May 30 Denali Expedition 2013

June 17th

The team made a rapid descent from high camp, in order to catch one of the first flights off the glacier this morning. They asked to just keep going, rather than break the descent up into a couple of days, as we generally do these days.

The hike down from 11,200′ was surreal and majestic, as the low light of Alaskan nighttime reflected off snow crystals on the glacier and lit up the surrounding peaks in hues of orange and then pink. The team dropped out of high camp and stopped briefly at 14,200′ to collect the items that they had cached there prior to their ascent. They loaded up and continued down, stopping again at 11,200′ for some food, before continuing on down the glacier.

Arriving at Base Camp around 6 am this morning, they had just thrown bags down on sleeping pads for some rest when lead guide Jacob Schmitz came rushing up, telling everyone to pack up, grab the ropes and head up to the upper airstrip, about a mile up the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna. Wearily, the team rallied and as they crested the final hill to the upper airstrip, the first ski planes came sliding in, with just enough room for our team!

With the extremely warm temperatures of recent days, the pilots decided to use a landing strip that is some 500′ higher in elevation than the one they have been using thus far this season. The extra hike feels several times longer than it actually is, especially after a long descent, but the team was ecstatic to arrive in Talkeetna in time for a big breakfast this morning!

We’ll try to round up some images and get some of the team to write a recap of their experience in the coming days, but they are all headed to Anchorage right now, breathing the thick, humid air of the lowlands. Great job to all the climbers!!!

June 16th
The team climbed up to the summit and is back in high camp. They had a great day on the upper mountain and enjoyed clear views in all directions.

June 15th
The team awoke early today, looked out of their tents and saw that the weather looked favorable. They packed up and pushed up to the summit of Denali!! The climb took them about 7 hours before they reached the top. The weather was great and they are enjoying clear, huge views of the Alaska Range from the highest point on North America.

June 14th
After several days of watching the winds blow on the upper mountain, the team was rewarded with a beautiful day and took advantage of the change in weather to climb to high camp. It’s one of the most beautiful days of climbing of the trip and it sounds like they enjoyed it. They may go to the summit as early as tomorrow if the weather holds and the climbers are feeling up for it.

June 12th
Alan called in for the evening dispatch from the May 30 Denali team. It’s been windy up at high camp and the team is waiting for the weather to settle down a bit before moving up and pushing for the summit.

June 10th
Our guide Ted Grosgebauer called in from 14,200′ as the team took their first weather day of the expedition. They are all set to move up to high camp, but the tell tale plumes of snow streaming off the ridge between where they currently are, and where they want to go next, told them that the wind was a bit too high to make the push.

The move up to high camp makes for a big, tiring day. The team did great when they put in their cache at 16,600′ a few days ago, as that location is higher than most teams make that push. This tells the guides that everyone is strong and should do well when they load up their packs to climb up to high camp, but they still need good weather, as they will have a lot of work ahead of them upon arriving at the 17,200′ site.

Climbing to high camp is, in some ways, just the start of that long day. After arriving, the crew will need to cut numerous (possibly hundreds) of snow blocks, which they will stack around their tent sites like Minecraft walls, in order to provide additional protection from the potentially extreme winds that can occur. It is hard to overstate the amount of effort it takes to cut those blocks from the wind-packed snow bed, carry them over to the tent site, and stack them meticulously, whilst trimming each block so that it fits like the Incan stone walls of Cuzco. Oh yeah, all that in an atmosphere that contains roughly one-half of the oxygen found at sea level!

The weather forecast, which is not something we put too much faith in, looks favorable, and the team has plenty of time, so they will hang out, eat like kings and watch the winds.

June 9th
Today was a planned rest and acclimatization day, the first true rest day that the team has taken since starting up the glacier. They took a short hike to the edge of the basin, a spot known as “The Edge of the World,” for the immense drop down into the Northeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier that it overlooks. There is a granitic rock that protrudes over the void, and climbers brave enough to climb up onto it (belayed, of course!) are afforded a breathtaking view down over 4,000′ of vertical air to the glacier far, far below!

June 8th
Sebastian called in with an update this evening from our May 30th team. They climbed up to about 16,600 ft to cache some food and gear on the ridge leading towards high camp, before descending back to their camp at 14,200 ft. It was another beautiful day and the team did great climbing up the steep fixed lines section to gain the ridge, and up a section of the airy ridge leading them towards high camp. Tomorrow they’ll take a day to rest and acclimatize so they are ready for the move to high camp and the push to the summit.

May 31st
The May 30th Team made the two hour drive north to the small, end of the road (literally!) town of Talkeetna Alaska. They finished their registration process with the National Park Service and attended an NPS orientation on the challenges of climbing Denali, before making their way to the airstrip to board a ski equipped Islander aircraft for the 35 minute flight to the Alaska Range!

Tonight they will sleep on the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier, at about 7,800′. The weather was perfect and should make for some amazing photos from this unforgettable flight.

May 30th
This morning another team of climbers from around the world met at the Millennium Alaska Hotel in Anchorage to finish their preparations for an attempt on the classic West Buttress route of Denali. The West Buttress is an iconic route that climbs over 13,000′ from the southeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier to the summit of the highest peak in North America.

The team will move up utilizing a series of camps, each one approximately 3,000′ higher than the previous one. They will pace their ascent in a fashion that will promote their bodies’ ability to adapt to each successive new altitude, a process known as acclimatization. The plan for climbing the mountain also involves making two trips between some camps, which achieves two purposes, it enables the team to carry their veritable mountain of food, fuel and supplies up the mountain more easily, and it also allows them to follow the climbing axiom of “climb high and sleep low,” which also helps aid their acclimatization.

An ascent of the West Buttress can take up to three weeks, and requires approximately 125 pounds of food, fuel and equipment per climber. It is a challenging and demanding undertaking on one of the world’s most challenging mountains. Situated a mere 3 degrees of latitude south of the Arctic Circle, it is renowned for it’s extreme weather and potential for cold temperatures. The mountain rises some 18,000′ above it’s surrounding landscape, giving it the highest vertical rise of any mountain on the planet.

Denali is a beacon for climbers, who train for months and years to prepare for the challenge. The team assembling in Anchorage today is a diverse group from three continents, all brought together by a love of wild places and a desire to stand on top of North America.