(intense music)
- [Caroline] Hi, you've reached Caroline Gleich.
I can't take your call right now,
but please leave a message and I will return it
as soon as I can.
Thank you.
- [Man] Hey Caroline...
- [Caroline] To harass me on social media,
they've created like 20 different accounts
over the past four years.
It just gets under your skin,
and then you think about it in weird ways sometimes.
Having a checklist and a goal
and having these like, clear guidelines,
helps to overcome that self doubt.
(upbeat music)
I always thought ski mountaineering was the coolest
thing in the world.
And it's like, Andrew McClean, is the man.
He says, "Look, you'd have to be crazy
"to want to ski all the lines."
So I was like,
"I guess I'm that kind of crazy."
My goal is to ski all the lines in the Chuting Gallery.
- You know, when I first started skiing in the
Wasatch Mountains, I just kind of took them for granted.
Seemed like it was nice snow,
and easy access.
You'd ski a great line, and think,
"Ah, that's the best line I've ever skied."
And you'd look across the valley,
and go, oh, there's one, there's one, there's one,
there's another one.
And that's how the book began.
I think it's neat that it's starting to attract people
who are interested in doing the whole set.
Because you have to do a wide variety of skills.
Backcountry skiing is the big picture
where you're kind of outside the resorts.
Where ski mountaineering involves
kind of climbing up something,
looking for steeper turns.
You're not just kind of touring.
- You can't really be a good mountaineer
if you're not a competent rock climber, really.
You need to be really good with avalanche education,
period, because otherwise you will not survive.
I think ski mountaineering is when you take
an expert skiier, and put them in a situation where
if they screw up, or if they get unlucky,
they die.
- There are certain lines in this project
that are so scary,
so I have to tell myself, you've got this.
Take a deep breath.
You can do it.
It's gonna be okay.
- [Andrew] The Lightning Bolt Chute.
The Lightning Bolt is one of the steeper lines.
And hopefully avoided altogether.
(heavy breathing)
(loud wind)
(heavy breathing)
(loud wind)
(heavy breathing)
- [Brody] She comes up all the time
when you're skiing with other people around here.
People that don't know Caroline,
have a very distinct opinion and impression of her.
- [Caroline] You're a gumbie that doesn't
belong in the mountains.
- [Man] Maybe you can teach me a little bit
how to be a silver spoon spoiled bitch.
- [Brody] She's on billboards when you drive
around the city.
She's in trail maps when you open them up
at the ski resort.
She's everywhere.
Caroline is completely the poster girl of Utah skiing.
(heavy breathing)
- [Caroline] I remember seeing these pictures
of these mountains.
And there was something from a young age,
that I was like, I want to do that.
But the closest thing to alpinism that I could do
in Rochester, Minnesota,
was carry that tuba to the march
in the marching band.
(loud drums beat)
All I wanted was to have this mountain existence
that I would experience with my dad
and my half brother, Martin.
- [Man] Whoa, so rugged.
You can see why they call them Rockies.
That's Martin.
Hello, Martin!
- [Caroline] Martin definitely, like, included me
in a way that no one else had really invited me before.
- [Man] Okay, she's gone!
- [Caroline] For him to take the time
to be patient with us.
For him to teach me how to climb.
That had a huge effect on my life.
Those are like my happiest childhood memories.
- The first thing we do on the trips,
is that we drive like crazy people.
(kids yelling) For example, we leave Minnesota,
and then drive all night to end up often at Utah.
Okay, Alta on a powder day.
There was a competition for animal status.
Who's the animal?
These boys had a somewhat advantage.
And they would occasionally succeed.
Okay, go!
But the only one who really became the animal
was Caroline.
She'd throw herself down the hill
with reckless abandon.
So that after all is said and done,
the boys they're good,
but she's the animal.
- [Caroline] When I first picked up the Chuting Gallery,
I remember reading the page about Stairs Gulch.
And it just like had my stomach in knots.
Because that was where my half brother was killed.
There was a huge glide avalanche
that came down and buried them.
He was 37 when he died and I was 15.
For the first couple of years,
any time I went in the back country,
I would just have this vision of my half brothers hands
at his funeral.
They were just crushed, like black and blue.
- [Gerald] He was doing the thing he enjoyed doing.
All was not lost.
There was a good thing here.
Even though we're commemorating someone's dying.
We miss Martin.
It's very hard.
I'm sorry.
(slow music)
- [Caroline] We came out to Utah
after Martin's death.
In some ways it got better when I moved here,
but my parents really pushed me to focus on academics.
But in my heart,
all I really wanted to do was ski.
When I was 18, I was on one of my first
ski photo shoots,
with this really well known photographer,
and pro athlete that I really looked up to.
And I was like, I wanna ski all the peaks in the Wasatch.
And I remember they just both kind of looked over at me,
and laughed, but I thought in my head,
I don't think it would be that hard.
First, I needed to learn how to climb ice.
Then to lead trad.
Then I needed to get my fitness
to the point where I could climb and ski,
six, seven thousand vertical feet in a day.
It's kind of fun.
Kind of scary.
(upbeat music)
[Caroline] This is going to suck.
[Brody] This is going to suck.
Be careful.
- I will.
Oh, father.
Rock!
Rock!
Mommy!
Rock!
[Brody] You did a great job.
- [Caroline] So did you.
That was so awesome!
Even if they say I don't belong,
I'm just gonna keep doing my thing.
I don't need their acceptance or approval.
(upbeat music)
Pretty much every line in the Chuting Gallery,
has some pretty messed up adventure skiing to get out.
So today, we have this long road.
Then it's gonna get real dicey on this frozen trail.
You'll see.
Real character building. (laughs)
- Yeah!
(upbeat music)
- [Caroline] I knew at some point I would
have to go up there.
And every time I would drive by on the way
up to Big Cottonwood,
I would just feel sick.
I didn't want to see it.
I just didn't want to deal with it.
Time has a way of healing those wounds.
I mean, it was 15 years that passed.
I don't think I could've done it any sooner.
And just being out there on that ridge,
it allowed me to just see what he saw and experience that.
It took this tragic, horrible thing and turned it
into something really positive.
(heavy breathing)
(slow music)
Why?
For me, it's about the shared experience
with the partners.
(laughs)
When I met Liz, I was instantly connected to her.
Instead of the experience where
the people would kind of laugh at me or mock me,
she never questioned that I would be capable
to do these things together.
And she always wanted to plan these cool trips.
And so, the pull for me, was to hone my skills
so that I could be a competent partner for her.
And then Liz was killed in an avalanche in Argentina.
To feel that closeness, and then have it
ripped away from you.
It was really tragic.
That's part of the reason that like,
my half brother Martin had such a huge effect on my life.
And how Liz had such a huge effect on my life.
It's cause I'm kind of stubborn
and like, closed off in real life.
I put my walls up to the world.
And it's only like through the backpacking
or through the snow camping
or through the mountaineering
that I can begin to let down those walls.
This project.
It's a way of making good on the encouragement
that they gave me.
It's also about keeping them alive.
In my mind.
Her death made me really afraid and wary
of how and when I take risks in the mountains.
I think it's really dangerous
to have a goal sheet like this.
You have to be really aware
of how that influences decision making.
It looks scary.
This snow looks pretty good though.
I would rather never finish the project
than risk death.
I just want to be so sure of my skills
because I feel I have to do like extra
to prove to myself and to other people
that I'm capable.
But, you have to just let go
of what other people think you're capable of
and decide what you're capable of yourself.
(heavy breathing)
(upbeat music)
It's always really hard to get out of bed
in the morning, for sunrise.
And since this is like my fourth sunrise of the week,
I'm really tired.
But then, this kind of moment,
when the sun first hits your face.
Makes it all worth it.
And, you know, there's something to be said
for doing those things in life,
that you really want to do.
It's not like my dad or my coach
or someone telling me,
"Get out of bed in the morning!"
Ultimately, I do this stuff every morning.
Because it's what I want to do
from the bottom of my heart.
So there's a real gratifying feeling in that.
You don't really think about it
when you think about good skiing.
It's like a weird mixture
of like skiing and alpine climbing.
- That's fun after the fact.
It's not actually fun while you're doing it.
(laughs)
There's a lot of that in the Chuting Gallery.
- [Caroline] It's not really about the skiing.
Cool.
It's just straight up the pucker factor.
If you ski at Alta,
you've looked at it a hundred times.
The first part that you see that looks the worst,
isn't the worst part.
And the consequences of a fall,
even with a rope, are terrifying.
It's all good here.
Unless you look down.
And then it's really scary.
It's really easy to romanticize ski alpinism.
But then, when you're up there,
it's like the doubts and the worries,
they don't go away.
They're your constant companions.
And their little voice comes up in your head.
- [Man] You're a gumby that doesn't belong
in the mountains.
- [Caroline] You're going to die.
- [Man] You shouldn't be here in the first place.
You're going to end up like Liz.
- [Caroline] I have to really focus on trying to talk
nicely to myself
and overcome my self doubt and insecurities.
You've got this girl.
You've got this.
- [Man] You shouldn't be here in the first place.
- [Caroline] We can do this.
- [Man] You're going to end up like Liz.
- [Caroline] It's gonna be fine.
Totally fun.
This is fun.
We're having fun.
Life is great.
Life is awesome. (breathes)
There is a certain joy of like,
having the deep seated fear,
and being able to look it in the face.
It pulls this thing out of you
that you never knew you had,
but it's not a good state to live in all the time.
Hey Rob, this part's pretty cruiser now.
Ready?
(upbeat music)
The part that is so addictive
is like the intense experiences that you share
with other people.
Because it's not just any person who wants to do this
kind of stuff.
The people that are in this sport,
they're some of the most magnetic personalities.
And when you're working towards a shared goal
in the mountains,
it connects you like no other experience
on this planet.
And that's the part that I just want to do
over and over.
I would highly encourage people
to set a really ambitious goal.
That they know they may not be able to achieve.
Where people will tell you that it's impossible.
And then, having the courage,
and the patience and perseverance
to see it through.
(slow music)
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