Objective: 38-40 mile out-and-back ski on the Stampede Trail to bus 142; Healy, AK

Actual Mileage (tracked on Garmin inReach): 44 miles

Trip Length: 2 days; overnight 3 miles from the bus

Trip Type: Ski tour.

Ski Setup: I don’t have backcountry nordic skis, so I borrowed a friend’s Alpina Frontier Touring, 185. I used my Rossi skate boots. Abi used her BC nordic fishscales w/ backcountry boots.

Group Size: 2

Dates: March 10-11

The Tale:

Abi and I have been wanting to make it out to the “magic bus” out of Healy for quite a bit of time. We were open to either a summer or winter trip, but since Abi is leaving the state soon, we decided to ski out to the bus a couple of weekends ago. Based on mapping calculations and other trip reports, we estimated it to be about 20 miles to the bus from the end of the Stamped Rd in Healy, AK.  Our initial plan was to ski the whole 4o miles out and back in a day. As we prepared of the trip, we realized that was a bit ambitious since neither of us has been Nordic skiing much this year. Instead, we decided to turn it into a two day trek with a plan to camp somewhere near the bus.

On the Wednesday before the trip, I developed a small intestinal blockage which required me to self-irrigate to clear it out. To avoid a blockage while out on the trail, I ate easy to digest foods for the rest of the week, and drank an entire bottle of white grape juice on the drive from Anchorage to Healy (250 miles). That usually seems to work for me.

We decided to stay at a hotel in Healy on Friday night after work in order to get out on the trail early on Saturday. We zipped up to the Aurora Denali Lodge after work (formerly Motel Nordhaven), 248 miles from Anchorage, finished packing, and went to bed. We woke up around 7:30 am and headed out on the road about an hour later. As we drove up Stampede Rd., we realized that it was not fully plowed and we had to park 3 miles out from our original planned parking area, adding 6 extra miles to the trip.

The trail was well packed down by dog sleds and snow machines and we made our way across both the Teklanika and Savage rivers without too much trouble. The snow did collapse a little bit under me while I was crossing the Tek, which was a little nerve racking, but considering a moose had crossed nearby, we figured we would make it. We had blue skies and weather in the 30s for most of the day and it was an enjoyable ski for most of the trail.

After crossing the rivers around 2pm, I decided to eat my sandwich while skiing which proved to be quite difficult. So I scarfed down my sandwich and caught up to Abi. We were about 15 miles into the trek when I realized my output from my ostomy slowed down and gas started to build up in my abdomen. Abi got away from me on the trail after I took a bathroom break, so I decided to lay down on the trail to see if I could relieve the air filling my abdomen. That didn’t work, so I got up and skied down the hill to meet Abi out on the open snow covered tundra. When I caught up to her, we were about 6 miles out from the bus. I told her I needed to irrigate really quick. I use a Foley catheter and large plastic syringe to irrigate, so I quickly pushed the catheter up my stoma and most of the gas that was built up was able to escape. I could tell things would get moving after that. After putting my ostomy bag back on, we headed out in search of the “magic bus.”

We reached the bus around 6:30 pm and decided to ski for another hour or two until it got dark. As the sun set, the temperatures dropped significantly. Around mile 25 of the day, our bodies began to slow down as every muscle in our bodies ached. We decided to set up camp right next to the trail. We quickly unpacked our gear, set up our tent (we borrowed a friend’s BD Firstlight for a lightweight option), and boiled some water for dinner and hot water bottles. I don’t usually use canister fuel, but we had Abi’s Jetboil, so we boiled as much water as we could while exposed to the cold. We decided to call it quits when the hot water we had the canister in began to freeze. At that point, I had about a liter and a half of water, which I realized wasn’t great for hydration, but I figured I could get by until morning (not too smart. next time I will bring my white gas stove).

We called it a day around 10pm, and crawled into our our warm sleeping bags with our hot water bottles. I woke up a couple of times during the night to empty my ostomy, and it felt warm out. Our guess was about 10 degrees. Halfway through the night, I realized by ski boots were frozen though, so I have to toss them in the bottom of my sleeping bag for the rest of the night.

We set our alarm for 5:30am to get an early start of the trail. Although, we forgot it was daylight savings, so it was actually 4:30am. We decided to eat a quick breakfast, so that we could get up and moving since it felt to be about 0 degrees F at that point. We had to keep moving pretty much all day on Sunday to keep warm and keep our hands from freezing. With our water bottles tucked in our jackets we skied back by the rivers. We were hoping for some open water on the Teklanika to fill up our bottles, but due to the drop in temperature, it was frozen solid. As we were skiing, I realized that I hadn’t had any output since I emptied my ostomy before starting out for the day. I would occasionally have output here and there and considered irrigating while on the trail. But since things appeared to be moving slowly through my digestive system, I decided just to push through and make it back to the car to check things out. We kept pushing and took quick breaks here and there. It was a long slog back to the car, and we considered asking a few snow machines for a ride, since our bodies were barely working by the end.

We finally reached the car about 8.5 hours after starting of the day. At that point, I had normal output again, so I was not as worried about my ostomy. The hardest part of making it back to the car was trying to get my skis off. I had to take my ski boot off while it was still attached to my ski because it was frozen to the binding.

We were happy to be back at the car and made the 5 hour drive back to Anchorage. I think the most eventful part of the drive back was when I went to let some gas out of my ostomy, and in my exhaustion induced stupper, it leaked all over me. Luckily I had a change of clothes and changed in the back of the car.

We made it home all in one piece. I was excited to have made it out to the bus since I had a failed attempt fat biking there last year.

Lessons Learned:

-Always eat an easily digestible diet before heading out a backcountry excursion, since my digestion tends to slow down

-Chew food thoroughly. I should not have wolfed down my sandwich and other snack on the trail

-Always bring irrigation supplies. That quick use of my Foley catheter on the trail really helped get things moving again

-Find a way to melt snow and stay well hydrated to keep digestion moving

-Many winter travel/camping related lessons learned….