Armchair Adventurer: Alaska Range

Alaska Range: Exploring the Last Great Wild

By Chris Van Leuven

Award-winning photographer (and adventurer) Carl Battreall gave new meaning to the phrase “labor of love” when he spent 10 years capturing images of one of Alaska’s tallest and most inaccessible mountain ranges for his latest book Alaska Range: Exploring the Last Great Wild. “There are only three roads that access 80 miles of the range,” Battreall told Adventure Sports Journal. “Ninety-five percent of visitors go to the 90-mile road in Denali National Park, but that’s just a little chunk of the range.”

Printed on recycled glossy paper, Alaska Range is a collection of images and essays inspired by Battreall’s adventures across glaciers, tundra, rivers, and mountains in the 650-mile Alaska Range. His shot of The Citadel in the Neacola Mountains, located in the southwest corner of the Alaska Range, inspired top British alpinists Matt Helliker and Jon Bracey to attempt the peak’s unclimbed 1,200-meter ridge. A film was made of their attempt called “Citadel.”

Published by Mountaineers Books. 172 pages; $30. Available on PhotographAlaska.com and Amazon.com.