Ian spent two weeks searching for this perfect triangular face in the Pinnacle Peak area with not much more to go on than that single photo. He found lines on those huge peaks, but not THE line. He also found huge weather. Conditions were either blue ice or deep powder over blue ice. It was two weeks of “we’re gonna die, we’re gonna die, we’re probably not gonna die”.

The trip left Ian feeling like he had unfinished business with Kluane. His perfect face was out there still. Looking out the window of his ski plane on the way out, he noticed a cirque and had the pilot do a quick loop so he could take some scouting photos hoping he’d find it. Nothing jumped out at him, but he decided that cirque needed to be explored.

Within the cirque was a huge peak – the 4250m tall Mount Kennedy. Normally climbed from its mellow south side, the mean looking North West ridge plunged down to the glacier below. It looked almost impossibly steep and fluted, but with the right conditions, it would go.

Back in Calgary, staring once again at that photo he'd found, stewing on that sense of unfinished business, he started to obsess about returning.

The problem is, you can’t ski these sorts of lines with just anyone. Ian needed someone who had the lack of sense of self-preservation to be willing to try some of the steepest lines in North America and the technical skill required to survive. The consequences in this terrain are as high as it gets and rescue is a day away assuming you’re incredibly lucky, and weeks away if you’re not.

Ian decided that Gig might fit the bill but needed to be tested – and probably convinced. So Ian started grooming Gig, they teamed up for bigger and bigger lines and Ian started to whisper about what was waiting in Kluane. Turns out convincing Gig wasn’t that hard, all he had to do was show him that photo he’d been obsessing over. That one photo had Gig just as convinced – the lines looked huge, but they looked doable. Gig was sold and the planning started.

Going For It

Mere weeks later, with the trip planned, Ian flew into Whitehorse three days before Gig. He used the lead time to sort out food, get landing permits from Parks and touch base with Discovery Icefields – the only crew who will land you up there.

When Gig arrived, he found everything sorted and ready to go, if a little chaotic.

“Ian picks me up at the airport and it’s like 12:30 at night in the Yukon airport and there’s a woman at the carousel with a dog, because it’s the Yukon airport. We grab skis and load into the car and drive to the hotel. As we get to the hotel there a crew of guys piled around a car, drinking, and being super loud idiots and they offer us cocaine as we enter this random hotel in the middle of nowhere. It was a wild start.”

The next morning they’re at the air strip loading gear into a ski plane and hoping to hell they actually have everything they need. Forgetting your skins in this case is extra bad.

With the plane loaded, Ian and Gig fly into the cirque and almost immediately after landing they notice a discrepancy with their planning.