Swinging Sultanas’ Ski Descent of Mt Foraker
Loading ...In late May 2009, Kip Garre, Andrew McLean, Courtney Phillips, and I arrived on the Kahiltna glacier of the Alaska Range. Our objective was to ski the Sultana ridge from the 17400 ft summit of Mt. Foraker,. We planned to climb ~13000 ft. Mt. Crosson, then traverse the approx 3.5-mile ridge that connects Mt. Crosson and the Sultana ridge of Mt. Foraker. From that point, we would climb and ski the Sultana ridge.
Everything in the Alaska Range is huge. The glaciers, crevasses, peaks and the backpacks! This being my first trip to the Alaska Range, I was awe struck. In every direction there were big mountains, intimidating hanging seracs, and huge ski lines. Shortly after landing on the glacier, we were “saluted” by a big avalanche crashing down the Moonflower buttress of Hunter… a gentle reminder of the potential consequences of pushing too hard in this place.
We loaded our gear into sleds, skied across the Kahiltna glacier and established base camp at the foot of Mt. Crosson. Jaw-dropping views of Denali, Foraker, Hunter and the rest of the Alaska Range surrounds our base camp. The size and beauty of the place is intense. We brought 3 weeks worth of supplies for what we expected to be a 4 to 5 day climb and ski… The Alaska Range weather is fickle and we felt we needed that kind of margin, or perhaps even larger.
Court skiing Crosson with Denali in the background
After reaching the summit of Mt. Crosson, we made our first turns down the variable conditions of mixed firm snow and ice on upper Crosson. I would probably call the conditions… good. Maybe “mixed” would be a better description. With about 3000 ft of vertical still left to descend, the conditions deteriorated into knee to waist deep un-skiable suncups, and we decided to stash the skis. Without this wonderful and ancient mode of travel on snow, we were reduced to post-holing 3000 ft. of vertical down soggy suncups, ash, ice and steep loose shale. Tasty. 14 hours later, and with my feet covered in wicked blisters, we were finally back at base camp, tired, ski-less, and wondering what the heck we had gotten our selves into. Well, it turned out we were about to climb inside a ping-pong ball, that would last for the next 10 days…
After 8 days of bad weather, we take a momentary break from scrabble game number 19 (or was it number 18 or 30?), to see if it’s really possibly still is a total white out? Yep… The prolonged tent time, complete with 3 ft of new snow and damp conditions made me realize importance a solid tent, sleeping pad and sleeping bag system. Even after all that moisture and time in the tents, we were still warm and comfortable.
After 10 days cooped up at base camp, the clouds began to lift. The enormous Alaska Range was sparkling in a fresh coat of white. Soon the direct solar radiation began heating the fresh snow and triggering large avalanches with alarming frequency. We spent the day hanging out and taking in the views and letting the avalanche cycles run its course. The next morning, we got up early and started climbing. The new snow did wonders for the conditions on Mt. Crosson.
After a happy reunion with our beloved skis, we ripped big powder turns with huge smiles back down to base camp. Skiing in the Alaska Range is awesome, letting it rip in fresh, steep powder after festering in a tent for 10 days is indescribable. High clouds had been rolling through during the day and we had seen some lenticular clouds were forming on the high peaks. The 8 o’clock weather confirmed our fears – the high-pressure window was closing down already… Let the Kahiltna scrabble world championship resume!
Finally, after several days of snow, and even one night of pouring rain – a high pressure was supposed to move in. While it was not really forecasted to be long enough, it seemed like a good opportunity, and perhaps our last chance before we were out of food, supplies and time. Early the next morning, we broke camp and headed up Crosson with the Sultana ridge in our sights. The following day, we pushed across the knife-edge ridge between Mt. Crosson and Mt. Foraker. It was spectacular. The ridge was in good shape, and we climbed across it in great weather, with views over the Kahiltna glacier on our left with Mt. Hunter and Denali, and the Foraker glacier with the huge Alaskan tundra on our right, literally climbing the crest of the Alaska Range.
Kip climbing Sultana
We dug in our 2nd camp on the ridge close to Foraker. It is perhaps the most beautiful place I have ever had the pleasure of pitching a tent. We rested for a few hours, made water and dinner. Shortly after midnight, we began our summit bid.
We climbed steadily and 8 hours later, we found our selves breathing the noticeably thinner air at the summit of Mt. Foraker. It was cold and windy, and we did not linger at the summit. Elated to finally have reached the summit, we knew half the challenge (and the fun part!) was just about to begin.
We began making turns down the firm wind sculpted snow. The skiing was straight forward, but at the same time, incredibly exposed and the snow and ice were laced with cracks. A few hours later – we were back at our camp, and the Sultana had been skied.
Tired and very psyched, back at our 2nd camp we began making water and recovering. The weather was forecasted to deteriorate rapidly, and indeed, the wind began to increase. Soon the tents were rocking in the wind, and furious Foraker was earning its reputation for ferocious weather. We spent several hours carefully digging the tents in and securing camp, contemplating the possibility of getting pinned high of the ridge for several days. We had plenty of fuel, but only 2 days worth of food. But just as we had finished reinforcing our camp, the winds subsided, and the clouds lifted. Mother Foraker playing games and showing us whom is boss?
We awoke the next morning to splitter blue bird conditions, and we had a very long day to cross the ridge back to Mt. Crosson and then laid tracks down Crosson to the Kahiltna glacier. The next morning we skied across the Kahiltna, and flew back to Talkeetna and were thrown back into the iPhone wielding, RV infested reality we call “normal”, and very soon we found ourselves happily drinking pints of IPA at the West Rib Pub. It was Andrew’s third attempt to ski Mt Foraker, and he now becomes the first person to have skied Denali, Foraker and Hunter – congratulations!
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