The Harding Icefield Traverse

In June 2012 I visited Seward for the first time. We did the boat tours, went to the SeaLife Center, saw the waterfront. On the last day we stopped by Exit Glacier. There were plenty of short little trails up to the toe of the glacier…but we were drawn to the most challenging trail, the Harding Icefield Trail, which went well beyond the scope of your average tour-bus tourist. Despite dense cloud cover that particular day, we started the trek up to the emergency shelter at the end of the trail perched on the edge of the ice sheet. Planning had apparently been an afterthought, as it often in is your early 20’s, and we discovered deep, diffuse snow persisted on the trail starting about halfway up. Undeterred, we continued post-holing despite the lack of gators, sunscreen, or proper snow travel equipment. Near the shelter, we emerged from what we discovered was a low hanging marine layer into the intensely bright sunshine and the vastness of the Harding Icefield sprawled out in front of us. From that moment on I knew I needed to come back….come back with skis…..come back with a team….

Flash forward nearly 10 years. After entertaining thoughts on a few occasions over the subsequent several years about incorporating kayaks in Aialak Bay at the end of a ski trip from Exit, the drum beat to ski the Harding was again palpable. I started assembling the team. I reached out first to our good friends Andy and Cammie, Alaska veterans of the 2017 Nizina Traverse, the 2018 Ice Route, and the 2019 Arrigetch Peaks. Melanie, an Anchoragenean who had joined on the 2020 Tana Traverse jumped at