Denali via the West Buttress

June 24th - July 12th, 2012

Afgani fashion on Denali

My recent climb on the flanks of Denali was a great – although the Great One wouldn't even let us get close to her seemingly

elusive summit.  The dance began with a 4 day weather hold in

Plane halo

Talkeetna, hanging at TAT waiting for the 'go' from the pilots. We ended up doing our glacier mountaineering reviews in the parking lot and in the yurt. In the Alaska range, the pilots deliver you into the heart of the mountains. While we don't 'rope up' in the plane, it's pretty much 'game on' once you step off the airstrip. Reviewing roped glacier travel, crevasse rescue and altitude illness prevention helped make sure this team was as ready as we could be. Usually we cover these skills on the mountain - but hey, sometimes the weather makes one go into 'flexibility mode' early.   Fortunately, we managed to stay out of the Fairview – opting for coffees and early night sleeps instead - and the team remained in great spirits.

Valley of death earning its name

   

On the morning of day 4 we boarded the plane at 7 am, landed on the upper upper landing strip.  Conditions remained un-seasonably cool and the heavy winter snows covered the lower glacier beautifully. We started walking right away. Our team made fabulous timing during these days – and the weather and glacier conditions

cooperated beautifully. At ski hill camp -7,800 ft - we were startled at 6am by a massive serac fall that swept across the entirety ofthe NE fork of the Kahiltna, destroying the tracks of our friends - who had been in the valley a mere 8 hours previous en route to the complete West Rib.

11 camp

just below 14 camp

Carry a load, cache it, tromp back down.  Eat, sleep, eat again, break camp, climb higher and set up a new camp.  This was our routine.  9 days later we arrived at the 14,200 base camp in great form – well acclimatized, having brushed up on the big mountain expedition skills, and bonded super well as a team
.

Taking a gamble that the weather would hold, we headed up

Descending the fixed lines

on a carry towards 16,200 up the fixed lines on the 11^th day.   Just below the ridge - chirping birds coasting in the calm air confirmed the lack of winds and we clipped into the fixed lines, making it to the col.  While descending the lines, the rangers passed us on their ascent to 17 and we talked about the imminent re-union in 2 days up at high camp. Unfortunately, this carry would end up being our high point.  Nonetheless, it was the highlight of the entire trip for me and I think also all of the team!

Our previous 'marginal' forecast turned into the 'storm of the season' in the space of a few hours. The series of weak lows joined forces as an occluded front heavy with precip that looked like it would stall overhead.  Damn.  So spooked were the rangers that they descended the next day – and inspired every other team at 17 to do the same. In the end, this storm dropped 3 feet of snow in 12 hours! This snow landed on a horrible surface of Crust / Faceted snow (like sugar crystals) and then Surface Hoar (like dominoes). You don't need to be an avalanche expert to know that this made the hazard unacceptably high.  Walking around camp produced loud cascading Whuuumpphs.  The next night the winds blew strong to extreme and avi hazard only worsened.

Guides recce snow test mission

Patiently, our team waited. And waited. So did all the other teams. Almost all groups on the mountain were guided at this point and all the guides on this route of the mountain were unanimous in our assessment.  We prayed for hot sunny days and for the world to fall apart.  We wanted to see the slopes release - or at least to see some temperature fluctuations that might promote stability.  Instead it stayed cold and partially cloudy.  More snow fell lightly.  As supplies, time and fuel ran low a few of the guided groups made the call to descend the mountain. I joined another Alpine Ascent team with half the clients on the trip and Steve joined another expedition with the remainder of the team. A few other guided expeditions descended with us.

Heading down

Our group took 18.5 hours to descend from 14 camp. Normally it should have taken about 8-10 hours. We encountered rigorous trail breaking (up to my waist in a few places), some careful avi assesment, and then horrible white out navigation. During my leads I grew close to vomiting from a combination of exertion and vertigo – as a recent client might say – I was 'red-lining'! What made this so challenging was the combination of low alaskan night light, milk bottle whiteout - complete with the absolute lack of a horizon, and the variable breakable crust over 30 cm. A few times I would just fall over. Many times I found myself doing a "J" hook in spite of using all my white out naviagation skills and tools.

But we made it to the airstrip and TAT got a plane in to get us as the weather shut down! Gotta love Paul and his pilots. The remainder would end up leaving a few days later – in an equally monumental effort after much more patience than our group - but without a summit either.