Did a winter campout a few nights ago with four of our Denali crew. Mainly testing our Hilliberg tentage. Looks like we’ll be using three Hilleberg shelters. Saivo is a nicely sized but still wind-friendly dome that Jordan and Caleb, being taller folks, like because it fits them better. Louie and I are in the Nammatj 3, while Caleb, Colby and Joe will bunk in the Keron 3 GT with its commodious vestibules at each end for their gear pile.
The other big test was my completed satphone blogging system. Everyone present took a turn at the computer to file a brief post via the Iridium birds. Crazy, just sitting in our kitchen snow-trench with a netbook on our laps, sending photos and text. Nice to have this working, now I can move on to refining our winter camping systems:
This photo was sent over our satphone system in just over a minute, while sitting in our snowcamp kitchen. Nice hat there Colby. This and other tests I've been running indicate we'll be good to go for getting photos from the Kahiltna to WildSnow. Only unknown is how well the system will do in deep cold. Tricks for that include pre-warming gear before using and that sort of thing. So we'll see.
Jordan: Mac n cheese times three. Psyched to be out with the Denali crew. We need more gear dialing, but I feel like for the most part our crew will be physically fit.
Joe: Sitting here with the legend having a brew thinking of great turns past.
Colby: Sitting out here on McClure Pass after a dinner of mac and cheese. Jordan, Joe, Tyler and I got out earlier this morning to set up camp and get some skiing in. Lou met us out for dinner and a night out with the boys. Should be a good evening!
Tyler: Enjoying some PBR’s with Lou up on Huntington Ridge. Just finished a nice mac and cheese dinner. Nothing like playing with laptops and sat phones in the snow.
Lou: Indeed, sitting here with the Denali boys above McClure Pass, learning how to be high tech mountaineers!
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.
