Denali Ski "Prerequisites"
Update, June 2022. After my first (and, really, the first ever modern, largely unroped) guided ski trip on Denali. I’ve got some new thoughts and additions. Essentially, this trip is wicked hard. But maybe doesn’t require as much prior experience as I first described. There is a great deal of support on the mountain, lending a bit of a cushion to a team’s risk tolerances.
I just had someone reach out about what sort of background I would suggest in someone signing up for a Denali West Buttress ski expedition. This is a good topic of conversation.
Initial inquiry:
I am a fan of your work and periodically read your blog and social media posts, just reading your post on Denali Ski Expedition gear and thoughts tonight. You mentioned this crew had done many expeditions and something like that is usually years in the making...
Denali, and skiing it in particular, has been something I've thought about quite a bit. I was wondering if you wouldn't mind sharing your thoughts on the types of experience or expeditions you would want a client to have under their belt before thinking about joining on a Denali ski expedition? Obviously the more the better, but any specific expeditions, trips or objective examples would be super helpful as I think about the type of experience I need to ensure to build up.
My follow-up question:
Great question. And I’m glad to hear from you. I’m happy to oblige. To help me start, though, can you describe where your experience is currently at, in terms of skiing and backcountry skiing and other types of wilderness travel? I don’t need much detail.
Response:
Thanks for getting back to me!
Absolutely…
I’ve been ski touring and mountaineering about 10 years with lots of backpacking before that. I lived in Switzerland for 3.5 years starting in 2010 and was able to learn about glacier travel, climbing several mountaineering routes up to PD or PD+ both guided and unguided, ex Monch or the mountaineers haute route both unguided. Have done Kilimanjaro as well so have some higherish elevation experience.
I’m in California now and ski around Tahoe generally touring 10-20 days / year and inbounds at Palisades / Squaw another 30-40.
The most technical thing I’ve been on since moving back to the states is I’ve climbed and skied on Shasta a few times skiing the trinity chutes and the west face.
And my ultimate response:
That’s a solid foundation. I like the variety of terrain, variety of seasons. There have been years for it all to “sink in”, with apparently pretty good volume of mountain time in those years. “Lots of backpacking” is good to hear. Denali is a camping trip, first and foremost. Both guided and unguided skiing and mountaineering is helpful. I like it when people have both in the mix. “Being guided” is its own skill. As is, of course, being out front, making your own decisions, and engaging with the experience in that way.
From there, I’d recommend these things in these categories:
Rapport with your guide. Do a few trips (at least…) with the guide you’ll employ on Denali. Expedition mountaineering, on foot, is pretty formulaic and scripted. Many expedition guiding companies will take, on climbing trips, people that they’ve never met before. Expedition ski guiding is more fluid and complicated. I don’t know anyone guiding legitimate high altitude ski mountaineering expeditions that will do so with someone they’ve got no rapport with. Echo this, 3x… Denali is no place for any ski partners to get to know one another. The skiing is just too serious to be doing that. A team has to have experience skiing serious terrain together before the ultra serious terrain of Denali.
More high altitude experience. Another trip or two above 16k. On foot or on skis. Simplest is in Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina. Of course, Asia as well. The best introductory high altitude ski mountaineering in the Americas is in Chile. It might be the best introductory high altitude ski mountaineering in the world. You can ski closer to the equator (Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia), but the skiing there is more like a “novelty” than it is meaningful turns. Chile has 20,000 ft peaks you can ski 10k of… Maybe I’d lighten up a bit on this one… With the right attitude and pace, Denali isn’t a wrong place and time to take one’s first trip above 15000 feet. The reason for this is all the support and institutional knowledge on that mountain.
A long, self-contained, multi-day, tenting ski expedition on friendlier, less-committing terrain. 5-10 day traverse in the North Cascades, BC/Alberta, High Sierra, Tetons or beyond. Skiing steep terrain with a big pack and after a week in a tent is very different than doing so on a day trip. You don’t know just how different until you do it.
A November Chilean peak expedition can “check off” 2 and 3. Other high altitude ski mountaineering (as in equatorial South America and Asia) is generally less “self reliant” than in the far southern and northern Americas. Cerro Marmolejo is the world’s southern-most 6000m peak. With ok skiing, huge relief and a wild vibe. The weather is “acceptable”, generally. Logistics are quite simple, Covid matters allowing; fly to Santiago, charter vehicle to the trailhead from there.
