The Firn Line

I first heard about Steve House in 1995 - when I was living at my family's cabin on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula. I was 20 years old, working as a park rangers assistant. Besides work, there wasn’t much to do that summer, but chop wood, go for mind-numbing afternoon runs, and fish murky waters for salmon. Unfortunately for me, the mountains were hours away. But one thing I looked forward to was my monthly subscription to Climbing Magazine. I cherished each magazine like a prized possession, and poured over each story again and again, dreaming of the far off ranges that captured my imagination.It was during this time that I read about Steve House’s climb of Denali’s Father and Sons Wall - completed in a light and fast alpine style that was coming more and more into vogue in the U.S. Soon after, I started hearing more about Steve’s adventures in Alaska and beyond - and as the years passed, I watched him transform into one of the most accomplished, and visionary alpinists of our time.Steve’s life and alpine climbing