Wrangell-St Elias National Park is the site of the 2008 Alaska Mountain Wilderness Ski Classic. Brian and I are headed down to this pristine wilderness which straddles the Alaska-Yukon border tomorrow to take part in the race. This is a remote and dynamic region made up of 16,000 ft glaciated mountains, craggy peaks, volcanoes, winter avalanches, raging rivers in the summer, and an abundance of wildlife.
Planning out meals and gear was quite exhausting. Trying to come up with a delectable menu that included foods with the best calorie to weight ratio was challenging. We plan to be traveling during the daylight hours (about 12 hrs/day) and hope to finish within 7 days. I expect to consume about 6000 calories a day - which came out to nearly 3 pounds of food per day. When you throw in the fuel to melt snow for drinking water and cooking - the weight of my pack dramatically increased. I will post a full report when I return.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Gearing up for the Wilderness Classic
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2 comments:
Man you are TOUGH! And I definitely think you HAVE found the balance between work and play. You must be exhausted when you get home only to plan another trek. :) At least in your present job you seem to be out of the office a tad so you can enjoy the outdoors more than the usual office worker and if not you have an AWESOME view out of your window. :) God bless and keep skating/skiing and keep warm!
Ed, You need to tell us about Ed & Brian's excellent adventure...Blog readers are waiting.
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