Denali Expedition 22nd June 2009

Clients: Scott McNaughton, Neil Hunter Geordie Stewart, Jaysen Arumugum

Hello from Heidi, lead guide!!With a very fun, and very strong crew of climbers on the team, we got lucky with some excellent weather up there, as well as a team that stayed healthy though out the entire climb. As I like to say, it is sometimes better to be lucky than good. What a great climb!!! Thanks to everyone on the team, Jaysen (aka Veggie!), Geordie, Neil, Scott; for all of their hard work on the climb, their willingness to work as a team, and for really sticking together, especially when it came to the late night celebrations of the last two nights in Anchorage!!! Thanks to Geordie for his maturity in this case in particular, and at all other times as well. To Neil for keeping Geordie straight, and to Scott for keeping him honest and finally to Veggie for eating the chicken and bacon, even after I forgot to keep it out of dinner, all with a smile on his face. May we all meet again climbing somewhere, sometime!!! All the Best, Heidi

9th July – The team spent the night at Camp 3 and are now on their way down to Camp 1, where they will sleep this evening. They need to get an early start tomorrow in order to make it back to Base Camp before the sun softens the runway and makes it too soft for the planes. They should be in Talkeetna for breakfast tomorrow! Heidi just called to say that the whole team made it to the summit of Denali!! Everyone did great and they are spending some time on top taking in the amazing view and snapping quite a few photos. It is an absolutely beautiful day with virtually no wind and warm temperatures. The route up from High Camp ascends a long, rising traverse known as the Autobahn (named for some Germans who took the “express route” down years ago…). The team travelled roped and clipped their climbing ropes into a series of snow pickets that are driven deeply into the snow to act as anchors. The Autobahn leads to a saddle between the North and South Summits, known as Denali Pass.Above Denali Pass the trail climbs up some rolling terrain and finally drops a bit onto the broad plateau i mentioned in the previous post, the Football Field. Moderately steep snow climbs slowly up to a spectacular, knife-edged ridge which runs out to the summit. The summit ridge is spectacular, airy, climbing with BIG drop offs to either side. As you climb up toward the top, the entire South Face drops off almost 9,500′ to your left!There is a nice relatively flat spot to regroup and drop ropes before making the final few steps up to the highest point in North America.Congratulations to everyone!!! Tomorrow they will pack up and head back to at least Camp 3.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009: Heading up to the summit! We just received a call from another group that was standing on the summit and the June 23rd team is beginning the final climb up from the large plateau called the Football Field at 19,500′. They should be on top in about an hour and a half!The report we received was that today is the nicest summit that our other guide has seen in over 20 Denali expeditions! He was wearing a baseball cap and a light jacket. Hopefully, I will get a call shortly from the team as they stand on the highest point in North America. I’ll keep you posted…

Monday, July 6, 2009: Sitting tight at High Camp. The crew woke up early and fired up the stoves, because the weather looked favorable at about 7 a.m. Alaska Time this morning. Not long after, a thick cloud cap settled over the upper mountain and they lost visibility. The weather did not improve sufficiently to warrant a summit attempt, so they sat tight for the day.Tomorrow’s weather forecast looks a bit better, so let’s all keep our fingers crossed that they get a shot at the tom in the morning. If I hear that they are heading up, I’ll start posting and keep you all updated.

Sunday, July 5, 2009: Resting and acclimatizing at High Camp. Bill Allen just called in from a Mountain Trip team that is now parallel the June 23rd crew. He said that they are taking a rest day at High Camp today. The weather is decent, but a bit too windy higher up to warrant making a summit bid the day after moving up to High Camp. Taking today off should really benefit the crew when they head for the top, as it will also bolster their acclimatization.Last night some huge thunderheads moved through the range and passed by their camp. Apparently everyone was feeling the electrical charge and many had hair standing on end- literally. This almost never happens on Denali, so it was a pretty wild experience for all involved. During the night a wind squall passed through, but the winds died off by morning.The TAT webcam has not been much help of late because of a thick layer of smoke from some nearby fires. Bill said they could smell the smoke for a while yesterday, but that a shift in wind from the north has blown it off the mountain for the time being.They were able to move into existing camps yesterday, which helped out a lot. they made some improvements to the existing walls, and cleaned up the tent platforms, but all in all, it was a freal treat to not to have to build their own walls.Tomorrow they will wake up early and prepare for a summit push. If the weather permits, they should be heading out shortly after 8 am Alaska time. I’ll keep you posted!

Jul 4th At High Camp! The team moved up to High Camp yesterday. They packed up their kit and climbed up to the steep headwall, clipped in to the fixed lines an d made their way slowly up to the top of the ridge that makes up this part of the West Buttress. As they passed by the cache of supplies that they left Thursday, they picked up some of their kit and proceeded up the ridge.The ridge to High Camp provides some of the most fun and exciting climbing on the route. The climbers weaved in and out of rocky sections, and clipped snow pickets and slung rocks for protection against slips when they climbed through some of the more exposed bits. Another short bit of fixed rope protects some tricky climbing around a large rock feature called Washburn’s Thumb. Upon reaching high Camp, the team needed to get to work fortifying a camp site. High Camp can be buffeted but extremely high winds, so the tents need to be protected by thick walls built from blocks of snow. They cut the blocks out or firm snow with snow saws and stack them atop each other until they feel satisfied that they have adequate protection. Moving to High Camp is difficult enough, but adding the workload of building walls makes for one of the hardest days on the climb.The report I received was that they might make a summit bid today, if the weather looks favorable. smoke and haze are obscuring the view from the TAT webcam, so it is hard to say whether they are going for it today or not. the weather forecast looks OK, but not perfect, however; the weather forecast is often quite wrong.I’ll update today as often as I receive information.

Friday, July 3, 2009: Up the fixed lines.  The team carried loads of food and supplies up the steepest section of the route yesterday (Thursday), in preparation for their move to High Camp tomorrow or the next day. They had beautiful weather and made good time.The “Headwall” is a 600′ (260m) snow and ice face that reaches 40 degrees in steepness. The climbers clip themselves into fixed lines with mechanical ascenders to protect themselves in the event of a slip. It is fun and exciting climbing that leads to a spectacular ridge, which they will follow when they move to High Camp.

Thursday, July 2, 2009. At Camp 3 : The team moved up and around Windy Corner yesterday. They are tucked into camp at 14,200′ in on a large glacial shelf known as Genet Basin. The basin is ringed by huge snow faces and iconic routes and features such as the Messener Couloir, the Orient Express, the Upper West Rib and the Rescue Gully. The team has a great view of the next section of the route, which ascends moderate snow slopes to gain a steep ice face, known as the Headwall. 600′ of fixed lines run up this stretch, and the climbers will clip into these lines with ascenders to protect themselves in the event of a slip.Today is another “active rest day.” The crew will sleep late, eat a huge breakfast and then run down hill for about 20 minutes to pick up the cache of food and gear that they left at about 13,500′ yesterday. It will take just over an hour to climb back up to camp, so all in all, it will be a pretty mellow day.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Windy Corner hads been pretty calm for the past few days, and let’s hope that it stays that way for a couple more, but this footage, shot in 2007, might give an idea of what it can be like in challenging conditions.

27th June – The team climbed up from 7,800′ (2380 m) and off the Kahiltna Glacier into a stunningly beautiful basin and the site of our Camp 2. Located at 11,200′ (3413 m), this camp is ringed by huge ice cliffs and seracs to the south and southeast, a moderately steep snow slope called Motorcycle Hill to the east, rock and ice slopes to the north and the view opens up as you gaze off to the west. The views in the evening are sublime, as the sun passes low across the northern horizon and paints the peaks to the west and southwest in orange and pink hues of alpenglow. They found good traveling weather yesterday. It was actually quite chilly for this time of year, which froze the trail up nice and hard, making for relatively easy travel. Today the team will descend down to the cache of food, fuel and supplies that they left at 10,000′ the day before yesterday. It only takes about 20 minutes to descend to the cache site, and another hour or so to climb back to camp, so today is effectively an active rest day. Tomorrow they will climb up Motorcycle Hill and continue up and around Windy Corner to make a cache just below Camp 3, at 13,500′ (4115 m).

26th June – The team woke in the very early hours of the morning, packed up their tents, loaded all their kit, supplies and gear into their packs and onto their sleds and headed out of Base Camp. The glacier drops for about 600 feet as the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna merges with the main body of the Kahiltna Glacier. The “confluence” of the two is one of the most troublesome stretches for crevasses, but the crew found easy and straightforward travel this morning. The nighttime temps dropped low enough that everything froze hard, and a foot of recent snow helped make for a great day of glacier travel. They are safely camped at a sppot located at 7,800′ (2380 m) on the Kahiltna Glacier, just across from the confluence with the Northeast Fork of the Kahiltna. The view up the NE Fork looks up at the west side of the South Face of Denali, and the climbers could see most of the mountain as they rested in camp throughout the day. The very summit was obscured by clouds, but the view was impressive, by all accounts.

25th June – I just received a call from Bill Allen, who is also trying to fly in to base camp, and he says the weather in Talkeetna is beautiful and that the team is about to fly into the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier. The crew drove up to Talkeetna yesterday and checked in with the National Park Service. They hoped to fly to the glacier, but the weather had other plans. They had an enjoyable evening in Talkeetna, and Heidi called to say that everyone was in great spirits, and not frustrated in the least by the delay. Noone really wants their pilots to push the weather envelope, no do they? Today they will arrive at basecamp, located at 7,200 feet (2500 m) and set up a basic camp, so they can get some sleep this evening. Much of today will be busy rigging sleds for travel up the glacier and with reviewing crevasse rescue techniques. The lower Kahiltna is quite broken with crevasses these days, so the team will travel during the wee hours of the morning, just before sunrise, when the glacier is (hopefully) most frozen. Tomorrow should have them established in camp at Camp 1, located at 7,800 ft (2830 m).

23rd June – In the far north lies one of the most magnificent ranges of mountains in the world. The Alaska Range stretches 400 miles across southcentral Alaska. It is a wild place, covered in glaciers and punctuated by rugged peaks. The crown of the range is Denali, at 20,320 feet (6194 m), the highest peak in North America. Located so close to the Arctic circle, Denali can present some of the most challenging and rugged conditions of any mountain on earth. Each year a relatively few climbers from around the world migrate to test themselves on the slopes of Denali. Mountain Trip has been assisting these climbers achieve their Denali dreams since 1976. We love what we do and are happy to help provide you a taste of what these climbers are experiencing by updating their progress in this blog. Following the expedition, we will post numerous photos from the expedition, so please keep checking in.

On June 23, 2009, a team of climbers will arrive in Anchorage. They will be accompanied by three Mountain Trip guides:

21st June The team will fly out to Anchorage tomorrow.We encourage you to follow the team’s progress. There is an option at right to “follow” this blog, which is a convenient way to keep up with the team. Please post comments for the climbers, but realize that we cannot always get those messages to your climber in a timely fashion, due to the challenges of communicating from the Alaska Range.

Please keep in mind that communication from the big mountains can be challenging and occasionally intermittent. We will post updates as often as possible, but please keep in mind the old adage, “NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS!” when it comes to communications from the Range.