Climbing Denali Part 5 – The Summit
17 June (Day 13): The planned summit day for Scott and Bob was not meant to be. The forecasted good weather actually turned out to be the extended blizzard that Justin and I got caught in the day before. Things were not looking good so Scott and Bob decided to call it off and get off the mountain. There were too many instances of climbers getting stuck battling the weather at High Camp for over a week and they didn’t want to be another one of those victims. We tore down camp
Climbing Denali Part 4
Starting to get really high up on the mountain and just days away from the summit. 11 June (Day 7): After surviving the long day up to 14,200 ft, we took a rest day. After the big storm from the day before we decided to take a rest day instead of the original plan of retrieving our cache at Windy Corner. Although it was a “rest day” it wasn’t all rest as we spent the day improving our camp. We secured our tents more permanently and built up large walls using blocks of snow to
Climbing Denali Part 3
Acclimatizing, caching, planning and constructive arguing were the themes of the next 3 days. 08 Jun 12 (Day 4): Turned out to be a bad weather day, which actually worked out for us as we weren’t planning on moving anyways. It was a time to rest and acclimatize to the higher altitude at Motorcycle Hill (11,200 ft) after all the hard work we had put on our bodies for the last 3 days. So far, I’ve been the self appointed and group accepted cook for the trip, a role which I enjo
Climbing Denali Part 2
Starting to move higher up the mountain, which means less air and more fatigue. 06 Jun 12 (Day 2): Today we moved from Ski Hill (7,800 ft) to Kahiltna pass (10,320 ft), a 750 m elevation gain. The slope up itself is described as a mild incline that would be boring at any ski resort but when you’re pulling 150 lbs of gear up, you start cursing the guy who said that. Disaster struck after we had been charging hard up the slope and made 800 ft of vertical progress. Bob’s sled ca
Climbing Denali Part 1
After a little bit of a blog hiatus and much needed body recovery time, I’m back and ready to start talking a little bit about the trip up Denali, the highest mountain in North America. Overall, it was long, tiring and cold but I’m definitely happy to have had the chance to climb such a challenging mountain with an experienced group of guys. Because jamming the entire expedition into 1 post would be way too much, I’ve decided to break it up over the next couple blog posts. I
Bagged another summit!
After a long and difficult expedition on 16 June 2012, I summitted Denali. The highest peak in North America at 6194m (20,320 ft) AMSL. This season has been particularly bad and I’m lucky to have had my summit window. Currently only 36% of climbers on the mountain have been successful and there have been 6 deaths. Blog posts outlining my experience to come. I’m taking the next couple of days to rest my tired and battered body. Thanks for all the support! #denali #expedition #
Denali: The Start of a Great Adventure
Tomorrow is the start of another milestone in my goal of conquering the 7 summits. Denali, located just south of the arctic circle, in Alaska is the highest mountain in North America at 6194m (20,320 ft) and truly a tough climb. Everything will be loaded onto my back and sled and I’m expecting to carry at least 130 lbs of gear and food. There are no porters, mules or oxygen to speak of, just pure drive, determination and guts. If everything goes as planned this will be summit
