Locations: Denali National Park – S.E. Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier, including summits of Control Peak Tower (8,670 ft / 2,643 m) and Mt. Francis (10,450 ft / 3,185 m)
Dates: Thursday, May 13 – Thursday, May 20, 2010
Photos & Video: Nick
Weather: It’s the Alaska Range, so expect the unexpected as I have come to find out. Generally, we really lucked out with the weather and had perfect climbing conditions and bluebird days on our 2 summit days. We only encountered white-out conditions (and only partial days) during 2 of our 8 days on the Kahiltna.
Temperatures fluctuated greatly during the day depending on the amount of cloud cover and wind, and temps were generally relatively cold at night.
Synopsis: After skiing the Sierra High Route and climbing and skiing Mt. Williamson with Jon, the end of my May would be spent in and around the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier, located in Denali National Park.
While we do have some smallish glaciers (e.g., the Norman Clyde Glacier around the Palisades and the Whitney Glacier on Mount Shasta) here in California, I was craving a forum to formally learn the technical aspects of large-scale glacier travel and crevasse rescue. As I fully intend on making trips into the Alaska Range in the future, I felt it was the best location to take such a course. A beautiful setting with heavily glaciated terrain – it fit the ticket perfectly.
Note: This Mega TR is several pages long – just click at the end of each page to continue.
Sierra Trip Reports 