Cubetti (cubed prosciutto) – Great protein to add to mac and cheese or other pastas.Pancakes with maple syrup and butter were also delicious on slow mornings. I’ve eaten so much instant oatmeal over the years that the mere sight of it nauseates me, and a savory breakfast provides good variety. My longtime favorite is instant mashed potatoes with bacon and cheddar cheese. Lou mentioned needing one more option for breakfast. A smaller pack would be especially useful if you’re planning to push to the summit directly from 14 Camp, without having to carry loads up and down the West Buttress, but otherwise it is a luxury item.īrandon made Philly cheesesteaks for our first and only night at base camp. Most large expedition packs do not compress well, or they leave long straps dangling all over the place, which can whip you in the face when the wind is at your back. Mike and I were jealous of this when we skied on the lower Orient Express. Summit/ski pack – In addition to our expedition packs, Brandon brought a lightweight summit pack from Hyperlite. However, if you’re only planning to ski below 11 Camp, you can probably get by with using the cheap plastic variety provided by flight services. I believe the Siglin, or something like it, would have made our descent from 14 Camp easier and safer.

If you’re planning to ski above 11 Camp, strongly consider using a pulk with rigid poles like the Siglin, or minimize your equipment so that you can ski without a sled.

They appeared to function very well, and I would try them next time. We witnessed several people whipping them back and forth on every turn, without any sign that the sleds were going to flip. The rounded edges on these sleds seemed to prevent barrel rolling. The best sled setup we saw for skiing was the Siglin Pulk from Northern Sled Works, complete with rigid poles. Skiing unroped on the lower Kahiltna while dragging a Paris expedition sled. Everything in the sleds takes a beating during the descent. If you do go with the cheap plastic sled option, do not put fragile items in them (such as lightweight helmets). This was annoying and comical but didn’t slow us down too much. Our sleds had a strong tendency to barrel roll whenever they swung to the side. We made it down to 11 Camp just before our arms gave out completely.īelow 11 Camp, we continued to ski unroped. This was obviously very difficult, and I would not recommend it. Squirrel Hill is steeper and more exposed, however, and an out-of-control sled could have pulled us off a cliff or into a crevasse, so Brandon and I decided to carry them like briefcases by the handles of the duffle bags. This was much less awkward and was actually quite fun on the gradual slopes of the Polo Fields. We crashed and wallowed dozens of times until we finally made it around Windy Corner.įrom there, we decided to ski unroped. We wasted a lot of time switching positions on the rope and couldn’t find a functional solution. The section between 14 Camp and Windy Corner was heavily crevassed, and we needed to ski roped up, but it was incredibly difficult to manage the sleds, rope, and heavy backpacks while skiing through fresh snow over dozens of crevasses.

We were able to reduce to two sleds so that our splitboarder, Mike, could travel without one.

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