powder! Ahhh, now we can go back to Anchorage and binge on food…almost as good as the freeze dried!
Special thanks to First Ascent and Smith Optics!
-Clark