Ski Mountaineering Guiding- Haines, AK

AlexMitchko
Apr 17, 2023
5 min read

In the late spring of 2022, I was brought onto the Alaska Mountain Guides team to lead a 12 day ski-mountaineering course just north of Haines, AK and it turned out to be a phenomenal trip.

Only a few days prior I was guiding up on Mount Shasta with Alpenglow Expeditions and felt myself getting more and more excited everyday knowing I was returning to Alaska.

With my bags packed and my gear sorted I flew from Reno to Seattle and then off to Juneau. Juneau is a funky city where there are no roads in or out; just boats and planes to escape this place. Once in Juneau I made my way into a small plane with all my kit for a gorgeous flight into the town of Haines that lasted around 50 minutes or so.

Landing on the airstrip I was greeted by Charlie, AMG’s expedition manager at the time. He was more than hospitable as he showed me around town: the post office, the gear store, and , of course, the grocery stores. After a short tour we headed back to the base camp where I’d be staying for two days in preparation for my expedition.

Here we sorted gear, food, communications devices, and shared some good laughs with other guides about their days prior. All of the above was pretty standard but the food supplies at AMG were very robust. We had access to as much food as we could dream of along with a company account at the local grocery store as we needed some specific food for dietary restrictions in our group.

Finally it was time to get our crew assembled as we embarked on our 12 day ski-mountaineering adventure. Our guests for the trip included Phil from Seattle, Megan who currently resides in the Anchorage area, and Dominique from Thunder Bay Ontario. These three folks along with my co-guide Bramm created one of the best groups I've ever had the pleasure of working with. They couldn't have had better attitudes the entire trip and each of them brought immense value to the success of this trip.

This course was designed to empower these individuals to make better decisions in the backcountry: this included recognizing terrain, assessing hazards, formal and informal snow/ weather observations, downhill skill development, an introduction to glacier rope management, and general winter camping skills. We had awesome chemistry from day one which started with a 4000’ vertical foot climb that required us pulling sleds on a steep fire road for a few miles; Welcome to Alaska! Once onto snow we covered a few more miles and were finally at our home for the next eleven days.

We wasted no time the next day working on building a solid camp for the week, sorting food and getting some skiing in.

Below our full itinerary can be found outlining our entire trip along with some photos.

5/20/22- Pre- trip meeting

Equipment check via IWLS Checklist
Goals, Expectations, and Experience Discussion
Logistics finalized for morning pickups and departure to trailhead
Team building walk to Jones Point

5/21/22- Day one/ Launch Day

Pickup guests and complete final gear check along with sled rigging
Get driven to bottom of 4X4 road for Flower Mountain Access
11:30 Start moving uphill with sleds
14:30 Transition from Trail runners to Skis w/ skins
16:30 Break out of treeline into alpine
20:30 Assemble tents and go to sleep

Below: Team at Jones Point

Below left: Gear display for guests

Below right: Team with our sleds ready to drag!

Below left: Phil leading the crew uphill

Below right: Megan taking a rest during our strenuous day one

5/22/22- Day Two

Full Base Camp Build - dig out and setup Mid, Groover, Kitchen
Crampon Techniques- Front pointing, French Step, Mountaineers Step
Ice Axe Techniques- Self arrest and Self Belay
Self Arrest Techniques- Head first and Feet First on both Back and Stomach
Skiing Ability assessment on Backyard run - both uphill and downhill
Roughly 700’ vertical descent to camp

Below: Last sun on camp on night two

5/23/22- Day Three

Skiing ability assessment- Two laps on upper southernly section of Mahogany
Developing more efficient uphill skills- route selection, rest step techniques
Student Exposure assessment- Both Subjective and Objective via small boot pack on mahogany ridge
Leave No Trace discussion and why its imperative here in alpine environments
Expedition behavior discussion over dinner

Below: Unlimited ski descent potential here

5/24/22- Day Four

Breakfast and beacon functionality briefing
Trailhead checks
Single Searcher Avalanche Rescue- Explanation, student notation, example from myself at full speed, and finally having students recover beacons about a meter deep
Snow Pit Demonstration- Pit orientation, Hand hardness scale, CT and ECT tests; when and why to use them/ what they tell us
Intro to Rope teams and entry level skills- Spacing and why we use ropes
Dinner and prep for Flower Mountain Summit Bid on Day Five

5/25/22- Day Five/ Summit Day