Andreas Fransson: Denali adventure part 6 – Good times in Alaska and skiing in the Chugach Mountains

Friday, 22 July 2011

Denali adventure part 6 – Good times in Alaska and skiing in the Chugach Mountains

Denali seen from Talkeetna

The next day we skied all the way down to BC. On the way down we got surprised how much snow that had melted during the weeks we had spent in ABC. Nothing seemed to be in really good shape and to be able to climb the good stuff one had to climb at night. We didn’t feel up for more high objective risks or more rock n rolling so we put ourselves on the waiting list to fly out to civilisation. But it turned out to be harder than expected. Just when we got up in the air the next day we had to turn around and go back to BC as the clouds had completely filled all the ways out. The pilots obviously have to see where they are going so with no visibility there are no flying.

So we just had to spend two days in BC finishing every drop of alcohol we had left and hanging out with all our new and old friends. We where not really complaining, but non the less it was really nice to eventually get on that plane and get back in Talkeetna. The first thing we did was to take a shower and then next on the list was eating dinner. We met the North Face team that was just about to fly out to Denali and had dinner with them and when they left for packing we kept on going to the next restaurant for a second dinner.

We spent three days (and long nights) in Talkeetna before we left with Lisa and Greg to go to their friend Kramer’s compound in the middle of no where. We spent two days there and then we kept on going for Girdwood and the Chugash Mountains. Our team was made up of me and Magnus, Greg and Heidi Adamson and the goal was to find some good skiing in the coastal mountains.

So what we did was to just drive along the way and pick the most beautiful mountain we could find and then ski it. With that combined with Greg’s local knowledge we ended up at the foot of a mountain called Mt Byron. It turned out to be a great and long ski in perfect spring conditions. Ok, maybe a bit warm, but nothing some ski cutting couldn’t handle. We ended up having a blast and it was with mixed feelings we left for Anchorage the next day and said good bye to Heidi and Greg. We still had one more night in this town before we jumped on our flights back to Europe

All in all we had a wonderful Alaska adventure. We got to fulfil all our small everyday goals, but more important we had a beautiful time together, we met really cool people and it felt like we got the full Alaskan experience.