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the Fet
climber
Tu-Tok-A-Nu-La
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Topic Author's Original Post - May 8, 2016 - 11:17am PT
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Don't see it mentioned here so- Dave and a partner are working on an attempt to cross the Alaska range by paragliders!
You know Bobo, the first guy to complete a Grade VII Solo FA.
Friend him on Facebook and follow along it's going to be wild.
He just posted their cub recon flights.
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the Fet
climber
Tu-Tok-A-Nu-La
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Topic Author's Reply - May 8, 2016 - 11:29am PT
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Years ago I was at the top of the first peak by the road in Alaska. I looked out into the distance and saw peak after peak, all bigger than the biggest summit peaks in the lower 48, stretching out into the distance, as far as the eye could see. I wasn't going any further, but I still felt a sense of awe and dread, just imagining being out there. There's no way you could get back out. Now he's voluntarily flying into that. Badass!!
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overwatch
climber
Arizona
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That guy (Mr. Turner) is something else, best of luck to them.
vvvvvvv yeah, that. Never shall I succumb to the infectious, ill-breeding mumble news that is Farcebook
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F
climber
away from the ground
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The full Monty from Lake Clark to Canadia? Or North to South near Denali?
East to west is like 700 miles, and contains some pretty remote terrain. Either way, I wish him luck and safety. Wild objective in a wild place.
Post updates for those of us that haven't succumbed to the scourge of Facebook yet.
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John M
climber
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The full Monty from Lake Clark to Canadia? Or North to South near Denali?
Hard to say from his posts on Facebook, though he did say this..
Today we will probably hop in the plane and take a lap through our first half of the route, from Lake Clark to Denali. This place is pretty cool.
he is staying at a place near Willow, where the plane is.
Here is a tracking of the plane flight.. zoom out to see the route the plane took.
http://share.delorme.com/DaveTurner2
I believe this meets Donini's definition of an adventure.
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the Fet
climber
Tu-Tok-A-Nu-La
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Topic Author's Reply - May 8, 2016 - 02:48pm PT
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Coach37
Social climber
Philly
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"the first guy to complete a Grade VII Solo FA."
No, sorry, but that had been done long before Mr. Turner was out of grade school. At least a couple of times, but likely many more.
Good luck to the young man, he has made some really incredible flights in those paraglider rigs.
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overwatch
climber
Arizona
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Was it before he was in 7th grade?
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ryankelly
Trad climber
Bhumi
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Yeah Dave, Go Big!!
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Coach37
Social climber
Philly
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Takeyasu Minmiura soloed a new Grade VII on Nameless in 1990.
You could argue that Porter's '74 solo of Asgard qualifies as a Grade VII.
All beside the point, since this thread is about flying. I just point this out in the interest of having an accurate climbing history.
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the Fet
climber
Tu-Tok-A-Nu-La
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Topic Author's Reply - May 9, 2016 - 10:55am PT
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I think it's good to have accurate history. Interesting that Alpinist did not include that info.
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Tom
Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo CA
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Also, would the early date effectively increase the grade, in some sense? For example, apparently "remoteness" is counted as a factor in highest grades.
That is a valid question.
If the entire expedition, car to car (ox to ox) is done ground up, then shouldn't the difficulty of the approach and descent be counted as well?
I heard that Charlie Porter spent two weeks ferrying loads to Baffin Island (Mt. Asgard???) as part of his famous solo ascent there.
Grade VIII? What if you rode your bicycle all the way from Germany to Switzerland, and then climbed the Eiger (or whatever it was)? Or if you rode your bicycle from Germany over the Khyber Pass and climbed K2?
Any word on using Dave & Co. using turbochargers on their tiny engines to improve high-altitude performance? How high are they planning to fly?
Supercharged engines were a key aircraft factor in WW II, because of their ability to allow high altitude operation. My father had plain vanilla Piper Cherokee that had an aversion to, say, 15k feet and above.
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kunlun_shan
Mountain climber
SF, CA
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Grade VIII? What if you rode your bicycle all the way from Germany to Switzerland, and then climbed the Eiger (or whatever it was)? Or if you rode your bicycle from Germany over the Khyber Pass and climbed K2?
A bit OT, but this fits with Göran Kropp cycling all the way from Sweden to Everest, which he climbed solo, without oxygen or support, and then biked part of the way back to Sweden.
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Tom
Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo CA
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Grade VIII, then, I suppose.
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enjoimx
Trad climber
Yosemite
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So did that Rockies trip ever get accomplished? That looked amazing. Any video of that?
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DaveT.
Big Wall climber
Mammoth Lakes
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May 10, 2016 - 08:38am PT
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Yeah guys, adventure is still alive!
ALASKA- Under the Midnight Sun, Dave Turner and Gavin McClurg
We are getting ready to set off on an adventure of a lifetime in the next few days. Gavin and I are attempting the first ever vol biv paragliding traverse of the Alaska Range, crossing the state from west to east through some of the most rugged, remote, wild, and grizzly bear infested mountains in the world. Some people tell us that our plan is impossible. Some say it's too bold. Others say we are crazy. Yeah, maybe some of this isn't too far from the truth, but an adventurer must choose their path in life, and our path is going to take us on a 800km journey over North America's highest peak- Denali.
I'd be lying if I said that we were confident that this will go down the way we have it planned, as anything can happen in the Alaska wilderness. This place is so big, it makes me feel small and vulnerable. Every time I have crossed the Alps or the Sierra, I knew that it was not only possible, but probable. On this one, nothing is guaranteed.
Our plan is to begin at the border of the Lake Clark National Park at the start of the Alaska Range, and hike and fly all the way to where the Alaska Range ends and the Wrangell Mountains begin. We will be putting in four food caches along the way before we start, and will have to make it to each one before we run out of supplies. We have come to the conclusion that for such a remote range without virtually a single place to get even a candy bar, having a few food caches along the way would be the only way to make it through without starving. We hope.
As of now, our start date is looking to be this Thursday, the 12th of May. Gavin and I will set off from the SW corner of the range, and head for the Kichatna Spires. Once past the Spires, we will pass Mt Foraker (19K feet) on our way to Denali (20,320 feet elevation). We will be attempting to make the entire flight across Denali National Park in one go, which would be an astounding 200km (120 miles) over glaciers, alpine peaks, raging rivers, and terrain that you can't land on. Oh yeah, did I mention that it was over the National Park!?
In the backpack will be Ozone's newest high performance wing- the LM6 paired with an Ozium harness. Also in the pack will be camping gear, a fly fishing pole, a large caliber hand gun, and all the gadgets and gizmos for such an adventure. I guess if we run out of food, I'll have to whip up some fish and game so we don't starve! It's going to be almost impossible to cover ground on foot, we will have to make big flights or running out of food is guaranteed.
Between the grizzly bears, wolves, killer moose, and other crazy critters, we are going to have to keep a sharp eye out for natural 'hazards'. But I'm not so worried about the animals, rather the river crossings, glaciated terrain, and absolute lack of landing options.
If you'd like to follow along on our adventure, we will have our DeLorme satellite trackers on and running the entire time. We are both bringing mini solar panels to keep them and the rest of our instruments charged during the trip, so it should be up and running the entire time. Here is my personal tracking page- https://share.delorme.com/DaveTurner2
And our shared page (this site only holds our tracks for a week before the last day drops off)- http://xcfind.paraglide.us/map.html?id=96
Good weather is approaching- GAME ON!!!!!!
-Dave T
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zBrown
Ice climber
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May 10, 2016 - 08:40am PT
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Thanks for the photos and links. For those of us who haven't attempted it, it's kind of hard to visualize.
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mikeyschaefer
climber
Sport-o-land
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May 10, 2016 - 09:02am PT
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Sounds like an awesome adventure dave!
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DaveT.
Big Wall climber
Mammoth Lakes
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May 10, 2016 - 09:07am PT
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snakefoot
climber
Nor Cal
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May 10, 2016 - 09:20am PT
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this is great. best of luck to you guys as this looks amazing. follow your dreams...
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overwatch
climber
Arizona
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May 10, 2016 - 09:29am PT
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So cool you are posting here again. Pretty out there...what do you think is the most comparable thing you have done? Just looking for a gauge on how far you are pushing your personal boundaries as best you can realize of course.
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ryankelly
Trad climber
Bhumi
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May 10, 2016 - 08:05pm PT
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Yeah Big Dave! Toggle Monkey!
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cavemonkey
Ice climber
ak
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May 11, 2016 - 12:49am PT
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Yo dave
If you need a place to crash near anc before or after
Hit me up
U were kind to me when I visited the valley years ago
Friend or carliyle
Would love to return the favor
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splitter
Trad climber
HighwayToHell
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May 11, 2016 - 09:30am PT
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Awesome. Truly living the life of a man with a vision. Godspeed!
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Gunkie
Trad climber
Valles Marineris
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May 11, 2016 - 11:18am PT
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This is what men do.
Me? I'm in an office at a desk on the 25th floor of a building in a large city. I understand the realities of 'office hot' which is a completely lost experience.
I wanna be Dave.
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micronut
Trad climber
Fresno/Clovis, ca
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May 11, 2016 - 12:02pm PT
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Dave we've never met but I'm stoked for you guys. Your thirst for adventure is contagious. I leave you with this:
Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind.
-Bruce Lee
Scott
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wbw
Trad climber
'cross the great divide
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May 11, 2016 - 01:46pm PT
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On a July trip into the Ruth Gorge several years ago, we were told by the park service that getting a late July pickup at the Mountain House could not be guaranteed, and would totally depend on the conditions of the glaciers. They also told us that we should fly in prepared to hike out and back to Talkeetna. Of course, we were not truly prepared to do that, because it would have doubled the logistics of our three week trip. However, they did tell us at Talkeetna Air Taxi that it was unlikely they would not be able to pick us up at the end of the trip, which was very reassuring.
Flying in, I got a great look at the miles of forest between the range and Talkeetna, and the glaciated terrain one would have to travel to get to the forest. I was also pondering the possible number of bear encounters one might have between Stump Camp and Talkeetna.
What you guys are doing is on a scale of remoteness and commitment that our trip (worse case scenario) would not even register on. Good luck on your great adventure, and I am really looking forward to reading more and seeing more pics.
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DaveT.
Big Wall climber
Mammoth Lakes
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May 11, 2016 - 06:15pm PT
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Heading to the start of the route now, see you boys in a month or so! GAME ON!
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Brian in SLC
Social climber
Salt Lake City, UT
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May 11, 2016 - 06:25pm PT
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Big country...go!
Good luck and have a fun, safe trip!
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F
climber
away from the ground
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May 11, 2016 - 06:37pm PT
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Send it
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
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May 11, 2016 - 06:37pm PT
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Climb on!!!
Have fun.
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PITA
Social climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
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May 11, 2016 - 06:41pm PT
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Omg. This trip is sick. Be safe. Cannot wait to see the video!
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Larry Nelson
Social climber
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May 12, 2016 - 04:11am PT
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What a huge adventure.
Good luck to you guys.
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hooblie
climber
from out where the anecdotes roam
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May 12, 2016 - 10:03am PT
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what bears?
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climbski2
Mountain climber
Anchorage AK, Reno NV
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May 12, 2016 - 01:49pm PT
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Might be a lack of thermals I would guess..River crossings and getting split up on landings would be real worries. Oh and yeah I wouldnt want to have to hike out of some of those valleys..but you would be amazed what can be done if you have to. The wildlife I'd be most truly afraid of are the mosquitoes... no I'm not joking one bit. Bring DEET if there is any chance at all you will be on the tundra.
Really stoked for you ..real adventure..Should be fine..Have a blast. must see the video!
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Bad Climber
Trad climber
The Lawless Border Regions
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May 12, 2016 - 03:19pm PT
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Amazing stuff. Mosquitoes scare the crap out of me. They drive me nutz even in the Sierras. I think in Alaska they get up to five or six pounds each? Two bites and you're totally exsanguinated. Bring shotguns. Fully auto. Belts and belts of ammo.
Rock on.
BAd
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Klimmer
Mountain climber
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May 12, 2016 - 03:41pm PT
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Dave,
You do the most cutting-edge Paragliding Vol Bivouc expeditions. Truly amazing. Very inspirational. Have an incredible adventure, but be safe. May HaShem watch over you and protect you. I would like to see you successful. It'll be truly amazing.
Blue skies.
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Chugach
Trad climber
Vermont
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May 12, 2016 - 08:29pm PT
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Amazing. But, tell me about paragliding, don't you either need steady breezes or thermals? DOes the A range have either?
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deuce4
climber
Hobart, Australia
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May 13, 2016 - 02:00am PT
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Air goes down, air goes up. Even in cold places, the relative temps drive the circulation. These guys are pros at finding the rising stuff. It is quite an art.
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Klimmer
Mountain climber
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May 13, 2016 - 09:11am PT
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True.
Free flight pilots: Paraglider pilots, Hang Glider pilots, Sail Plane (Glider) pilots, we all get really good at micro-meteorology. You have to.
If you don't, your on the ground way too soon wishing you were back up there in the sky.
But it can be nasty. Dave seems to be at home in the Owens Valley, some of the strongest flying conditions in the world. He has a great background for this. And he has an unbelievable threshold for fear. He has to. He flies the Owens Valley in the summer in a paraglider.
Amazing stuff he has done and is doing.
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kunlun_shan
Mountain climber
SF, CA
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May 13, 2016 - 07:40pm PT
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Jiggler, thanks for posting that Northern Rockies Traverse video. "Unknown pilot".. ha ha :) Their flight over Robson is incredible!
Good luck with your trip, Dave and Gavin!
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F
climber
away from the ground
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May 14, 2016 - 08:50am PT
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Looks like they started at the confluence of Stony river and Tired Pup creek. Made it north a ways. Just east Mt. Mausalous as of 11:18 pm Friday.
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nah000
climber
no/w/here
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May 15, 2016 - 02:18am PT
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man this is so sweet. that vid of will and gavin's traverse is epic... while the thought of throwing oneself like a leaf to the wind over these big ranges is inherently mind boggling seeing that vid of the rockies traverse [including some of gavin's shall we call it gung-ho flying] hammers home how far out there these guys are pushing it...
based on the maps it looks like david and gavin flew about 15 miles the first day and i'm guessing [assuming the track is accurate] that they spent yesterday hiking on valley bottom for about another 10 miles...
gnarly way out there stuff...
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nah000
climber
no/w/here
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May 15, 2016 - 10:46pm PT
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another tenish miles today... based on the track and speeds i'm guessing they are, as with yesterday, likely still hiking on valley bottom.
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BigB
Trad climber
Red Rock
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May 16, 2016 - 01:20pm PT
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ho mannn that vid of the rocky mtn traverse is awesome stuff! makes me wanna try it...
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labrat
Trad climber
Erik O. Auburn, CA
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May 16, 2016 - 01:42pm PT
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Wow! Have fun!
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labrat
Trad climber
Erik O. Auburn, CA
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May 16, 2016 - 03:23pm PT
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He's flying right now!
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nah000
climber
no/w/here
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May 16, 2016 - 10:19pm PT
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looks like a little over 20 miles travelled today...
looks like he/they hiked up a ridge for a couple miles, then after a couple hours of waiting were able to get flying... he/they then flew for about 15ish miles following ridge tops before landing about half way up another ridge... this looks to have led to needing to hike a couple miles to the top of said ridge where he/they then flew for another 2ish miles... it seems like a strange place to have landed this last time so i'm not sure if maybe they're still flying, but there hasn't been an update for a bit so barring technical difficulties with the updates it's currently looking like maybe he/they have had to land for the night...
so in four days it looks to me like they've flown about 32ish miles and hiked another 25ish miles for a little under 60ish total miles traveled to date...
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ß Î Ř T Ç H
Boulder climber
ne'erdowell
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May 16, 2016 - 10:34pm PT
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"fair winds and following seas"
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nah000
climber
no/w/here
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May 18, 2016 - 12:01am PT
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they're still hiking...
about 7ish miles of hiking on mostly, what i'm guessing, are rocky river beds, so far today... based on the forecast their later 6:30ish start to the day was likely due to rain and cloud all day...
between real time gps, google maps and spot weather forecasts, i'm not sure if this is stalking or following... hahaha...
oh well... i can't help it as i'm super psyched for them.
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nah000
climber
no/w/here
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May 18, 2016 - 10:40pm PT
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more hiking today... looks like they tried to get to the top of a ridge but, due to likely either terrain or weather, got pushed back down to valley bottom again... about 6ish miles so far today. weather forecast isn't looking great for the next couple of days, so there maybe more hiking in store.
puts them at very roughly 32ish miles of flying and 38ish miles of hiking to date... or a total of about 70ish miles since they started six days ago.
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PAUL SOUZA
Trad climber
Central Valley, CA
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May 22, 2016 - 07:30am PT
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Bump for updates.
They haven't moved since 17:29 on May 22nd. They stopped at the Tatitna airstrip, so perhaps they had to abort.
Hope they're safe.
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F
climber
away from the ground
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May 22, 2016 - 08:12am PT
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Maybe they are resting up at a food cache? The tracking data shows a lot..... Looks like an attempt to get high, lots of time 1/2 way up a peak, then turnaround, and then more hiking along rivers to the airstrip. They crossed Brush Creek. That sounds super fun. I hope they didn't get burned out on bush whacking and bail.
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nah000
climber
no/w/here
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May 22, 2016 - 11:03am PT
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after i posted a bunch of those updates, i found a better info source, over at Gavin's facebook page.
he's been sending texts out via his InReach device, so there is good first hand info there... and with that info i can see that some of my earlier guesses were a bit off... specifically, the one where i guessed they were hiking on rocky river beds.... bzzzzz... wrong: they were post-holing through snow. they have however had some alder bashing days, which i would have guessed based on some of the places they were at on the topo maps relative to tree line. overall, sounds like an unfortunately high hard work hiking though snow and alder to flying ratio. [to update some of the previous guesses based on first hand info found in some of Gavin's texts and] to recap what they've been up to on each day so far:
-1: first night out: their camp was buzzed by a grizzly according to Gavin.
0: last food cache was made, but weather kept them from getting started...
May 14: Week 1: Day 1: hike about 3ish tough steep miles up to ridge line. flew 10ish miles in what looks to have been a big long sledder down to valley bottom and then hiked another 4ish miles.
2: valley bottom hiking over a pass for 9ish miles. G wrote: "Getting our ass handed to us today. Postholing hell for the past 10 hours. Grizzly, Caribou, Fox and all kinds of cool critters so far." this included a grizzly that followed in their tracks and then passed them.
3: more brutal post holing valley bottom hiking for another 9ish miles.
4: they hiked up a ridge for a couple miles, then after a couple hours of waiting were able to get flying... they then flew in what G called "COLD rippers" for about 15ish miles following ridge tops before landing about half way up another ridge... likely this was to grab their first food cache, which they were successfully able to find... this looks to have led to needing to hike a couple miles to the top of said ridge where they then flew for another 2ish miles...
5: 7ish miles of hiking post holing through snow due to rain and cloud all day...
6: more hiking... they tried to get to the top of a ridge through alder bashing and steep hiking in order to launch but due to bad weather, they had to hike back down to valley bottom again... about 6ish miles for the day.
7. 10ish miles during another all day brutal hike. G says: "AK is kicking our ass."
Week 1 Totals: 80ish miles total with 27ish of that flying and the other 53ish on the ground hiking. they made it to and found their first food cache on day 4.
May 21: Week 2: Day 8: 5ish miles hiking but as G put it: "Huge score! Got to the Rohn cabin on the Iditarod trail. STOCKED w food! Wx terrible. Will rest and refuel. This leg of trip is saved. Happy boys!"
9: rest day.
10: they're currently on the move again, and have hiked 2ish miles so far today... weather isn't looking the greatest for flying today, but tomorrow is shaping up nicely according to at least one forecast...
if one takes a look at their planned route on Gavin's website one sees that the Rohn cabin was only about a third of the way towards their second cache [relative to their first cache] which means when Gavin wrote on May 18: "4 miles good on route and massive energy burned. Will not make next cache on the ground" he wasn't joking and so he also wasn't exaggerating when he said on the 21st that: "This leg of trip is saved." after they did find the food stocked cabin...
best of luck to those dudes.
while i haven't done much, i've done enough backpacking around denali, to know that i'm pretty happy to be sitting in my arm chair right now. hopefully they can start getting more flying in, because so far this sounds like a bit of a backpack from hell...
but you can't have a good adventure without some suffering, and they both seem to enjoy the sufferfests, so good on them as i certainly am enjoying their adventures from afar...
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PAUL SOUZA
Trad climber
Central Valley, CA
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May 22, 2016 - 11:07am PT
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Nice man! Thanks for the update!
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F
climber
away from the ground
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May 22, 2016 - 01:37pm PT
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Sounds brutal. I hope they get to fly soon and cover some ground the easy way.
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PAUL SOUZA
Trad climber
Central Valley, CA
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May 22, 2016 - 01:43pm PT
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Looks like they are taking an alternative route based on comparing their track to Gavin's website...
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nah000
climber
no/w/here
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May 22, 2016 - 04:46pm PT
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yeah, that new route is, shall we say, interesting...
if i had to place money on it, i'd bet that they are bailing [or at least keeping the option of bailing more readily accessible]... that said given what the two of them have pulled off in the past i wouldn't bet much.
that they are heading north on the South Fork of the Kuskokwin River rather than heading eastish via the orginally planned Tatina River valley, likely means that if they are to keep going on, they'd either have to try and fly along the northerly slopes of the mountain range, [which while i'm no expert, i've done enough flying to suspect that that is going to be dubious at best], or they are going to have to try to backpack along the northern slope of the range [which as it's going to be basically impossible to stay in river valleys is, based on my experience backpacking north of denali, going to be a nightmare: that's because if those areas north of where they are at, are what it was like north of denali, the difficulty will be that one literally can not tell until one is actually walking on the terrain whether the "tundra" that one is looking at a half km away is head high alder, waist high alder or is actually nice mossy tundra... without exaggeration they often look exactly the same from even a hundred metres away...]
anyway long winded way of giving my reasoning as to why my guess is that they are bailing... there is also both a place to land a plane and a jeep trail roughly another ten miles north of where they are at.
all that said, i'm arm chairing it and i could be wrong... one option if they are going to head back in is to traverse the northerly slope for a bit to the NE and then head back in on the Dillinger River valley... this would get them some south facing slopes again and hopefully the ability to get in the air more without having to commit to the depth into the range that the Tatina River is at...
dunno though really... i'm sure we'll find out shortly...
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nah000
climber
no/w/here
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May 22, 2016 - 10:36pm PT
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day 10: 9ish more miles all on the ground at valley bottom. Gavin wrote: "Made decent progress north today, but the worst bushwacking yet. Weather continues to be unflyable."
and so no word of quitting yet... forecast isn't very encouraging though... next four days are looking tough right now, with maybe finally a break in the weather starting friday... though that far out who knows...
looking forward to see what line they're looking to take... hopefully the weather will give them a break and they can get back into the air soon...
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deuce4
climber
Hobart, Australia
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May 23, 2016 - 01:52am PT
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Brutal. Hope the winds and thermals pick up for these guys. Nothing worse than hiking through Alaskan bush when you could be high up!
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PAUL SOUZA
Trad climber
Central Valley, CA
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May 23, 2016 - 04:37pm PT
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Looks like they are aiming to fly soon as they're heading up to a ridge.
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nah000
climber
no/w/here
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May 23, 2016 - 08:23pm PT
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day 11: 5ish miles hiking, the bulk of which was gaining most of a sw facing ridge in order to hopefully fly soonish... G wrote "Time to fly! Weather still has us pinned down, but in position at high Bivvy to GO when sun returns."
unfortunately, the forecast for the next three days, still hasn't gotten better... oh well, cool to see their continued optimistic actions in the face of on-going challenges...
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nah000
climber
no/w/here
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May 24, 2016 - 06:09pm PT
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day 12: so far, they've been stuck on the ground, waiting for some good weather today... G wrote: "Dave made backcountry oven, made cornbread! Sucker holes of sun, but wx still grounding us."
based on the forecast if they aren't able to fly today, the next two days are even less likely... but after that the forecast over the last few days is still holding and there will hopefully be a reprieve on friday afternoon from what looks to have been a fair bit of cloud cover and on and off rain/snow for the last couple days [and if the forecast comes true for the next couple as well]...
oh well if life gives you lemons, make cornbread is what i always say... hope they get to fly soon...
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F
climber
away from the ground
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May 24, 2016 - 07:20pm PT
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Thanks for the updates. High pressure coming a few days. They're on the north side of the range right now, maybe when the weather turns they can point into the wind and get a lift....
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the Fet
climber
Tu-Tok-A-Nu-La
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Topic Author's Reply - May 24, 2016 - 08:54pm PT
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Another thanks for the updates. Much easier that trying to decipher the gps updates on my own.
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nah000
climber
no/w/here
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May 25, 2016 - 04:47pm PT
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day 13: another day holed up close to the top of a ridge, due to shitty weather. G wrote: "Making the best of it, but we need a change to fly and make next cache. Food running low again, long ways to go."
weather doesn't look great for tomorrow, but that forecast is better than the one that they had for today and the break that was looking to happen on friday seems to have moved up a bit, so maybe they'll get lucky. their next cache is roughly another 45 miles away as the crow flies... so far they have travelled roughly 100 miles over 11 days while on foot or in in the air, in order to make it roughly 80 miles as the crow flies...
so here's hoping they catch a break and get some big flights in, soonish...
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the Fet
climber
Tu-Tok-A-Nu-La
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Topic Author's Reply - May 25, 2016 - 06:19pm PT
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They're probably wishing they shot that bear and ate it! Just kidding.
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F
climber
away from the ground
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May 25, 2016 - 09:43pm PT
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Waiting on good flying weather... Hope they get it. Tobin, Dial, Atkins did it with bikes and pack rafts in 6 weeks to Canada I think? Hopefully these guys can fly and smoke that time. If they can't fly, carrying a paraglider through isothermic snow and alders doesn't seem conducive to getting a better time on the 700 mile traverse. If you wait on the weather in AK, you might be waiting a looooong time. If they don't get to fly, at least they will be in killer hiking shape by July....
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nah000
climber
no/w/here
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May 26, 2016 - 05:37am PT
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F: hmmm... the tobin/dial/atkins trip sounds epic... you [or anyone else] have any details or info sources regarding that trip?
here's the latest from G: "Has rained nonstop for 24 hours. If the sun doesn't return soon we're in trouble. Feels like we're slowly starving. Gotta get to next cache, and we gotta fly!"
not looking great, especially considering they came across an unplanned and food stocked cabin four days ago...
forecast continues to improve somewhat for today, but it's still a question of whether it's going to break soon enough today for them to be able to fly or whether friday is going to continue to be the great white hope...
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F
climber
away from the ground
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May 26, 2016 - 08:41am PT
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I don't know much more than Carl's understated 5 minute discription of it. Lightweight bikes that they rode, and carried a lot. Early generation pack rafts. Lake Clark to Canadia. Mid 90's.
It was long before Facebook though, so maybe it didn't happen?
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Vitaliy M.
Mountain climber
San Francisco
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May 26, 2016 - 08:54am PT
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Been following on FB, it is pretty incredible stuff. Dave has done A LOT OF REALLLY COOL STUFF over the years. The whole solo wall climbing, Baffin trip, paragliding across the Sierra, in Patagonia. That's a life worth living and my hat is off, BRAVO!
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PAUL SOUZA
Trad climber
Central Valley, CA
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May 26, 2016 - 12:41pm PT
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Here's a cool site with webcams all over Alaska. There are a couple in their area...
http://avcams.faa.gov/
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kunlun_shan
Mountain climber
SF, CA
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May 26, 2016 - 05:22pm PT
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the tobin/dial/atkins trip sounds epic... you [or anyone else] have any details or info sources regarding that trip?
nah000, from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Range
Documented wilderness traverses of Alaska Range
Mentasta Lake to Kitchatna Mountains (1981): Scott Woolums, George Beilstein, Steve Eck, and Larry Coxen by skis: first traverse. 375 miles (604 km) in 45 days.
[3] American Alpine Journal (1982), Vol. 24. Pages 137-138
Canada to Lake Clark (1996): Roman Dial, Carl Tobin, and Paul Adkins by mountain bike and packraft: first full length traverse. 775 miles (1,247 km) in 42 days.
[4]"A Wild Ride," National Geographic Magazine (1997), Vol. 191. Pages 118-131
Tok to Lake Clark (1996): Kevin Armstrong, Doug Woody, and Jeff Ottmers by snowshoe, foot, and packraft: first foot traverse. 620 miles (1,000 km) in 90 days.
[5] American Alpine Journal (1997), Vol. 39. Pages 169-170
also: http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/media/ngm/9705/hilights.html#f
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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May 26, 2016 - 05:29pm PT
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A little adversity doesn't put much of a dint in Dave and i'm sure, Gavin. If it was raining kryptonite I might worry.
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nah000
climber
no/w/here
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May 26, 2016 - 05:44pm PT
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while facebook didn't exist, nat geo did... :)
apparently they did a write-up on tobin, adkin and dial's adventure in vol. 191 p. 118-131 called A Wild Ride...
unfortunately there appears to be no online access to the full article, although there are a few photos from their trip on nat geo's site...
they travelled 775 miles across the alaska range in 42 days in 1996:
looks to have been burly...
edit: hey kunlun... looks like we cross posted... but thanks for the info nonetheless...
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kunlun_shan
Mountain climber
SF, CA
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May 26, 2016 - 07:34pm PT
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Paul, that FAA cam link is excellent. Goes down into Canada even. TFPU!
nah000, love the biking in deep slush photo. Hardcore.
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nah000
climber
no/w/here
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May 26, 2016 - 08:10pm PT
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while it's a little early to know for certain, it looks like they continue to be holed up on the same ridge... since this is now the end of week 2, here's the synopsis to date:
week 1: 80ish miles total with 27ish of that flying over two days and the other 53ish on the ground hiking mostly during the other five days. they made it to and found their first food cache on day 4.
week 2: 19ish miles total with all of that on the ground over three days. the other four days were spent pinned down by weather and/or resting. they found a food stocked cabin along the iditarod trail on day 8.
edit to add: Gavin just posted: "Grounded again. No sun at all today but forecast looking much better. Maybe after 4 nights @ high camp we'll finally get a shot! Spirits high, stomachs empty." so hopefully the next few days are good ones for them, as it's looking like they've got a forecasted four day window for mostly sunny weather and increased day time temps at the moment...
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F
climber
away from the ground
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May 26, 2016 - 09:45pm PT
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Weather is super splitter right now in the valley. (Matnuska Valley anyway) Woot. Might be a productive weekend for mountain recreationalists in AK. Send it dudes.
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nah000
climber
no/w/here
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May 27, 2016 - 11:05pm PT
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looks like they are done for the day...
day 15: after finally getting a sunny day, they took off flying from the ridge they've been on for the last few days, but unfortunately it doesn't look like they found much in the way of thermals and they only got in about threeish miles during what looks to have been mostly a sledder back down to valley bottom... they then hiked for about sixish miles first back up to the top of a knob, back down into a small valley and then back up onto another ridge. Gavin posted before they started flying: "Game on! Sun is out, we are out of food. 52 miles to next cache. High pressure flight!" so looks like they still have a lot of ground to cover before their next cache, because unfortunately, as the crow flies, they've only travelled around 5ish miles today...
good news is they've got another two days of good forecast ahead of them... bad news is possible high winds three days from now and then another low pressure system moving in after that... so. they're definitely up against it a bit... maybe they'll have to do a little dirtbag helicopter [ie. paraglider] caribou hunting...
edit: spoke a little too soon... they're burning the almost midnight oil and are back in the air for another flight that started around 10:40pm ak time... and now look to have made it another 3ish miles during two short flights before landing just after 11:00pm most of the way towards the dillinger river valley...
and a final next day edit to the last edit: they got in one last sledder flight at 12:30 in the morning last night for another two miles which landed them back down deep in the dillinger river valley... all in all a 10000 foot elevation gain on foot day [according to gavin], with about eightish miles in the air and sevenish miles on the ground in order to make it about tenish miles as the crow flies... so all round a scrappy, high energy expending day... hope they can find food, because this kind of travel with food would be exhausting... without it, i'm assuming they are going to be entering death march territory pretty soon, if they haven't already...
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rockermike
Trad climber
Berkeley
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May 28, 2016 - 05:23pm PT
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I assume they've got their hunting rifles with them. No?
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nah000
climber
no/w/here
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May 28, 2016 - 09:25pm PT
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no rifles, that either of them have mentioned...
Dave mentioned having a large calibre hand gun, but that is all that i've seen them mention as far as firearms go...
Gavin has a good write up on his blog about many of the preparations that he did for this traverse and it is a very good read...
he mentions why hunting would be a poor plan to rely on for food and also explains why he actually bought a cheapish [as if there is such a thing] helicopter for his brother-in-law, who is an alaskan bush pilot, in order to make this trip happen!! after reading that blog posting, and seeing the level of preparation that the two of them have given to this project, i'm starting to see that my suspecting they were bailing during week two was sorely misunderstanding of the level of investment and therefore commitment that they both must have to this project...
which is currently being borne out by their continuing to hike/fly while they [apparently] have no food and are still 30-35 miles, as the crow flies and as of right nowish, from their next cache... and when they have to have in the back of their minds, that their best day in over two weeks resulted in only about 20 miles worth of progress [and that was one of only two days where they were able to make significantly more than 10 miles worth of progress in a single day]...
basically, given all of the above, that these guys are carrying packs in the 50-60lb range and have continued to push on while post-holing through snow and bushwhacking through alaskan brush in order to average a little over seven miles of progress per day, shows that these dudes have gone into full on beast mode in order to keep making this thing continue to happen...
given the commitment that we are witnessing, hopefully they are both watching their own backs, as i'd hate to see this go full franklin expedition, in order that one of them can make it through to the other side... :)
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nah000
climber
no/w/here
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May 28, 2016 - 10:24pm PT
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looks like another day is done...
day 16: after hiking to gain the ridge for a couplish miles, they took off flying and got nice flights that lasted about 10ish miles in the air... they landed high and then hiked for another couplish miles before taking a sledder for threeish miles back down into the big salmon fork "valley"... in total made it about ninish miles as the crow flies.
but best part it is it looks like spirits are high and stomachs were, for a moment at least, a little fuller, as Gavin wrote: "Maybe slowest vol biv in history but today was RAD! Totally on looked like big day but shut down, landed high, cool adventure on foot, awesome evening flight! Ran into bear hunting camp this am, they gave us HUGE breakfast and snacks. We're going to get to that damn cache!"
saweet! forecast continues to look good for tomorrow and now tuesday, but with a continued potential higher wind event forecasted for monday...
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thebravecowboy
climber
The Good Places
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May 28, 2016 - 11:02pm PT
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true adventure radness!
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john hansen
climber
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May 28, 2016 - 11:32pm PT
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" Um , I get by with a little help from my friends"
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nah000
climber
no/w/here
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May 29, 2016 - 09:50pm PT
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day 17: another day humping it out on the ground... twelvish miles over the course of a little over ten hours has them making it through to pingston creek... didn't appear to be any attempts to gain any highpoints in order to fly, as they stayed down low all day.
since the weather finally broke three days ago, and they were able to leave the ridge they were hunkered down on, they've managed to make it about 28 of the 45ish miles [as the crow flies] that it is going to take for them to make it to their next cache...
so based on how much ground they've been able to cover during the last three days, they've still got probably at least two days until they can get to their next food drop unless they can get into the air or find some more amicable hiking terrain... and both of those are currently, given the still forecasted higher winds for tomorrow and the what appears to be tricky terrain lying between them and their cache, looking to be on the longer odds end of things...
hope i'm wrong, as even with the good breakfast and snacks a day and a half ago, i'm sure those boys are hungry right about now.
edit to add: here's Gavin's synopsis of the day: "Long death march thru the most beautiful terrain I've ever seen. But we are completely wiped out. Nuking wind, unflyable. Something has to give."
hmmm... given what they've been through already, how much food they've apparently had over the last while and now the forecast which has even higher winds predicted for tomorrow and then rain on wed through friday before more high winds for three more days again after the rain, things have got to be at least a bit dire... and that's not mentioning that their next leg, due, in part i presume, to the no landing in the national parks rule, has 125 miles, as the crow flies, between food caches that only have around five days of food in them [according to G's blog]... while i mistakenly bet against them once, so won't do that again, they definitely need to start catching more breaks than a good breakfast and some snacks... can't imagine all of the tough hiking they are doing... you know when they are averaging just a little over a mile an hour over a full day of hiking that the terrain they are having to deal with is, shall we say, not ideal...
here's hoping the tide turns for them and they get a real good long distance flight soon... regardless, assuming that by slog or by fly, that they do make this next cache, given the no landing in the national parks and the toughness of the hiking so far, i'm assuming that a real big flight is probably the only realistic way that they can make the denali national park leg of this adventure... or at least the only way that won't mean adding ranger rick to their list of potential hazards...
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nah000
climber
no/w/here
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May 30, 2016 - 10:48pm PT
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day 18: not sure whether or not they'll get one more sledder down into the tonzona river valley before they call it a night, but here's what they've been up to so far... from Gavin's facebook it sounds like the wind storm hit a little earlier than forecasted with the strongest winds of the trip so far, at speeds of up to 50mph on the ground, last night... about this, G wrote: "Sorry Red Bull, the XAlps is PlayStation compared to this. Gotta press on, where's my tent?"
they started later this morning by hiking for six hours and gained a ridge after hiking a total of about sixish miles... after hanging on the ridge for a bit, probably to wait for favourable flying conditions, they took a quick 20 minute, threeish mile ridge hopper of a flight that gained them the next ridge over, where, after hiking another mile, they are currently at... this puts them about nine miles, as the crow flies, from their next cache, so if all goes well they'll hopefully make it to some more food tomorrow.
which is good because according to the forecast [which has been impressively correct through much of their trip so far] after one more decent day, the weather is headed back into the tank with likely 2-3 days of cloud and rain followed by one day of reprieve and then another threeish more days of high winds...
oh well, tomorrow's challenges... i'm sure their only focus right about now is getting to that next cache...
edit to add: looks like they'll be camping up high for the night, as Gavin just posted his evening synposis for the day: "Progress today. Wind cranked, alders bashed, rivers were walked and in a brief lull we flew a few miles, landed backwards at warp speed. But we're closer!"
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nah000
climber
no/w/here
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May 31, 2016 - 10:48pm PT
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day 19: after starting the day with a ridge top twoish mile hike, d + g got to flying... after a short mile long flight, they touched down and then scrambled under a mile back up to ridge top before taking off again in order to cross, as gavin called it yesterday, the massive tonzona river. dave found a bit of lift that gavin didn't find and so was able to fly high across the valley and land about 800' above the valley floor in a flight that took him around eight miles... gavin looks to have been lucky to have just crossed the river in what appears to have been a fourish mile sledder.
but after hiking for threeish miles gavin was able to take off again and in what i'm assuming is the flight that he referred to in his post as "the most magnificent flight of my life" he was able to gain a little over 1500' of elevation in a short mile long flight and top land on the knob where their cache was at... after a quick twoish mile flight north towards the ridge that dave had gained, gavin scrambled another mile back up a gully to the ridge in order to join back up with dave who had scrambled a couple miles himself after his flight. after hiking for another mile on ridge top, they took off flying and were both able to gain almost 3000' before they began to make a beeline in the direction of the denali park border. here, threeish miles into what was presumably their last flight of the day, both their beacons mysteriously stopped transmitting...
Gavin summed the day up like this: "We made it! Short flights and hard ground game, but then the most magnificent flight of my life to top land the cache. HUGE mountains! Just incredible. Food!!"
i'm sure the food they are eating tonight is some of the best they've ever tasted.
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nah000
climber
no/w/here
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thanks treez...
day 20: turns out, what at the time appeared to be possible shenanigans yesterday evening, were quite likely not, as they are still just outside the national park.
and so it looks like after their gps' shut off yesterday they flew another couple miles heading north before settling in for the night. this leaves them, after a short half mile hike this afternoon, appearing to have holed up close to a ridge only about two miles from the denali national park border.
i say holed up because based on the weather forecast, it's likely socked in and possibly raining this evening... and there are three more days to follow that are likely going to have similar socked in and raining themes... with those three then being followed by another two or three days that are currently forecasted to have around 60cm of snowfall dump at 1075m... [they are currently at 1250m]
at least they've got food... Ż\_(ツ)_/Ż
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F
climber
away from the ground
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Saw a Paraglider killing it in the thermals over the Talkeetna mountains a few days ago when we were (gasp!) climbing. You can see him at 25 seconds in the video. Watched him fly probably 5 miles in a short time. Catching thermals over Didilkama and traveling to the west. Made me wonder about Gavin and Dave's progress. Thanks for the update.
[Click to View YouTube Video]
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nah000
climber
no/w/here
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cool F... good to see at least one person on this board out climbing... :)
day 21: well, it's impossible for a mere keyboard warrior to know for sure what's up, as there have been no updates to either facebook or to their gps tracking... and kind of strangely the last few days of posts also appear to have been deleted from Gavin's facebook... so... either it's all random chaotic and coincidental; they're dropping off the radar for the time being and for whatever reason; or most likely they're just hunkered down due to being hit by somewhere around 1.5cm of rain today...
assuming the latter is the case and due to our being at the end of the week again, here's an update of the weekly summaries so far:
week 1: 80ish miles total with 27ish of that flying over two days and the other 53ish on the ground hiking mostly during the other five days. they made it to and found their first food cache on day 4.
week 2: 19ish miles total with all of that on the ground over three days. the other four days were spent pinned down by weather and/or resting. they found a food stocked cabin along the iditarod trail on day 8.
week 3: 72ish miles total. during four days hik/fly-ing and one day completely on the ground they covered about 38 miles in the air and another 34 on the ground. they spent two more days likely grounded due to weather, but received some food from hunters on day 16 and made it to their second cache on day 19.
total to date: 171ish miles with 65ish of those in the air and the other 106ish on the ground. this was comprised of six days with some flying and some hiking, nine days solely hiking and the other six either grounded or resting.
latest forecast is calling for one more day of rain, before two possibly decent days, followed by two with snow... hopefully they brought a book or two...
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ryankelly
Trad climber
Bhumi
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thanks for posting this.
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Alex Baker
climber
Portland
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I like these distilled updates, thanks.
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nah000
climber
no/w/here
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^^^^ my pleasure gents.
day 22: the conjecture over the last while has been correct. they've now spent three days holed up just outside the park boundary, sitting out weather, waiting for a shot at clearing the whole park in one go [about 120 miles as the crow flies]. Gavin wrote: Once again hunkered down in bad weather. 2" of snow last night after 24 hours of straight rain. Waiting for BIG day to send it over Denali Nat Park!
tomorrow's forecast is looking better but there's still a fair bit of cloud forecasted for the morning, so my guess would be it's not necessarily looking like the best day for them to be going after the whole enchilada... but, we'll see soon enough what actually comes to fruition... if they don't go for it, they'll probably have to hole up for at least three more days, as there is still snow forecasted during the two days after tomorrow [on the bright side the amount of snow forecasted is down to about 8" instead of the 24" that was being forecasted a couple days ago]...
while they wait we'll fill this interlude with a little more info regarding the adkins/dial/tobin mountain bike/pack raft/hiking boot crossing of the alaska range in 1996...
a friend sent me a copy of the nat geo article and while it's unfortunate that we don't have a "youtube" for magazine articles just yet [so that content creators can both opt into or out of, as well as be compensated for, having their work posted online] it's more important to me, when there is no money being made or lost, that people see this info, than it being relegated to a dust bin due to our specific methods not having caught up to our generalized means just yet [but if any copyright holders want this taken down, just fire me an email, and i'll delete]...
this shouldn't be relegated to a dust bin, because the trip looks to have been fUcking epic... what a bunch of rock stars... or at least unstoppable masochists... anyway without further ado:
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nah000
climber
no/w/here
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day 23: gone fishin'... quite seriously! they flew down to a lake, Dave caught four graylings and then they built a grill with talus rocks and cooked 'em up...
day 24: no updates, but forecast has been for cloud, rain and snow, so most likely they're still waiting out this current spell of shIt weather... which there looks to be one more day of on monday and then finally a spell of good weather [except for more cloud/rain/snow forecasted for wednesday and highish winds on friday evening and all day saturday]
hopefully their patience is rewarded and they catch a whopper, right across the park, sometime this next week...
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Ottawa Doug
Social climber
Ottawa, Canada
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Keep at it guys. This is one amazing story.
Doug
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nah000
climber
no/w/here
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ryankelly: yeah, they finally got a real good cross country flight!!!!! their first not-just-scratching-around, trying-to-survive-and-make-it-a-few-to-a-dozen-miles, honest-to-goodness 50 miler...
day 25: they were pinned down again as there was a foot of snow overnight... this means they had then spent six days in a row waiting for a weather window just outside of the park...
day 26: as per above: finally!! Gavin made it about 55 miles as the crow flies and was able to land a little higher up in the mountains [maybe avoiding some lower down bushwhacking?], while Dave made it slightly less at around 50 miles as the crow flies and landed further north and down out of the mountains a little more... both flew past denali in what Gavin called a dream flight and they both landed either before the first fork [Dave] or between the forks [Gavin] of the Mckinley River... recorded inflight speeds ranged up to a little over 40 mph...
and so they made it about half way across the park and therefore about half of the way to their next cache...
about an hour and a half after landing, Gavin is already on the move again and has made it another four or so miles on foot so far, while Dave either has his gps off or hasn't taken off hiking just yet...
and the flight was just in time too... after the last six previous days of shIt weather, today was the one forecasted better weather day, before the forecast returns to more cloud and rain for tomorrow and then high winds likely thursday evening and all day friday...
i'm sure all of the work these guys have put in to make it this far, made that flight past denali all the sweeter... congrats to the two of them.
Gavin summed the day up as follows: "from here it's all just bonus"
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thebravecowboy
climber
The Good Places
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Human alignment with the earth system radness!!
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
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wild! Stay safe gents!
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John Mac
Trad climber
Littleton, CO
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Thanks for the update. Great stuff.
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F
climber
away from the ground
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If I'm reading the tracking data right, it looks like they're flying along between Mt Mather and the park road right now. Catching good lift from N. winds brought on by the high pressure? I think the flying Monkeys are sending.
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nah000
climber
no/w/here
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hey F... they are sending... but it looks like it's via the hard way, as they are likely still on the ground...
Gavin's definitely been on the ground all day [if you're looking at his delorme site if you click on one of his gps pings and then after the little bubble opens up click "more" it'll give you their speeds: if they are continuously going 0-5km/h and pinging an updated gps location every 10 min, they're pretty much guaranteed to be on the ground, and if they're regularly going 10-70km/h and their gps locations are being updated every 2 min, it means they are flying... plus it also shows their elevation, so if you're still not certain you can see if they are at the same elevation as is shown on the topo map or if they are in the air]...
Dave has only pinged once today, or at least only once that is still up on the website, but given his location down on the "flats" it's unlikely that he's been able to take off flying... plus Gavin wrote this morning: "Light rain this am, forecasts from the outside world scrambled, but we're on foot regardless. Objective is Anderson Pass. Dave will catch up soon." at around noon alaska time Dave was still around 8 miles behind Gavin...
Gavin's made it about 8 miles over the course of the last, a little over, six hours... so obviously they are still in some rugged hiking territory both based on their ground speeds and by looking at the aerial map of the type of terrain they are in... Dave hasn't updated enough, for those on the nosy internet at least, to know what's up...
so the summation version:
day 27: they're likely fighting it out on the ground, as today's forecast was for intermittent rain with a fair bit of cloud and the possibility of some moderately high winds. Gavin's made it about 8 miles on foot so far, and Dave is likely trying to catch up as they both head to anderson pass. the forecast for the next five days is for regular periods of showers and rain. so unless they get some good luck or a weather window opening they are probably going to be on the ground for the next while again...
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F
climber
away from the ground
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Haha. I obviously can't guess at those data points very accurately. Death marching is one kind of sending... Hope they get to fly sooner than later.
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nah000
climber
no/w/here
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agreed... sending seems like a bit of a stretch for at least what i'm imagining some of these death marches must be like... maybe the monkeys are persisting would be more accurate... :)
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F
climber
away from the ground
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Haha. "The Monkeys are persisting."
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mcreel
climber
Barcelona
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I once walked down the Muldrow glacier, from the vicinity of Mt. Brooks to the park road. The glacier, at the time, was a f*#king death march, but the tundra below was not too bad. My guess is that climate change has not improved the glacier for walking, but it's probably shorter. Dragging a paraglider up to Anderson Pass sounds like a really difficult challenge.
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nah000
climber
no/w/here
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alright... Gavin posted the following comments about yesterday: "Brutal day. 13 hours on foot, went well till the Muldrow Glacier- massive ice maze, frozen rivers, talus hell. Destroyed me. Day 28 was hard!!!" [Gavin put in about 14ish miles during this day]
this means they're counting what i called day zero [when they placed their last food cache and then got dropped off but weren't able to fly] as their first day... which makes sense. in order to keep this summary in line with what they are posting, day 26 just became day 27 and so on and so forth throughout the last posts. and so today is now day 29 [rather than day 28]... got it? good... :) this also means yesterday was time to post up another weekly summary... and i've also adjusted the weekly summaries according to the new day one...
week 1: 70ish miles total with 27ish of that flying over two days and the other 43ish on the ground hiking mostly during the four other days. grounded on day one but made it to and found their first food cache on day five.
week 2: 29ish miles total with all of that on the ground over four days. the other three days were spent pinned down by weather and/or resting. they found a food stocked cabin along the iditarod trail on day nine.
week 3: 72ish miles total. during four days hik/fly-ing and one day completely on the ground they covered about 38 miles in the air and another 34 on the ground. they spent two more days likely grounded due to weather, but received some food from hunters on day seventeen and made it to their second cache on day twenty.
week 4: woot: 72ish miles over two days! finally a big flight of 55ish miles over one day with another 17ish miles on the ground during the big flight and subsequent day. five days spent grounded waiting for a shot at a long flight over most of the national park.
total to date: 243ish miles with 120ish of those in the air and the other 123ish on the ground. this was comprised of seven days with some flying and some hiking, ten days solely hiking and the other eleven either grounded or resting.
and as far as today:
day 29: on the ground again... looks like Dave caught back up to Gavin sometime last night and they are likely on the march together again [Dave has only pinged a couple times since he landed so impossible to know for certain]... Gavin/they made it to anderson pass after hiking about five miles, early this afternoon... at this point G/they either stopped early for the day or they at least stopped pinging their locations. this means if they are still at anderson pass and head out the west fork of the chulitna river, they are only about 18ish miles from being outside of the park and back into legal take off territory again... current forecast is for, after one more decent day, a return to five more days of intermittent rain and snow...
yes, the monkeys are persisting...
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DaveT.
Big Wall climber
Mammoth Lakes
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Jun 12, 2016 - 10:40am PT
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Alaska has proved to be an experience of a lifetime- and oh boy, do we have some stories to tell! Two days ago we popped out at Cantwell, having made a vol biv traverse of the Alaska Range by hiking and flying our paragliders. Our route was about 450 kilometers long, and we flew approximately 64% of the distance covered. It was 29 days of pure adventure.
We started out at the SW tip of the Alaska Range, right at the border of Lake Clark National Park. From there we headed up towards the north slope of the range, battling bad weather and brutally rough hiking terrain. Oh yeah, did I mention that we had to post hole for MILES through waist deep snow over Sled Pass? Two days for six miles, hiking 12 hours a day!? Luckily we had a few short flights in these first days as well, which gave us hope that our route would work.
Since no one has really ever flown a paraglider where we traversed through, we were totally unsure of what conditions we would encounter. Would there be enough thermals? Would the terrain allow hiking when weather was bad, or was the forest too dense and the rivers too big to cross? Would the animals attack us? We had a lot of unanswered questions those first few days, and after struggling through the first quarter of the route, we were truly unsure if we were going to be able to pull this one off.
After we made it to the north side of the range after battling through the first 25% of the route, we were nearly starving because of our over estimation of how quick we would travel, and the reality of our slow progress was painfully apparent. So out came the fishing pole and gun to obtain food, it was a good thing I brought them!
We were hoping that on the north side of the range that conditions would improve substantially, but that wasn't really the case. Yes, the terrain became slightly easier to hike through, but the weather still wasn't cooperating. So we saved calories at first by posting up on a nice peak and waited 4 days for better weather. It never really came, so we went into full on hungry beast mode and flipped the switch to X Alps style flying- running up mountains on their west sides, and then flying short flights to the east as quickly and numerous as was possible. One day, on 300 calories, we hiked a total of 10K feet vertical with four flights, the last of which was at 12:30 in the morning. We had made well over a dozen flights at this point, but none longer than 28 km.
We had to make some huge efforts to get to our pre placed food caches in order not to starve. Well, we didn't really anticipate how difficult and slow this would be, and getting to our food caches we basically starved each time.
But conditions slowly improved, and we made it to our second food cache for an epic top landing and way too small of a feast, only to be greeted there by seven days of bad weather. But here was the catch- at food cache two we were right on the border of Denali National Park and the highest peaks of our route, and they are totally illegal to launch or land from since they are in the park. So our strategy was to sit out the bad weather and wait for an appropriate window that we could just maybe get lucky and try and fly the entire flight over the park without landing.
After 4 days of waiting up at high camp and running low on food again, we had a brief window without storm for a few minutes, so I grabbed two thermals and flew a few miles out into the flats in order to return at the end of the day with a stringer of Greyling fish to help stretch the food supplies longer.
Luckily, after 7 days of waiting for better weather, it finally came. Well, kind of.
On our eight day of waiting up in Heart Mountain it started to get sunny again in the early morning. We raced up the ridge and set up to try the big flight. We had to. We were low on food again, and I was running low on time and would need to return home in another week.
The sky went from looking promising while hiking up, to completely improbable once we laid out wings out and clipped in. It was snowing and raining all around us due to over development, but I saw a slim line of dark clouds heading in our desired direction that were not dumping yet. I punched off and Gavin followed.
We nearly bombed out right there, twice. But both times we found a scrap of lift, which eventually got us to to cloud base, and then before we could control it, way above cloud base while encased in ice with wet gliders. It went from nearly bombing out, to extreme cloud suck. But just as the Honey Badger, we didn't give a sh#t. We had hiked enough. We were over the national park. We HAD to make this one happen. So we did. The wind was too strong to fly safely, but again, we didn't care. We came here to send, not hike.
On that flight we flew past Denali, Foraker, Hunter, and the highest peaks of the Alaska Range. We
crossed countless glaciers and raging rivers, both of which would have been nearly impossible on foot. We were making rapid progress, but at somewhere around 50 miles out, we lost communication from each other up in the clouds, and now we had full blown walls of rain, snow, and over development in front of us. We were shut down by the clouds and had to land in the park. Sh#t,
The next few days passed in a blur of spectacular scenery, epic mountains, and high passes. We crossed the immense Muldrow glacier on the way over Anderson Pass, and eventually made it to Cantwell.
At this point we had covered over 2/3 of our prospective route, but alas, my time was up and with real life waiting for me back home, this was my exit point. But not for Gavin, as he has an unlimited amount of time to try and see this one through, so he's still out there trying to finish. Bad ass.
We are so happy with how this trip went, it was truly amazing. We had the Reel Water film crew flowing us the entire time, who are making a Red Bull feature documentary about this trip. These guys crushed it as well, and keep an eye out for our film later this year.
I came here to Alaska for adventure, and in the end, it turns out that I truly found what I was looking for and so much more. This land is truly epic, and add on top of that some crazy flying, dangerous animals, raging rivers, man swallowing glaciers, and difficult weather- well, you get Alaska over the last 5 weeks.
Big thanks to Ozone, Patagonia, Reel Water, Red Bull, the Mac Donald Family, Paul Guschlbaurer, Alaska Pete, and everyone else that we have met along the way
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F
climber
away from the ground
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Jun 12, 2016 - 10:51am PT
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Sick.
Nice f*#king effort.
Enjoy the pizza and beer...
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whitemeat
Trad climber
San Luis Obispo, CA
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Jun 12, 2016 - 10:53am PT
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I want to be like dave turner when i grow up!!!!! f*#king rad dude
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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Jun 12, 2016 - 03:33pm PT
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Cheers Dave for the update. So Gavin is going to try to finish solo?
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d-know
Trad climber
electric lady land
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Jun 12, 2016 - 03:46pm PT
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So proud!!!
Going to get me a wing soon.
Thanks for the inspiration
Dave and Gavin!
Love and respect.
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John M
climber
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Jun 12, 2016 - 03:50pm PT
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Looking forward to the film and more pics and tales. So very cool!
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Jun 12, 2016 - 04:52pm PT
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My hats off.....great going guys! Some people really know how to find adventure.
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rbob
climber
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Jun 14, 2016 - 04:10pm PT
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update?
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nah000
climber
no/w/here
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Jun 14, 2016 - 06:18pm PT
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and then there was one wolverine...
to catch up:
days 30+31: no tracking due, according to Gavin, to lack of sun creating dead batteries. so somehow at least about 55 miles plus was covered [since the last update] over june 9-11 [including likely more covered on day 29 than was noted above]. this got them back out of the park and to where they crossed their first highway of the journey... as was noted above, Dave had to cut his adventure short due to prior commitments, and so after getting to the third food cache, Gavin loaded up with food for two creating a very heavy 80lb pack...
days 32+33: Gavin parked on a ridge, a few miles from the highway, hoping to fly, but was shut down by more snow and cloud on both days.
day 34: in the air again! but Gavin wrote this about the flight: "Most terrifying flight of my life. Once heart under control will position for good weather that is supposed to be coming. That was...difficult." he flew about 15ish miles in forty minutes with some of his speeds up over 40 mph... he's currently back on the ground hiking and has made it about two miles, though he's still on the move... the next three days look to have one of the better forecast windows they've had the whole trip, although there are high winds currently forecasted for friday. his next food cache is about 80 miles from where he's currently at and is near to only the second highway crossing of the adventure...
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nah000
climber
no/w/here
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Jun 15, 2016 - 09:19pm PT
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the monkey is sending...
day 35: while his day might not be over yet, it's already been a big one... after hiking a couple thousand feet over a little over a mile he hung out on top of a small ridge/peak with the day starting off as a perfectly clear one. as winds were high in the morning he waited most of the day and started flying later in the afternoon, catching a great 19ish mile flight that lasted a little over an hour... after repacking and taking another hour to hike another mile or so back up another small hill, he very nearly immediately took off flying again and flew another thirteenish miles over a "MASSIVE glacier" that would have taken him two days on foot [his words] in a little under an hour...
assuming he's done for the day, as this is the end of week five, here's the latest update:
week 1: 70ish miles total with 27ish of that flying over two days and the other 43ish on the ground hiking mostly during the four other days. grounded on day one but made it to and found their first food cache on day five.
week 2: 29ish miles total with all of that on the ground over four days. the other three days were spent pinned down by weather and/or resting. they found a food stocked cabin along the iditarod trail on day nine.
week 3: 72ish miles total. during four days hik/fly-ing and one day completely on the ground they covered about 38 miles in the air and another 34 on the ground. they spent two more days likely grounded due to weather, but received some food from hunters on day seventeen and made it to their second cache on day twenty.
week 4: woot: 72ish miles over two days! finally a big flight of 55ish miles over one day with another 17ish miles on the ground during the big flight and subsequent day. five days spent grounded waiting for a shot at a long flight over most of the national park.
week 5: best week in terms of gross mileage yet, as he/they covered a total of 111ish miles including three mystery days where they covered about 60 miles likely on the ground, but possibly in the air for some of it as well. after two days being grounded and after Dave had to return home, Gavin has continued on solo and over two days has covered about 47ish miles in the air and another 4ish on the ground. he made it to the third food cache on day 31, the same day that Dave left.
total to date: 354ish miles with 240ish of those in the air and the other 114ish on the ground. this was comprised of nine days with some flying and some hiking, three days comprised of of mystery movement, ten days solely hiking and the other thirteen either grounded or resting.
a note on cumulative mileages: Dave said they had covered about 450 km [280ish miles] when i had them at about 295ish miles, meaning that given the difficulties in determining exact mileage covered when in the air vs on the ground [does one include thermalling vertical, just tracking on the ground, and etc] and because there are three mystery days, i've used dave's breakdown of 64% up to day 31 being in the air to come up with the above cumulative total... because of this, the cumulative total doesn't entirely jive with the weekly summaries above it... still, given that all of these mileages should be considered very "ish" it's probably all reasonably close even if it more tells a bit of the relative proportions of the adventure rather than exact mileages...
Gavin's already made it roughly 50% of the distance from food cache three to food cache four and is currently around 15 miles as the crow flies directly south of mt. deborah...
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nah000
climber
no/w/here
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Jun 16, 2016 - 09:32pm PT
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dam son...
day 36: another big day... lots of flights, as there were four in total... and relative to the trip so far, a considerable amount of mileage covered, as most of his time was spent in the air.
after a short milish long hike and on what he described as a bluebird day, he started the day by taking a quick puddle [valley] jumper of a flight to gain another milish of distance before hiking for another milish to gain a ridge top over from where he started... from here he got in his technically second, but first real flight lasting 21ish miles over about an hour and a half.
after a quick half mile hike and an hour and a half later he took off on his third flight which lasted another 19ish miles. after one more milish long ridge top gaining hike he took off on his final flight for the day... because i'm assuming he's flying a more southern line than what they originally intended he appears to have skipped the fourth cache and at 24ish miles into the flight, while roughly 15 miles south of his cache it looks like he chose to keep on flying past the richardson highway in what appears to have been a flight that lasted about 39ish miles in total...
so for the day in total he covered about 83ish miles in total with about 79 of them in the air...
and so now the end is in site, as being only roughly 50 miles as the crow flies from the last cache and the end of the journey at the glenn highway and metasta lake, he had even hoped to finish it up today if it wouldn't have been for more high winds.
bananas! 135ish miles covered in the last three days... more than he'd covered in all the single weeks and most of the two week periods of his trip thus far... finally some serious breaks.
and with one, maybe two more good looking days weather-wise, he might just wrap this thing up sooner rather than later! [with an obligatory knock to some wood]
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ms55401
Trad climber
minneapolis, mn
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Jun 16, 2016 - 10:00pm PT
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trying to digest it all, but it sounds epic. Very much want to see the flight path, including altitude, when you passed over Foraker/Denali/Hunter
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F
climber
away from the ground
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Jun 16, 2016 - 10:09pm PT
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F*#king WOOT!
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nah000
climber
no/w/here
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Jun 16, 2016 - 10:30pm PT
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here you go ms55401:
the above is from Gavin's flight tracking... he enters into this screen shot at about 10000 ft and then he spent the majority of the flight shown above moving between 5000 and 8500 ft before landing just outside of the screen shot at a little over 3000 ft.
Dave's flight was similar but he was flying a few more miles to the north and landed a little earlier than Gavin...
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the Fet
climber
Tu-Tok-A-Nu-La
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 17, 2016 - 07:53am PT
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Dave, did you do a before and after weigh in?
If it came down to it were you prepared to eat Gavin?
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nah000
climber
no/w/here
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Jun 17, 2016 - 06:42pm PT
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done and dusted!
Gavin landed at his end goal at Lake Mentasta 15 min ago...
37 days in total with a little over a third of the route covered in the last four days...
congrats to both Gavin and Dave... badass mother ruckers for sure.
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F
climber
away from the ground
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Jun 17, 2016 - 06:50pm PT
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Sweet. Nice work Gavin, props for finishing it off.
Enjoy the burgers and beers.
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feralfae
Boulder climber
in the midst of a metaphysical mystery
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Jun 17, 2016 - 06:54pm PT
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Super Congratulations from Fairbanks!
Splendid effort, beautiful work, excellent adventure.
Thank you for sharing.
feralfae
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skcreidc
Social climber
SD, CA
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Jun 17, 2016 - 07:17pm PT
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Wow. Great job. Talk about an effort!!
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Kurt Jensen
Trad climber
Aptos,CA
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Jun 17, 2016 - 09:13pm PT
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That's the most crazy Alaska adventure I've ever heard of! Huge congratulations to Dave and Gavin!
I've really enjoyed following along with this adventure here on good old Supertopo. It reads like an epic climbing adventure tale, minus the climbing. This is such a bad ass evolution of what's possible. The monkeys suffered and worked hard for this one!
A friend of mine, Jef, got to experience an overnight vol-biv with Dave T. in the Eastern Sierra, shortly before he left on the Alaska Range traverse. It was awesome to hear about just in time to follow along on the taco and get all the updates. Proud epic send! Amazing finish by Gavin!
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F
climber
away from the ground
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Aug 10, 2016 - 07:41pm PT
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Bump for sickness.
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thebravecowboy
climber
The Good Places
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Aug 10, 2016 - 08:10pm PT
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missed the finish on this one, great bump. there is badass sh#t and there je BADASS SH#T. latter here, clearly! chapeau!
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F
climber
away from the ground
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Oct 10, 2016 - 07:46pm PT
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Bump the gnar
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skywalker1
Trad climber
co
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May 16, 2019 - 12:59pm PT
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Ok. Bump! I still need to go through this again. Thanks Hooblie for directing me back to this. I'm such a sh#ty pilot compared to everything posted but I'm learning if slowly.
Thanks!
Cheers!
S....
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