Two years ago was the first time I got a look at the Tordrillos.  There was a lot of anxiety before the trip because I would be leaving my stomping grounds in Haines in peak season to go explore the unknown.  Much of the anxiety came from the fact that Tordrillos were part of the Alaska Range and all reports from that range had been that the mountains were too big for ripping lines.

What happened on that trip has impacted me ever since.  All it took was one flight into these mountains for my world to get turned upside down.  What I saw was the biggest and baddest mountains I had ever seen and they went on forever.  It was rock spires, huge spine walls, european sized couliors and oceans of glacier ice.  I got home from that flight and I was more jacked up then I had been in years and I had not even put my snowboard on.  I had realized I had been stuck in the same place for too long riding the same lines.  What was going on in Haines instantly became irrelevant.  I had a new world and it was a lot bigger then my old one.

Over the course of the trip my excitement grew to obsession.  By the end of the trip it was impossible to sleep.  I knew that any break in the weather could mean the chance for me to ride the best line of my life.  The key is that it is not all triple XL.  There is still the mini golf to get started on but with the proper weather window you could terrain progress your way into ripping 4,000 foot walls.  On a perfect cycle in Valdez or Haines we will eventually wind up on the biggest peaks.  This same cycle would put us lines twice the size in the Tordrillos.

Below is a visual tour of the range.  I will be back in late April for some big game hunting.