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The hunt for Classics continues. After six years of following, climbing, and skiing 46 of the lines and mountains in the book “The Fifty Classic Ski Descents of North America,” it’s time to pursue a personally inspired and modern list of classics.
Pioneer Peak is widely known in Alaska. Little known outside of it. As you drive north from Anchorage into the glacial flood plane known as the Matanuska Valley, one mountain stands taller, looks bigger, and feels more omnipresent than the thousands of other peaks on the skyline. It is known as Dnal’iy, or “The One That Watches Us, ” to the Dena’ina people.” Its colonial name, Pioneer, was given in 1939 after the European immigrants who created an agricultural colony on the banks of the Knik River under the slopes of the Watching Mountain.
Its North-facing slope is a continuous 6,500-foot face with no breaks or flat areas. What was once a test piece of endurance and skill for Alaskan mountaineers has now become a playground for local ski mountaineers.
Joined by Mali Noyes, Logan Logan, and cinematographer Dmitry Surnin, the trio sets out on a picturesque spring day to test their endurance, skills, and skiing to determine if the North face of Pioneer Peak is a classic or not.
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