The Great One

More commonly known as Mount McKinley , the highest point on the North American continent was first called Denali, or “The Great One,” by the native Athabaskans.

Randall, Peter, and I decided sometime last winter, or perhaps even before, that we were going to have a go at it this summer. Randy and Peter had attempted Denali some four years earlier, which culminated in three nights spent at high camp (17,000) in weather that did not permit a summit attempt. We all had hopes that this time would be different.

After months of planning and equipment collection, we were ready when May came around. Well, mentally prepared, anyway. While training for the climb, Peter rolled his ankle a few times. He decided to lay off and let it heal, putting a damper on his regimen. Randall, developed a hernia whilst trekking through South America. It required surgery no less than three weeks prior to our start date. Finally, studying for finals consumed most of my time during April, and my training also took a hit. With the 15+ mile long West Buttress route requiring a minimum a week and a half to reach the summit, there would be time to train on the mountain. Right?

We arrived in Talkeetna on the 23rd of May. We made final gear adjustments and preparations, and took an air taxi to Kahiltna Base Camp (7,200 ft) on the morning of the 25th. We unloaded our equipment from the De Havilland Otter ski plane, picked up sleds and fuel, and began the long slog to our first camp. Things went well for the first few days, and we moved up the mountain in terrific weather. On the third day, we awoke to blowing snow and white-out conditions.

After being tent-bound for a few days, we decided to go for the camp at 11,000 ft, despite the white-out. We traveled by spotting bamboo wands that marked the route.We made it to 11k camp and spent a few days acclimatizing and caching food higher before making the move to 14,000 ft camp. The travel between 11k and 14k was more interesting than further down the mountain, with an ascent of “Motorcycle Hill” and a traverse of “Windy Corner.” Windy Corner lived up to its name both on the cache day and on the day we moved to 14k camp.

At 14k camp we again spent some time acclimatizing. The views of Mounts Hunter and Foraker were amazing. We spent days making water, reading, listening to iPods, and trying to keep motivated. The weather at 14k wasn’t bad, but we could see that higher up it was very windy. However, the forecast predicted that a high pressure front would begin to move over the mountain in a few days and stabilize the weather briefly. That would be our weather-window.

We moved to High Camp at 17,000 ft on a cold and windy day, but made it without any problems. At about 16k ft and above, the effects of the altitude and lack of available oxygen became noticeable. We took our time traversing “16 Ridge,” which starts at the top of “The Headwall,” a 2000 vertical foot steep face, and ends-up at High Camp. Even though it was a chilly day, there were almost no clouds in the sky, making the journey seem a little easier.

We spent only one night at 17k feet before taking a shot at the summit. The high pressure system indeed moved over the mountain. The was clear and relatively warm (nearly 0 degrees F) when we left camp to ascend the 3100 vertical feet to the top. The going was very slow, and the lack of oxygen made it tough to warm up cold fingers and toes. Despite the full sun and clear sky, the temps were below zero Fahrenheit all day.

The view coming across the final ridge to the summit was incredible even with a hypoxic brain and hazy thoughts. We spent about 15 or 20 minutes standing on the top, taking some pictures and trying to soak in the view before heading down.

The cruise back to 17,000 ft, where our camp was still set, took far less than the grind to the top. When we arrived back at the tent, we all crashed for the night.

The following day, we pushed hard to make it from 17k all the way back down to Base Camp at 7,000 feet. We hobbled in at around 11pm, ate some chili, and slept like rocks. Randall woke up early the next morning and got us on the flight manifest. By 9AM we were on our way back to Talkeetna, where we spent the day cleaning, drying, and repacking gear. That even we celebrated with a pub crawl that lasted until 2AM for me (4AM for the rest), taking advantage of the Alaskan summer sun.