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| Entering the northeast fork of the Kahiltna at 8pm, two climbers heading for the Cassin ridge pulling their sleds can be seen just at the shadow line. The west rib is the snow-covered ridge rising to the summit in the center of the photo. |
The northeast fork of the Kahiltna
Shortly after 8pm, I headed up the northeast fork of the Kahiltna glacier. The northeast fork, also called the valley of death, is a narrow gorge about 2 kilometers across, susceptible from large avalanches and serac fall from the south face of Denali to the north and from the Kahiltna peaks to the south. Entire parties have disappeared, including one Canadian party of 4 from Toronto, never to be seen again.
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| Entering the northeast fork of the Kahiltna at 8pm, two climbers heading for the Cassin ridge pulling their sleds can be seen just at the shadow line. The west rib is the snow-covered ridge rising to the summit in the center of the photo. |
Trailbreaking was easy as a party had left before me on their way to the Cassin. I finally set up camp at about 10,000’ on an icefall between several large crevasses. Previous debris showed evidence that a big slide from above would take out any camp in this basin.
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| Camp at 10,000’ on the icefall in the upper northeast fork of the Kahiltna glacier, the summit of Kahiltna Dome in the background. My antiquated 20lb. Volkl’s sticking out of the snow. |
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