McKinley Expedition: Hahn & Team Make it to Camp at 14,000’
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Will Ambler, Jack Ritterson, Miles Watson
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska
Elevation: 14,000'
Thursday, June 25 10PM PST
We got our chance and took advantage today. It was a sunny, calm day from start to finish. We got going up motorcycle hill at 9AM with packs and sleds. Luckily, several teams came down the mountain in the night, which plowed a trail for us through the recent snow. Our climb today was plenty hard but would certainly have been harder if we’d been breaking trail. From our previous high point at Windy Corner, we simply added two more hour long climbs. It was exciting to get around the Corner as the views are incredible. It is tempting to look at the thousand or more peaks stretching to the horizon, it is tempting to look wayyyy back down to the Kahiltna Glacier, far below. Rounding the corner, one comes face to face with Denali’s South Peak and there is plenty to look at there too. But of course the corner itself can be tricky climbing which means you can’t really stare at all those views. We got into 14 Camp after 6 hrs and twenty minutes, which was fine. Building camp took a few hours as usual, perhaps because we kept stopping to stare at the rock, the ice, and the scale of it all. Tomorrow we’ll drop briefly down to retrieve our cache.
- RMI Guide Dave Hahn
