Update, June 4: 2:36 am MDT, crew appears to be back at 14,200-foot camp after summiting. One of their comm devices broke a few days ago, but they’ve still got the satphone and Luann heard from them. Sounds like they’re headed down to Kahiltna Base and did ski Denali, so CONGRATULATIONS to the guys!
Update, June 3 09:44 pm MDT (7:44 Alaska time), we just get a SPOT message from Evan originating FROM THE SUMMIT OF DENALI! We knew the crew was going to try for the top today. We’re unclear about snow and ice conditions. It appears they’re on the good side of a 48 hour weather window. Best wishes to them for a safe descent!
Regarding the map below: Creator Doug Sproul is the guy who’s doing the beautiful “guidebooking” at geobackcountry.com — he’s psyched up by SkiTheBig3. Doug and I worked on this map for the last few days, thought I’d share at this point. Additions and improvements ongoing, feel free to give us feedback in the comments. It’s difficult to locate everything exactly. To view, click to enlarge.
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(‘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. Aaron Diamond, Evan Pletcher, Anton Sponar, Jordan White. The idea is to ski Denali, Mount Foraker, and Mount Hunter all during one expedition.)
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.
