Update, May 13, 2014: Crew is now back at Kahiltna Base, Jordan says he’s sending over a blog post just as soon as they charge up all their comm gear.
Update, May 12, 2014: Crew is now on main Kahiltna glacier at their basecamp, meaning they’ve reversed the icefall that blocks access to the south and west reaches of Mount Hunter. That’s a good thing, as the Hunter climb and ski is not complete until the icefall is done with. Jordan told me they’re moving back north up the Kahiltna as soon as possible.
Details are not in yet, but I did get a satphone call from Jordan and they’re down after a successful ski and (probably first, by Aaron) snowboard descent of the Ramen Route (west and south). “It’s a brutal mountain,” said Jordan, “we’d run out of good decisions and just have to lay down for a while…”
The crew of four is still in high-camp above the icefall on the southwest side of Mount Hunter, I’d imagine they’ll move back down tomorrow and soon begin their journey up the Kahiltna to get in position for Mount Foraker or Denali.
I’ll expand this post once I get details and photos.
(‘Ski The Big 3 is an Alaskan ski mountaineering expedition cooked up by four deprived (or perhaps depraved?) guys who never get enough ski and snowboard alpinism. The idea is to ski and snowboard Denali, Mount Foraker, and Mount Hunter all during one expedition. They’ve got six weeks worth of food and enough camera gear to outfit a small army. Should be interesting.)
WildSnow.com publisher emeritus and founder Lou (Louis Dawson) has a 50+ years career in climbing, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. He was the first person in history to ski down all 54 Colorado 14,000-foot peaks, has authored numerous books about about backcountry skiing, and has skied from the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest mountain.
