Deep in Alaska

Follow Dorian Densmore and Mya Akins for a month-long, exploratory mission in the Chugach Mountains.

The biggest advice I would give to myself before going to AK every season is to NOT carry any expectations. Except that it will be cold.

—Dorian Desmore

Things sometimes change so quickly. It can be hard to keep up mentally and keep your mind up to date with everything going on.

This trip, every time I would expect it to be sunny, it would be snowing hard. Every time we expected it to be stormy, the sun would come out. There were very few weather windows during our trip, the biggest being no more than 2.5 days long of clear skies.

This is super nice for skiing deep powder, but dangerous for avalanches as every day we were out testing the new snow that had fallen. We were able to stay a little more than a month. We went through some intense, scary experiences, and some incredibly fun and beautiful moments.

It is so nice to have the chance to struggle a bit in the mountains. It gives you the chance to appreciate your life and surroundings with new perspectives. A big thank you to everyone who we met up there, and to the mountains and community for taking care of us during this, cold, deep month in AK!

—Dorian Desmore