LEFT TO RIGHT Elena Hight and Robin Van Gyn flexing their tool kit. Photo: Michelle Parker Robin Van Gyn and Elena Hight traversing to a drop in—a move that Robin calls “Quite possibly the spiciest moment of the entire trip.” Photo: Michelle Parker B y day four, with only one line ridden, the weather seemed stable: clear skies and no wind. At 10 a.m. we started the steep ascent up the runnel between two lines on the prominent wall above camp we called Nautilus proper. A steep, spine-riddled face standing around 1,000 vertical feet, we were limited by a lack of exits on this low snow year—most of the spines closed out into rocks at the bottom. Dodging sluffs and sweating profusely, we booted up with all tools in play: two ice axes, harness with crevasse kit, rope, crampons, a ton of ski straps, poles, and of course the shred rod. The silence of the up-track gave a mix of pure focus, self-talk and reflection upon life in gen-eral. The whys lingered, but the answers were, and are, never truly clear. Regardless, we fell into a meditation, one behind the other in the middle of nowhere, struggling for fun. The snow was, as we expected, variable—a mix of wind effect, ice and shallow powder gave us little read on what the actual riding would be like. Sometimes you can learn so much about a person just by the way they breathe under pressure. I noticed Elena’s strong and forceful exhale coupled with a squat, and Michelle’s low and slow breath then pole tap before dropping in. When the risk is higher, all cards are face up on the table. We get to know each other pret-ty well in the throes of exposure. Cresting the top, the surrounding ocean of peaks let us feel minuscule. The questions melted away, even just for a moment. Michelle went first and radioed back up with a so-so review: not only variable snow, but also fast-running sluff. With less edges on our snowboards, Elena and I were challenged to pick up speed between ice and freight train sluff. It took deep focus to stay con-trolled and in rhythm back to a flat glacial coast to the tent. One-hundred-and-thirty-seven high fives back at camp, a place to recount the descent moment by moment, a decompres-sion to set us up for another climb. From topping out and being overwhelmed by beauty, to being absolutely gripped traversing on foot under a massive cornice to our lines, we relived the full spectrum of feelings from the morning. With exhausting and challenging learning moments behind us, it was another mas-sive Alaskan line for the mountain logbook, and we were finding some kind of flow. ALASKA RANGE 045
The Snowboarder's Journal The Snowboarder's Journal 21.2: Page 45
