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| | Denali (Mt McKinley) West Buttress, AK | | | |
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Denali (Mt McKinley) West Buttress, AK
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| Hike & Climb | 52.00 Miles |
21,000 AEG |
| | Hike & Climb | 52.00 Miles | 16 Days | | |
| 21,000 ft AEG | | 110 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | The following is a collection of journal excerpts and memories from my recent climb of Denali (sometimes known as Mt McKinley) in Alaska, along its West Buttress route, from May 22nd to June 7th, 2013. One thing that must be said: it's a complete misnomer that living in Arizona leaves you at a disadvantage for a trip like this. I don't need to tell anyone here about this state's varied beauty and environmental extremes, but just know that those things can give you an advantage that others on Denali will not have.
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Afternoon sunlight bleached the surrounding peaks. Down low, a blanket of clouds covered the Alaskan Plain, but up here, all was clear. A light wind brushed my face as I waited for Kyle - the lead man on my rope - to have his moment of celebration above. Shawn, Ryan, and Caroline cheered off to the left as Kyle made it. That's when it hit me that we were going to do this. Involuntarily, tears formed as I tried to breathe in the air at 20,300'. A couple minutes later, the rope was set and it was my turn. Shaking some ice from my face, it was time to move...thee steps, two steps...top of North America. Much work remained, but it was a moment I'll never forget.
Day 1 - Anchorage to Denali Base Camp (7200'). Our unguided team consists of 7. Myself, plus 5 climbers from the Denver, CO area (Kelly Greaser, Shawn Keil, Kyle Knutson, Ryan Kushner, Caroline Moore), and JD Schlandt from TN. Seven climbers and their gear for a Denali climb overwhelm most vehicle storage capacities! After a brief mix-up with Go Purple Shuttles in Anchorage that involved two unfortunate climbers from CA having to wait for another van, we pass through Wasilla for groceries and drive to Talkeetna. The landscape is still in late winter/early spring. Snow on the ground, no leaves on the trees, grey clouds. We meet with the rangers in Talkeetna for our orientation. The team is quite and contemplative...I think we realize what we're getting into now. On the way out of the office, JD steps wrong off the sidewalk and sprains his ankle - such a disappointing blow to our team! We go to the clinic and he gets crutches, though we all agree to at least fly to the glacier together and see how he feels tomorrow. The flight in is incredible, and we land on the Kahiltna, unloading gear. This is real now.
Day 2 - Denali base camp (7200') to Camp 1 (7800'). We stay in camp today, rigging sleds and getting ready for a night departure. Though it's still pretty early in the season to worry about crevasse danger, why take the risk? Rigging to go is a full-time job. 110 lbs of gear have to get split between a backpack and a sled somehow. JD decides not to try the mountain with his injury and elects to go home on the next flight. I'm bitterly disappointed, and it casts a pall over the whole team. We depart camp around 8 pm, all straining under the weight. Down 600' to the base of Heartbreak Hill, and then onto the Kahiltna itself. A steady pace sees us into Camp 1 at 1 a.m....still light out. We pass a large group of tents with a Mexican flag in the center. We move in snowshoes and trekking poles today since the grade is so shallow, and will keep this system until 11,200'.
Day 3 - Camp 1 (7800') to Camp 2 (9500'). Awake to clear skies and a hot day! Shawn pulls out the phone and plays "Damn it feels good to be a gangsta" (you know the tune from Office Space, trust me). That turns into a morning tradition for us for the whole trip. Keeps you loose, you know. Denali looms 13,000' over camp - incredible! Staying out of the sun is key today, in between the never-ending camp chores of melting snow for water, forcing down calories, drying and adjusting gear. We leave camp late again and make our way steadily up Ski Hill to 9500' camp. When the sun sets, it gets quite cold, and we rush to put up camp and get warm. That's just reality on Denali: when the sun's out, it's incredibly hot. Otherwise, it's brutally cold. No middle ground.
Day 4 - Camp 2 (9500') to Camp 3 (11,200'). Morning is sunny and warm again, but now we shift to a day movement schedule since we're getting higher. A team of three (2 from Sweden, Karl and Frederic, and 1 from Quebec, Jan) are in camp with us. We'd spend much of the rest of the trip with these fine gentlemen. The international community of aspect of Denali is truly unique and incredible. Many are after the Seven Summits, it's true, but not all. I feel stronger today than at any point so far. The sled and the 100+ lbs no longer feels horrible and Camp 3 appears soon after you leave the main Kahiltna.
Day 5 - Cache day - Camp 3 (11,200') to 13,500'. Today, we shed the full loads, and carried 50lbs of gear in backpacks up moderately steep Motorcycle Hill. We change into crampons today. A couple spicy crevasses along the way. Step gently and pay attention. The weather is still warm, sunny, and windless (this is Denali, right?!). Squirrel Hill passes quickly, as we avoid some blue ice. Windy Corner does not live up to its name today, and we traverse across the treacherous sidehill to the cache site at 13,500'. Someone had left a nice open cache hole for us - nice! We bury the food, fuel, and some gear for the upper mountain and head down. Kyle, Ryan, and Kelly are faster on descents, so we adjust ropes and I move onto the back of Shawn and Caroline's rope. Nice to have the old crew back together again. We enjoy the descent to Camp 3, and take many pictures. What an amazing place.
Day 6 - Camp 3 (11,200') to Camp 4 (14,200'). This day hurt. No sugar-coating that. Pulling the sleds - even at half weight - up Motorcycle and Squirrel Hill is hard work. Kelly's crampon pops apart on a traverse around Squirrel Hill. Tense moments there. All better, we move to Windy Corner where the wind has made an appearance. It gets very cold until we get around the Corner. The treacherous sidehill goes ok, as we all help each other get across the narrow traverse. From there, we enter the basin where 14 camp is. We get in fairly late, and have to build a campsite. Hard work! When the sun goes behind the mountain, the temperature plummets. Into the tents we dive.
Days 7 & 8 - Rest day at 14,200' and carry to 16,700'. The rest day felt good for everyone. We walk to the Edge of the World, but otherwise, we recover. Snow showers in the afternoon as we practice ascending fixed lines and passing running belays. On cache day, Kyle and I shattered our previous altitude record of 14,500' early on. We feel strong all day, though, and the sun warms the Headwall. Long line of people on the fixed lines, which are 45-50 degrees with a couple big crevasses down low. Whiteout rolls in on the fixed lines, but not too cold. Once on the ridge, there are many steep and exposed stretches, with fixed protection. A climbing team ahead has taken the carabiners out of the anchors, though, so we pool our resources and get our two rope teams to Washburn's Thumb. Two Polish teams and a French team try to pass us while they're descending - bad form and dangerous. Tense moments. The West Buttress ridge is spectacular, but very exposed. By now, it's 4:15 and we think about descending and caching here. Ryan and Kyle, always eager, want to push all the way to High Camp at 17,200', so the rest of us descend, having water ready for them by the time they arrive after sunset.
Day 9 & 10 - Rest day at 14,200' and move to High Camp (17,200'). Things get interesting now. A planned rest day on Day 9 is put in jeopardy by a changing weather forecast. Low pressure system moving in by the end of Day 10, which may linger for a week. Kyle and Ryan advocate packing up camp and moving to High Camp, attempting to beat the storm to the top. I don't like the idea of racing storms on Denali, and we have 12 more days of provisions - I'd prefer to be patient and wait for another window without rushing. Kelly, Caroline, and Shawn agree, but Kyle and Ryan (the two strongest in our group who can move faster) decide to try. On Day 9, they move to 17,200', hoping to summit on Dayy 10. We talk to climbing rangers in 14k camp after they leave, and a guide from RMI, who suggest moving up to 17,200' tomorrow and waiting out this storm, which isn't predicted to be strong by Denali standards. Lows around -10 and winds up to 35-40 mph with a little precip, at least at the 17,200' level.
On Day 10, we move along with our Swedish/Canadian friends and the RMI group. That's all, though, as everyone else stays put in 14,200' camp. Conditions are ok (whiteout on fixed lines again), and hauling a 50 lb pack on this terrain at this altitude is tough work. Snow showers strengthen considerably as we near camp. Karl, Frederick, and Jan have moved ahead and arrive at camp first. They pitch their tent behind a fortified wall, offering room for us four, too. We gratefully agree, and while two of us set up the 4-man tent, the rest of the team helps them build a fortified wall around all sides of camp. It looks like a fortress, maybe 4' tall. With the winds and snow predicted, this will give us some protection. Kyle and Ryan, meanwhile, are caught in the storm just shy of the summit above, and have to retreat in some "interesting" conditions. We - and the NPS rangers - are happy and relieved to see them come back to camp late that night.
Day 11 - Weather day at 17,200' camp. Snow falls and the winds whip at camp. Tents without fortified walls have snow drifts inside the vestibules. Nobody going to the summit today. Kyle and Ryan are wiped out from their summit bid. We get word that weather may improve tomorrow (and especially Wednesday), so we try and rest and recover at 17,200' camp, which is a chore. The body just doesn't work too well that high. Sleep comes fitfully, and you have to force food down. Nighttime lows are -10 to -5.
Day 12 - Summit attempt. The RMI group of 12 moves out in the morning, waiting for a little sunlight on the infamous Autobahn. We discuss as a team, but the four of us decide to try for the top while Kyle and Ryan recover. Karl, Frederic, and Jan decide to go, too. Conditions on the Autobahn are ok, but it's definitely a 'heads-up' zone. Protection is plentiful, but clipping takes time. It's time well-spent. At Denali Pass (18,300'), the winds are very strong and the summit above is no better We decide to turn back. Hard to do that within 2000' of the top, but with a better weather day coming tomorrow and the potential to get the whole team of 6 to the top on the same day, we retreat. When a 26-time Denali veteran guide turns back, too, it's probably a good idea to follow suit. Their group has problems coming down the Autobahn, and we are stuck waiting for nearly an hour. Near the bottom, one of the clients took a small fall, but the rope was clipped in. Back in camp, it looks like 4 of the clients were told that their trip was over. Kyle and Ryan are happy to see us come back and the team is reunited.
Day 13 - Summit day High Camp (17,200') to Denali summit (20,320'). Though the NPS forecast wasn't good, every single person in 17k camp tries for the summit today, save for the few RMI clients who stayed in camp. Even the NPS rangers (and one sherpa!) decide to go. Good signs. Progress much faster up the Autobahn today - we are at Denali Pass in 2 hours. Brief break there, and we move past Zebra Rocks. At 18,500', I feel the altitude's effect at last, but the steady pace keeps on. We break at the Polo Fields around 19,300'. Temps are just below 0, but winds aren't bad, and the sun is out. We can see the upper mountain. Forcing food and water down, we put on a few more layers and move across the flat Football Field at 19,500'. Are we going to do this? Pig Hill appears, and is a brutal obstacle this high. We see the RMI and NPS groups just in front of us now. At last, we hit the summit ridge, and have to wait for the RMI group to descent. It's steep and exposed with fixed protection. We get our turn, and within 30 minutes, make the final steps to the summit of North America at just after 6 pm local time. Plenty of photos, of course, and a few minutes for brief phone calls home on the satellite phone. Our Swedish and Canadian friends arrive next, and round out the perfect record of climbers from 17k to the top that day! At the Football Field, we switch up ropes again for the descent, and I move into the back of Shawn and Caroline's rope. Descent goes great, and we're back shortly before 11 pm (sun is still up!)
Days 14 & 15 - Descent to Denali Base Camp (17,200' to 7,200'). This was actually one solid 39 hour push home. One of my hardest days ever in the mountains. High pressure settling back in, so many, many groups moving from 14k to 17k today. We had to pull off a wait a couple times. Descending the fixed lines got harder, as the crevasses had opened up, requiring some quasi-rappelling. Tough with a full pack on! By mid afternoon, we were back at 14k camp, where we retrieved our cache of supplies. At this point, it was night travel only on the lower glacier, according to an NPS ranger. Apparently, some other groups had punched through some snow bridges and gone into crevasses. We talked it over and decided to try and get out tonight. Stuffing down as many calories as we could, we packed up and starting moving just after sunset. Progress was slow and frustrating. People's sleds (especially mine) kept tipping and controlling them on the descent was hard work. With enough work and cursing, we got down Motorcycle Hill to the gentle grades of the lower glacier. Then it was just a Death March - no other way to describe it. The sun set around midnight, and it started rising again 1.5 hours later. Early in the morning on the lower glacier, though, the snow bridges were firm and we had no problems. Heartbreak Hill was just a killer, but we were at last back at the airstrip around 10:30 a.m. Within 45 minutes, a plane from Talkeetna Air Taxi arrived, our gear was loaded, and we were off. The Alaskan countryside had changed considerably. Now, leaves were out, flowers bloomed, and the air was warm. It felt like heaven stepping off that plane! We ate and drank at length in Talkeetna all day and night, meeting some incredible climbers in town. |
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