Backcountry Skiing in Denali National Park

Quick Facts:

• Drive time from Fairbanks: 2 hours

• Distance: ~6 miles roundtrip

• Elevation: 1700 ft gain/2300 ft descent

• Activity: Backcountry skiing/splitboarding

We parked around mile 7.5 on Park Road within Denali National Park (the Park Road is closed a lot of the winter season, so please be sure to check their website beforehand) and skinned southeast. It was very gradual to gain the ridge as we were coming in from the side. You can see the line we skied in the picture above - it’s looker’s right of the huge bowl framed between the trees.

The ski out was steep through the bowl, with skiable distance being about .75 miles and 1500 vertical feet. The rest of the way out has a lot of trees, and we found a creek bed to follow out but were also following deep moose and caribou tracks, which didn’t make for a smooth ski. There is a small river crossing as you get closer to the road, but we were able to find a snow bridge to cross. We had dropped a car at mile 5 of the road and shuttled to the other car.

If we were to do it again, we probably would put on skins a second time, climb out of the bowl and ski down the same way we came. I don’t think the skin would be too bad, and it would avoid the adventure through the trees.

Views of the Alaska Range were gorgeous throughout the whole skin, but nothing like the top of the ridge.

Be sure to have avalanche rescue education and training before venturing out into the backcountry!