Denali – Spring Base Camp 2024

Well, its been a few years, almost 5 since we’ve last posted up here on the blog. Life has been pretty busy for the two of us as we’ve definitely been getting after it and exploring the many places nearby to us in the Yukon. This last year was a big one for us, mainly because we finally got married! We never posted our engagement, but it was during the summer of 2019 before COVID hit so a lot of things including our wedding got set aside. The day was epic, the weather perfect, and the family and friend vibes were all times! We’re probably due to post about that very special day… it’ll happen I promise. A snap of us on our special day for a bit of teaser!

As much as our wedding being the highlight of our 2024 year, there was one trip that took the cake for us. A trip we’ve been talking about for years and finally started putting the research and planning in… Spring Base Camp in Denali, AK.

We didn’t know much about the central range of Alaska, but after reading a few guide books it seemed April was the best time of year to hit it. For most if not all of our trips we always start a google drive folder and dump all the information we need/find to get the trip together. This will include research from books, maps we found or made of the area(s), information about the towns we will be passing through or staying, logistical info we need to have on hand or places of contact and their hours with regards to our trip, and the many lists that include what gear, food/meals and attire that will come along with us.

We locked a day to set out to our base camp for April 13th with one of the air taxi companies, Talkeetna Air Taxi (TAT) based out the small Alaskan town Talkeetna. We left the Yukon a week prior and headed along the Alcan Highway to Tok, then Fairbanks before making our way down to Talkeetna. Talkeetna really gave us the true mountaineering/climber vibes when walking around town and down main street. Most if not everyone we met and saw there came from abroad and for one reason, to fly out to Denali, base camp and climb either by foot or skis.

A few days leading up to our day to set-out, a series of stormy weather was forecasted and snowed a total of 7ft where we were headed to base camp! We made sure to arrive a few days earlier as the highways heading to Talkeetna were also getting some weather and made the last pitch of our drive interesting to say the least.. full on snow storm white out!

When we showed up there was a few logistical things we had to get ready before loading our gear in the air taxi. Prior to heading to Alaska we did a gear check and estimated the weight of everything. Not only was there a charge per person, but also additional fees if the total weight of gear and food went over 250lbs. They get you to weigh and tag your own gear prior to flying out, so it’s really based on an honor system. You also provide and write on all your gear tags an expedition team name.. Live4TheRush! Obviously, we packed more fuel and food than we needed so we got dinged a bit there. We also gave the air taxi an estimated day for pick-up, but that also was dependent on how we were feeling and mainly weather. No plane was coming to get you in a snow storm.

Day 1: April 13th – Pika Glacier here we come!

April 13th eventually arrived and it bascially was a waiting game to load our gear on one of the planes and get out on the glacier. Due to the few previous days of storms and poor weather to fly there was a bit of a back log, which meant we were pushed further down the que of teams to fly out that day. After many cups of coffee inside the air taxi office, pacing around the parking lot, hanging in our camper and even making both a breakfast and lunch we finally got the update to load our gear at 2pm! We didn’t take off until around 3-330ish, but it was the start of an adventure Mitch and I were finally ready and looking forward to getting after! The clear blue skies, calm weather and breath taking views while taking off, flying into Denali and landing on Pika Glacier was a perfect first flight we were so lucky to experience.

After what felt like a never ending flight in, it only took us about 45 minutes to land on Pika. From there the start of our spring base camp began! The first few steps out of the plane were extra deep as my body sunk into the ground with snow up to my waist. We unloaded our gear moving bags and boxes to the inside of the air strip. Once the plane took off we loaded up our toboggan a few times and moved everything about 100m from the landing. The trail breaking with skis on was 30cm or more, so we were pretty grateful to not have to make our camp too far from the strip.

It seemed like the season out on Pika was just beginning as we only saw two other camps set-up. You could tell the area had been hit with a recent storm as both camps had massive snow walls showing only the tops of their tents. It was almost 5pm and we only had a few more hours of daylight to build our base camp. First step was packing down the area to set-up our sleeping and kitchen tents. If you’ve never set up a base camp before, I recommend doing a practice run. We saved a lot of time having practiced beforehand and made sure we knew what type of layout we wanted if things were rushed, which in our case they kind of where. A few days prior Mitch even drew his dream kitchen dug out, so he had no issues digging that out once we pitched up our Black Diamond teepee tent. If you aren’t sure what type of sleeping tent to take out to a base camp, Hilleburg tents are a good bet. We purchased one a few years back and its been a solid tent and was the perfect option for this type of trip.

We also had to dig down a few meters and make an outhouse hole where our toliet bins aka “Clean Mountain Cans” would hangout. A few days prior to flying out we went to the Talkeentna Ranger Station to inform them about our trip details that included: who we were flying with, where, for how long, and our backcountry skiing experience (another logistical requirement). They gave us our two little bins to take out with us on the glacier and were told to just drop them off when we came back (yes full of our crap). I don’t know who’s job it is to deal with those, but that drop off gated area across the Ranger Station had a fair amount of used bins in there to deal with. I would say these are definitely an essential need to bring on backcountry trips on a glacier, especially with the amount of traffic that goes to Pika, pack out what you pack in!

Looking at the forecasted weather for the next three days, it seemed in our favor. A quick and easy pierogi and sausage dinner was our first meal as the sun started to set, then we headed straight to bed as the plan was to get up early morning in the dark and be the first ones out to break the trail in.

Day 2: April 14th – Deep Pow Turns in the Toliet Bowl

After a big storm and digging a bit into the snowpack while we built our base camp, we were in assessment mode and needed to see how things were bonding together after 7ft of fresh pow rolled in. We roped up and started making our way up the main route from our base camp around 8am. We were the first ones to get up, first ones to make some oatmeal, first ones to break a trail in, and first ones to get some epic face shots. This was exactly the type of champagne powder we dreamed about and read while doing our initial research for the Pika area during this time of the year. We saw no signs of instability, the snowpack seemed bomber and the temperatures were perfect! It made for a great first day out to lap this zone over and over, and I named it “The Toliet Bowl”. We even went back to base camp for a hot lunch in between laps.

Sunny spring days made for great use of our mini solar panels we brought along to charge electronics, but also to dry our gear out at the end of the day. By 7pm our base camp was typically covered in shade, we sort of understood where you put your base camp on the glacier determined how much sunrise and sunset you would get.

Day 3: April 15th – Granite Wall

It was definitely calm and clear overnight, we woke up with a bit of frost on the tent. It was full down head to toe attire when making breakfast. Our plan for the day was to check out the opposite side from our base camp toward the massive granite walls or known as “The Trolls”. The trail breaking was just as deep as were the turns, and we did notice a bit of change in the snowpack based on aspect where it had a little more sun/ wind effect. It seemed the west was skiing the best! After dropping back down along the granite face we headed down towards Kahiltna glacier. From here we did a bit of exploration in the bowl over walking around ice caves and boot packing up a ridge to where it felt like we could get some more decent turns. We also realized the further you went away in that direction the longer the slightly upward slog you had to take to get back to our back camp. We decided going this direction for the rest of the trip didn’t make the most sense.

Day 4: April 16th – Down the Poop Chute

When we woke up we noticed we were starting to lose our clear weather window, today was potentially the last day before another storm was going to roll through. We decided to head back up to the Toilet Bowl and drop in on the other side to get intel of the next glacier over. The chute behind was a little steeper and we had a hard time gauging if it went or was rock free, but after some assessment we felt okay and dropped down one by one. I named this back chute the “Poop Chute” (it sort of scared the s*** out of me). The snow wasn’t as deep, and you had to keep a solid edge on with each big turn. Once you got down to the bottom bowl the powder turns came back and it felt like surfing. From there we transitioned and headed back to drop down in almost a full white out into the Toilet Bowl. Our weather window was gone and a couple days of rest were coming our way.

Day 5 & 6: April 17-18th – Rest, Read, Repeat

After three solid days of getting after it, the wind and limited visibilty rolled through. We bascially took this time to nap, read, go over and update our maps, eat all the sharp white cheddar cheese we could and do a bit of base camp up keep. There was even some time to crush a few Quentin Tarantino films, Mitch had never seen Kill Bill, felt fitting with the red Hillburg vibes in the tent. We both actually really appreciated these days off, because looking at the forecast for the following days another big clear window was coming back our way again! We also decided to extend our stay out on the glacier sending an InReach back to the air taxi base so a birthday ski was now in my favor!

Day 7: April 19th – Chutes, Cliffs and Company

After a few days of rest, we decided to check out what was terrain we could ski south side of the glacier as we noticed a few groups previous days headed that way. The terrain appeared a little mellow, but also provided a few north facing chutes and a massive cliff drop at the toe of Pika glacier. We tested out a couple of these narrow chute-like runs, however there was a massive bergschrund you had to navigate around. We weren’t interested in falling into that so we punched out a few pow laps on the mellower slopes below towards our base camp. As we skied our laps, we noticed a few more groups rolled in on the air strip and the area started to feel like the mountaineering season was kicking off.

Day 8: April 20th – Crown Glacier

Another early morning start and getting out first to make our way up our Toilet Bowl skin track and into the next glacier over. We decided to wrap around vs. taking the Poop Chute and noticed a massive overhead glacier that had broken off and scattered debris all over. It was pretty neat to see and also nerve racking to traverse nearby. As we transitioned over to our boards we began to carve down to where we ended from the Poop Chute a few days prior. It was like skiing on shear ice! The area was getting a melt freeze spring cycle and getting onto it early morning we were dealing with the freeze over. Luckily it changed as we got further down into the next glacier, but we knew our time was a bit limited with the sun coming out so we changed over into touring mode and set ahead to the peaks ahead.

For the rest of the day we skied and put tracks all around Crown Glacier. We realized the west aspects were still holding the best snow. We also discovered another chute up track that featured another “unnamed” glacier that we decided would be the focus for the next day. On the way back toward our last lap down the Toilet Bowl to base camp, Mitch couldn’t leave without taking a block of glacier ice for us to enjoy with a backcountry margarita kit we brought along.

Day 9: April 21st – 35 and exploring further!

Our last day to get after it and foruntate that it was also my 35th birthday. Another spectacular blue bird day was in the book for our last adventure around Pika. We didn’t wait and got out first again up our Toliet Bowl up track, across Crown glacier, and up and over the next chute to enter the unknown glacier we observed the day prior.

The first objective for the day was at the toe of this unnamed area where we saw a fun micro peak to ski a few laps on. The uptrack however wasn’t easy, there was some melt freeze hiding underneath the soft snow ontop that easily sluffed as we went higher and higher. It was a bit of a slow punch up to the top to get a decent track in, but we eventually made it and had some decent turns. We realized we needed to head back and find a west facing aspect, that’s where the good stuff was! Mitch spotted a decent line to bootpack up and wow.. what a nice line of pow for my birthday! We named this area “Zella Glacier”. We had a few glaciers to go back across and the legs and feet were starting to feel the kms put on now. We were starting to notice the snow pack feeling less pow with the multiple days of melt/ freeze, the turns seemed a bit harder and almost like skiing on an uneven groomer at the ski resort. By the time we finally made it up to the top of Toliet Bowl the visibility was changing to overcast, my legs were giving out and I was ready to be back at base camp!

Once back at our base camp we had a final feast and began to tidy up some of our gear to make the morning pack-up easier. We weren’t sure how the weather was going to pan out, but we were hoping a big enough window of clear skies were in our favor.

Day 10: April 22nd – Bye-Bye Pika

Like every day we got up early, had our oatmeal breakfast and instant coffee, and similar to the waiting game we played getting into Pika, we had to do the same getting out. After multiple back and forth InReach messages to the air taxi base, it looked like a clear window was happening mid afternoon so we began to deconstruct our camp and mob our gear to the air strip. With all the snow that fell we had to help pack the runway out again, luckily we were one of 3 other groups heading out that day. Around 4pm we saw not one, but two air taxis land on the air strip.. double plane action! We loaded up our gear as fast as we could and took off into the air in no time! Mitch and I felt like we accomplished the trip of a lifetime, and our bodies were definitely feeling it as well. All I could think about was heading straight to the pub for a burger and beer! It was trivia night at the local brewery/ pub and being that I just had a birthday we got to enjoy a PB and chocolate cheesecake! We ended the night heading over to the Talkeetna Inn for a few more beers and rounds of pool.

We spent the next day exploring the town of Talkeetna, taking a much needed shower at the local crew bunk house TAT provides for its guests, and a final pop into the Ranger Station to let them know we returned safe, left a trip report in the field binder, and drop off our mountain cans. When we entered the Station there was a collective group of guides and rangers having their annual meeting to go over the upcoming 2024 Denali climbing season. I guess we just got out before things were about to get crazy. It was pretty neat to hear about the expedition plans for the upcoming season, rescue talks, and reviews going over some of the stats from the previous climbing seasons. All in all a pretty good ending to our trip before heading out of this special mountaineering town.

It was off to Fairbanks for a few days to enjoy the bigger city vibes and Chena hotsprings just a short hour drive away. We left Fairbanks on the 29th to make it back to Whitehorse, Yukon our current home before May 1st. All in all an epic trip and tempting to go back again this upcoming spring!