Alaska

August 21, 2026September 2, 2026

Enormocast 328: Matt Cornell – The Right Reasons

On Episode 328 of the Enormocast, we sit down with alpinist and Michigander, Matt Cornell. That’s right, one of the world’s best alpinists grew up in the mountain-less upper Midwest dreaming of vertical playgrounds beyond his home State’s borders. Despite the pressures of modern suburban expectations, Matt moved into his hatchback and become a climbing bum post high school. But it was a suggestion of a mentor that convinced Matt to move to Bozeman and become an ice climber. After a season or two of bumbling his way into the hard-nose and hard-knock scene in Hyalite Canyon, Matt’s fuse was lit and the greater ranges beckoned. An epic or two later, Matt’s burgeoning skills finally started to knab him first ascents and coalesced a crew of like minded climbers around Cornell. Epically, but not finally, Cornell, Jackson Marvell, and Alan Rousseau did what some would say is the finest alpine style ascent of all time on the North Face of Jannu in 2023.

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November 27, 2025December 19, 2025

Enormocast 316: Chantel Astorga – What Would Voytek Do?

Art: Chantel Astorga, Lower right photo: Michael Kennedy

On Episode 316 of the Enormocast I sit down with alpinist Chantel Astorga. Though Chantel didn’t grow up in a climbing family, it was her dad who lit the fire for climbing by giving a tween Chantel a book on the Alaska Range. Then an encounter with the writings of the enigmatic Polish climber Voytek Kurtyka in a Salt Lake City library sealed her fate. Voytek’s evangelism for the “night-naked” style of fast and light alpinism became Chantel’s lodestone as she pursued her mountain skills first through skiing, then ice climbing, then forays to the Alaska Range. In 2021, it all came together when she soloed the Cassin Ridge on Denali and found her own “contact with the mystical” (Kurtyka). Since then, she’s become a sought after partner for ascents around the globe. Though Astorga recently joined the North Face Team, she spent most of her climbing career funding her own way through her work as an avalanche forecaster. Pretty damn old school.

The Art of Suffering by Voytek Kurtyka

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April 8, 2024September 16, 2024

Enormocast 283: Clint Helander – To Live in Hearts We Leave Behind

Left foreground subject: Jess Roskelly. Photos: Clint Helander, Charlie Renfro, Andres Marin

On Episode 283 of the Enormocast, I sit down in a hotel in Munising, Michigan at the Michigan Icefest with Alaska-based alpinist, Clint Helander. What with the Chris Kalous Dance Party and the last call nightcap(s) at a bar literally called Whisky Dick’s, it had been a long night and an early morning for both of us. The vibe is set and Clint opens with a remembrance of his lost buddy, Jess Roskelley, then tales from life as an Anchorage-based climber. From a fifteen years of climbing in the Revelation Mountains, to all parts of the Alaska Range, Clint has become one of the most experienced Alaska climbers in the biz. An ascent in 2022 of Golgotha with Andres Marin crowned, for now, a two decade career in the alpine. For mostly better, and sometimes worse, Clint Helander has seen it all in the Alaska arena.