A man known as the “Japanese Caribou” for his trans-Alaska treks has become the first person to climb the fourth tallest peak in the United States alone during the winter season.
Masatoshi Kuriaki summited 17,400-foot Mt. Foraker on March 10, completing the first solo winter ascent of the peak, the sixth-highest in North America and widely rated a much more difficult climb than the 20,320-foot Mt. McKinley, only 14 miles to the northeast.
- UPDATE:
- A new AP story
In late January, Kuriaki was dropped off by airplane onto the Kahiltna Glacier, where Foraker rises in a stunning massif that fills the entire western sky. In a dim, wind-scoured glacial basin where the sun never shines in winter, Kuriaki spent weeks ferrying loads through cold snaps and blizzards, gradually working his way up Foraker’s seldom-climbed Southeast Ridge.
A story posted on climbing.com has more details:
The 135-pound, 33-year-old man, nicknamed the “Japanese Caribou” in Alaska, has also soloed Denali in winter, via the West Buttress (1998). He has made three attempts on the West Ridge of 14,573-foot Mt. Hunter in winter, reaching as high as 9,000 feet. Last winter, he spent 58 days on Denali in winter, reaching 12,300 feet on the South Buttress, despite losing most of his climbing hardware to an avalanche at 11,600 feet.
Kuriaki has reputation as a careful, step-by-step adventurer who relishes his time alone in the mountains or wilderness. In 1998, he walked 860 miles from Anchorage to Prudhoe Bay. Denali National Park south district ranger Daryl Miller told Anchorage television station KTUU that he is an extraordinarily patient climber.
- Japanese Caribou
- Kuriaki’s website
- KTUU March 1 story
- Rock and Ice blurb
- Solo up Denali in winter
“He really doesn’t care sometimes if he gets to the top, as long as he has that five, six or seven week span in the wilderness by himself, the solitude,” Miller said in a broadcast aired earlier this month. “And so that’s what really sets him apart. He’s not driven so much by summits as much as he’s driven by the solitude and just being in the winter by himself.”
Over the past six years, Kuriaki has become one of the most accomplished climbers in Alaska history. On March 8, 1998, he completed a sola ascent of Denali via the West Buttress route, becoming the fourth person to reach the summit alone in the winter. He became the first Japanese man to summit and return alive. (Japanese adventurer Naomi Uemura reached the summit alone on Feb. 13, 1984, but disappeared on the descent.)
Only weeks after returning from the mountain, Kuriaki completed his walk from Anchorage to Prudhoe Bay. Since then, he’s returned six times to mount solo expeditions in the Alask Range, including three attempts up Mount Hunter, two up Foraker and one up Denali.
During a 2002 climb of Foraker, when he reached the 8,540-foot level on the difficult southeast ridge route, Kuriaki ultimately packed out all the trash and human waste he produced over 56 days. It’s a feat that may be as remarkable in its own way as any of his solo climbs.
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