Bucket List Trips: Pika Glacier Gear Guide

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About a year ago, some friends and I started hatching plans for a spring Alaska trip. We wanted good skiing options, stunning views, and a place that was new to all of us. The idea was that it would be a fun way to spend time together and an adventure that would put some of our mountaineering skills and steep skiing abilities to the test. We settled on the Pika Glacier as our final destination.

Described as “Little Switzerland,” the Pika is located in Denali National Park. It’s an offshoot of the behemoth Kahiltna Glacier that flows off of the southwest slope of Denali. With abundant steep chutes, stunning views of Denali, Sultana, and Begguya, the first, second, and third highest peaks in the Alaska Range, respectively.

Preparing for an eight-day expedition in the Alaska Range in May is no small feat. The weather can be unpredictable and highly variable and, once the bush pilot drops you off, you don’t have a lot of resources at your disposal and you’d better be prepared to handle whatever the mountains offer you. Given this, choosing the right gear for the job was a pretty critical part of this trip.

Skis: something trustworthy, versatile, and capable of shredding powder

Part of the fun of heading onto a glacier for eight days is that you don’t know exactly what conditions you’ll encounter and they’ll likely be highly variable. Consequently, when it comes to choosing skis, there’s a few ways to go and it will come down to personal preference. I think the most important thing is bringing a pair of skis that you really trust in a variety of different conditions. Considering weight is not bad, either, but if low weight comes at the expense of you feeling comfortable and confident getting down big lines then I don’t think it's worth a few grams of saved weight.

I opted to bring my Renoun Citadel 106 ’s. I find these to be a remarkably lightweight, stable ski that surfs powder and holds up really well in other conditions. I’ve skied the Citadel 106 for two seasons in a row and I’m pretty confident in saying it's the best ski I’ve ever been on, but, most importantly, I know it intimately and trusted it to handle whatever I took it on in Alaska. We skied almost exclusively fresh powder on the Pika, so the Citadel 106 was a great option for the conditions we had.

Other skis in our group ranged from the WNDR Intention 108 , the WNDR Vital 98 , the Blizzard Zero G 85 , the Black Diamond Helio 88s , and the Dynafit Radical 97 . All of which worked really well for this trip.

Bindings: light tech bindings, easily-adjustable riser settings were a must for long glacier walks

Bindings are definitely a matter of personal preference and are certainly related to how aggressively you like to ski. I love tech bindings and I’m definitely not a hardcore freerider, so I used the Salomon MTN Pure binding on my skis. In my opinion this is a binding that just works . It does its job and it does it well, and that’s what I wanted for this trip. The mostly-metal MTN Pure weighs in at around 290 grams and has three different riser options. While I normally don’t mess around with the riser settings too much in the Wasatch, the different options proved to be pretty handy for glacier travel. On the Pika, there’s a lot of flat glacier walking to get to objectives. So, to be able to easily use the flat setting was pretty nice on my legs, but it’s then easy to engage the riser settings once you start climbing. I chose not to use leashes on the MTN Pure on the Pika, but it’s not a bad idea in glaciated terrain so you don’t lose your skis if you fall in a crevasse.

Other bindings in our group included the Black Diamond Helio 200 , ATK Trofeo and Freeraider , and the old standby: the Dynafit Radical .

Boots: something comfortable, light, and with a generous walk mode

Finding the right boots for a trip like this can be tricky. You wear ski boots a lot on an expedition like this, so you definitely want to think about what is going to be the most comfortable for your feet day after day. In fact, comfort should really be your number one priority. That being said, we were also skiing some pretty steep lines where there was something to be said for having a beefier boot. And, when you have the opportunity to ski steep powder in Alaska, you want to bring your best skiing.

I opted to bring the Tecnica Zero G Tour W boots. I think these are hands down one of the best women’s touring boots on the market right now. With a 115 Flex, I can ski these pretty hard but they also have a great walk mode and are comfortable for long walks. Even after seven days of skiing and a lot of time in the boots, I had zero blisters and my feet were still feeling great.

If the fit of the Zero Gs aren’t your cup of tea, some great alternatives with similar performance are the Scarpa 4 Quattro SL , Dynafit Ridge Pro or Radical Pro , or the older Grilamid version of the Atomic Hawx XTD.

Apparel: layers, layers, layers

Staying warm and dry on a multi-day glacier expedition is not easy. As someone who is pretty bad at regulating my temperature, my philosophy on expeditions is to really just be prepared to add and shed layers pretty constantly throughout the day. The weather can turn on a dime, so when you’re leaving camp, it's important to be prepared for anything. I also had a big puffy and some other extra layers in my pack in addition to my standard ski kit.

Some of my favorite layers on this trip were the Mountain Hardwear Phantom Down Parka , the Mountain Hardwear Absolute Zero Down Mitt , a Party Shirt International Sun Hoodie , and my Flylow Siren Bibs . I also had high-quality wool baselayers and a Patagonia capilene hoodie as part of my layering system.

Managing layers is definitely something to be prepared for when you do an expedition like this. You’re going to get wet and cold and being able to trust your ability to get warm and dry is pretty important on a glacier. This means playing around with what works for you, investing in high quality gear that you can trust, and knowing what works for you.

Another caveat to layering on a glacier trip is making sure that you can fit your harness over your ski layers. I didn’t have an issue with this, but it’s good to check that you can wear your harness over the bulkiest layers you anticipate wearing on the trip before you actually get onto the glacier.

Pack: A trusty 35-40L steed

The beauty of a base camping trip is that you don’t have to haul all your gear and camp set up everyday. Our bush plane dropped us off about 150 meters from our camp spot, so we really only needed to haul all of our stuff a very short distance. Then we were just doing day trips from our camp. So, a 35-40L pack is really all you need for tackling objectives from the base camp on the Pika.

I used the Mountain Hardwear Snoskiwoski 40L pack. This has been one of my favorite packs of the season. It’s simple, lightweight, durable, and intuitively designed. And it fits my torso well. Black Diamond’s Cirque 45, the BCA Stash 40 UL , the Raide Research LF40 , or Hyperlite’s Crux 40 would also have been good for a trip like this.

Whatever your pack preference is, you generally want something that can fit your avalanche safety gear (shovel and probe; beacon is on your body), food and water for the day with extra for emergencies, potentially a rope, a large puffy and extra layers, a helmet (during the approach), and any technical gear. You also want to make sure you feel comfortable carrying your skis on your back. We were doing a lot of bootpacking so being able to quickly strap skis to a pack was crucial.

Technical Gear: harness and pro, ice ax, crampons, ascent plates, and a picket

What you bring for technical gear is pretty dependent on your objectives for the trip. But basic glacier travel equipment is a must when heading to unfamiliar glaciated terrain. This includes a harness (I used the Petzl Altitude harness but the Black Diamond Couloir harness would also work well), Tibloc, Microtraxion, plus slings, some extra carabiners, and a couple ice screws. We also chose to each bring a picket for ease of anchor building, but you could use a variety of equipment you already have for this. We had a 60-meter static rope for glacier travel and any climbing or descending situations that involved a rappel.

Ice axes were super important for this trip. While we were mostly skiing powder, there was a lot of ice underneath the snow, so having sharps came in handy in a variety of situations, especially steep bootpacks up the couloirs we planned to ski. The Petzl Gully is the perfect tool, go twin axes, or pair a single ax with a Black Diamond Whippet.

Crampons are also a must for glacier travel. However, given the new snow on our trip, we also used ascent plates a lot. Billy Goat Ascent Plates are a great option for bootpacking through steep powder and save you a lot of energy that would otherwise be wasted wallowing.

Eyewear: Glacier Glasses

Glaciers are highly reflective environments so having protective eyewear is key. I wore my sunglasses for over 12 hours a day on this trip and would definitely have suffered (think: snow blindness) without them. Generally, we’re not talking about your normal touring sunglasses. You want super-tinted Category 4 sunglasses, which offer the highest protection against the sun’s rays. From the moment we set foot on the glacier, we were wearing sunglasses and it was pretty striking how painful it was when you took your sunglasses off, even for a moment. Julbo’s Spectron 4 Explorer 2.0 and Spectron 4 Ultimate Cover Glacier Glasses are both great options.

Other considerations:

Basic communication and navigation abilities are pretty important. We used a Garmin InReach to get daily forecasts from some front country friends (and to have on hand for an emergency). Downloading map software on your phone is also a good idea, just make sure you have a plan for how to keep your phone charged for the duration of the trip.

There are a lot of approaches to figuring out what footwear to wear at camp. When you’re base camping weight is less of a concern, so dialing in a good foot set up can go a long way. The best option for me was to wear my ski boot liners in a pair of puffy North Face booties and then stick that system into a cheap, rubber overboot that I bought on Amazon.

Staying warm depends a lot on your layering system, but your tent and sleeping bag are really important, too! When you’re snow camping, you can build a snow shelter if you’re savvy enough or you can invest in a four season tent. Whatever you choose, make sure you know how to set it up / build it before the trip so you can hit the ground running. We were fortunate enough to be able to borrow a 15-person Mountain Hardwear expedition dome tent, which was a total game changer. Needless to say, we had a pretty sweet camp set up.

Additionally, make sure you know the temperature rating of your sleeping bag. For a glacier trip, you’re probably going to want something a little more plush than your typical car camping summer sleeping bag. I opted for the North Face Inferno, which is rated to -20F. I was nice and toasty – (dare I say hot?) every night of the trip.

Finally, hydration is key to survival. Of course, water and ice are abundant on a glacier. But that doesn’t do much good if you don’t have a reliable system for melting snow into water. A solid camping stove that performs well at cold temperatures is a good thing to have and a big pot for melting water makes the process more efficient. White gas (liquid fuel) stoves are still the best options in cold weather and at elevation, as isobutane tends to not burn very efficiently (or at all) in cold mountain environments. We used a combination of the MSR XGK Expedition stove and a standard MSR WhisperLite . One of my friend’s also brought along a Pot Parka , which was a novel camping item for me and basically is a piece of heat and fire-resistant fabric that you put over the pot while it's on the stove to make the heating process more efficient. Apparently they don’t make these anywhere? But it is an underrated piece of gear that I certainly am keeping an eye out for.