Harding Icefield

Overlooking Bear Glacier from the top of Exit Glacier

Kenai Fjords National Park is a mystifying complex of temperate rainforests, fjords, and marine mammals. Whales, sea lions, and otters roil iceberg-choked waters on the boundary of the Pacific. The park is crowned by a sea of ice, which reveals itself to most visitors as aquamarine glacial cascades that spill from the high country down to sea level. Anyone who has seen these glaciers will wonder what looms above. The Harding Icefield, which is at the center of the public landmass comprised of Kenai Fjords National Park and Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, is the origin of Holgate, Northwestern, Aialik, Bear, Exit, Skilak, Tustumena, Chernof, McCarty, and other large glaciers.

Many Alaskans and tourists have the privilege of viewing the glaciers that flow off the icefield. Marine tours visit Northwestern Fjord. Sea kayakers frequently visit Aialik Bay and Bear Glacier. Exit Glacier is one of the more popular hikes in the state. Yet few people have an opportunity to ski across the Harding Icefield, which shapes the ecosystems of Kenai Fjords National Park.

Top of Nunatak 5912, on west side of Bear Glacier

 In 1940, Don Rising and Eugene Smith made the first known Harding traverse, ascending Bear Glacier and descending the Tustumena. Yule Kilcher, Dave Johnston, Vin Hoeman, and Bill Babcock made the second crossing of the icefield in 1968, starting at the Chernof Glacier near Homer and descending via Exit Glacier near Seward. Along the way, they made a first ascent of Mt. Truuli, which rises from the icefield and is the highest point on the Kenai Peninsula. Grainy photos from the trip show pyramidal tents protected behind snow walls, in what looks like a limitless expanse of ice. More than a decade later, Congress established Kenai Fjords National Park with passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. Ever since, the park has drawn Alaskans and many other visitors to Seward.

 The Harding Icefield is quite accessible in the context of massive glacial systems. Many people walk up to, and in some cases onto the glacier using the Exit Glacier trail. This four mile, roughly four thousand foot climb provides a convenient, cheap, and efficient way to access the icefield, and there is good skiing on the nunataks and in bowls at the upper limits of Exit Glacier. The Chernof Glacier, on the other side of the icefield near Homer, is still a possible route of egress. Or, for a logistically simpler traverse, you can get dropped off in a ski plane and then ski back to Seward. Doug Brewer with Alaska West Air is a good choice for drop offs, and if you want to avoid the drive to Nikiski he will pick you up at the Seward airport. Airplane landings are allowed on the National Park side of the icefield, but not inside the wildlife refuge boundary. This is not an inconvenience for skiers, as there are many square miles of good landing areas within the National Park lands.

Climbing Nunatak 5912

The Harding Icefield has some of the world’s best cross country skiing. Its four thousand foot and higher accumulates massive quantities of snow, meaning that skiers can cross it well into the summer. Some parts of the icefield have 60 feet or more of permanent snow atop the ice beneath. Oftentimes, late spring and early summer brings firm snow and easy travel, along with relatively warm weather and long daylight. Weather can be extremely violent, however. Winds on the icefield have been recorded in excess of one hundred miles per hour, and that is at a weather station that is more than a thousand feet below nearby ridgelines. Upper portions of Bear Glacier, shaped like half-mile long snowdrifts, attest to the power of the wind coming off the Pacific. In addition to driving wind, snow, and rain, thick fog can eliminate all reference points on the icefield. Anyone travelling across it should bring a map, compass, and GPS, and be ready to set bearings and ski through the milk.

Though it is known more for traverses, the Harding does have good ski mountaineering destinations. Two lines of nunataks flank the icefield, one on its Pacific and one on its inland edge. The Pacific ridgeline has dizzying views of tidewater glaciers, as well as steep descents back to the icefield. Some nunataks have 1,500 feet or more of relief, and good bridging of bergschrunds due to Harding’s massive snowpack.

The Harding should be a top destination for anyone who loves waterfront skiing, or exploration of unique glacial systems, or steep descents off nunataks in a sea of ice. Only a couple hours south of Anchorage, with road and trail access or via a short flight, the Harding is unusually accessible. With its expansive accumulation zone and deeply buried crevasses, it is one of the best places to ski into the summer.