Entries By seth waterfall
Carry Day! Today we made our first trip up the fixed lines from 14,000’ to the West Buttress proper. Everyone, guides and climbers, ascends the fixed lines via an ascender attached to the fixed line. We also use our climbing rope for extra protection. This is the most effective, safest way to ascend the steep slopes below the West Buttress proper. The NPS installs and maintains these ropes with help from the guides. It’s a tough haul getting up but the view from the top of the fixed lines is great. It’s two thousand feet down on either side. On one side there is the Peters Glacier, the other side looks back down to the 14,000 ft. camp. What a cool spot!
The wind was kicking up when we reached the top of the fixed lines so we had everyone clip into anchors and take a break while the guides dug a cache for our gear. We have left 5 days of food and fuel here for our use when we move to high camp at 17,000’.
After filling in our cache we returned down the fixed lines to our lovely home at 14. The camp is looking very nice after a few rest days. We’ve made a sign out of snow that lets folks coming in to camp know who we are and our snow walls protect our tents nicely from the wind. We even made a television set and remote control out of snow, however the reception here in the Alaska Range is not very good.
On The Map
The weather was OK today, but there were at least eight teams trying to move up the fixed lines toward the 17,000’ Camp. Because of this we decided to wait a day and carry our gear tomorrow. It turns out that this was a good idea as all of the teams arrived at the fixed lines

together and the resulting traffic jam was frustrating to the other groups that we talked to. I took part of our group out to “the edge of the world” today. This is the edge of the ridge that abuts the glacier that the 14,000’ camp sits upon. The view down to the Northeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier is mind boggling and we spent about an hour out there taking photos and admiring the scenery.
On The Map
Today we rest! Today we did some camp improvements, reinforcing the snow walls and buffing out the kitchen tent. Other than that, we were working on our relaxation techniques. These cannot be underestimated on a climb of this length.
On The Map
Today we had a slow morning around camp which was very nice for everyone. At noon we roped up and walked a few hundred feet downhill to pick up the rest of our gear and food. It feels great to have all of our stuff here at camp. We’re well positioned for the rest of our climb. We have 11 days of food and fuel left. All we will need once we establish a cache at 17,000’is a good weather window.
On The Map
Hello 14!!! We headed out of the 11,200’ Camp at eleven o’clock this morning and arrived at 14,000’ at six o’clock in the evening. Getting around Windy Corner was very smooth even with our big packs on. Once we got to camp we busied ourselves getting camp ready and building snowblock walls. Everyone was plenty tired after a hard days work and we all crawled into our tents as soon as dinner was over.
On The Map
Today we rested from our effort of the day before. We’re still acclimatizing, so a solid day’s effort will really take it out of you. We’re sitting pretty now with our gear just below the 14,000’ Camp.
On The Map
Today we carried half of our gear to the top of Windy Corner. True to it’s name, it was definitely windy. It was great to see the upper part of the mountain though and everyone did great on the carry. It’s definitely a different feeling as one moves up from the camp at 11,200 feet. Below there you feel as if you’re walking amongst mountains; above you feel like you’re really on Denali.
Conditions are really working out in our favor. The snow is great for walking and other than some wind up high the weather is very good.
On The Map
Day 7 on Denali. The weather today was not very good so we decided to take another rest day. Taking another day here doesn’t really cost us much as we are still acclimatizing and recovering from our toils on the lower part of the mountain. We spent the day in camp sorting gear for our carry to 14,000, eating and telling jokes.
On The Map
Our first rest day on McKinley. The sun was out all day today but there was a chilly breeze that kept us from over heating. The folks that have been stuck here for a few days are anxious to get moving and the Rangers broke trail to the top of Motorcycle Hill (a steep hill just above the 11,200 ft. camp). They turned back at the top, but a team of three from the Czech Republic pushed on ahead. That is s good sign for us to be able to carry loads to 14,000 tomorrow.
On The Map
We awoke this morning to find our trail from yesterday totally filled in. We waited at camp for an hour trying to decide on what to do for the day. We didn’t want to sit in camp all day, but breaking trail again didn’t exactly sound like fun either, especially as the weather was a bit worse than the day before. In the end we decided to move up. We quickly broke camp down and roped up. The trail breaking was just as tough as the day before, but luckily for us, we ran into another group coming down and were able to follow their trail into the 11, 200 foot camp.
It was a great feeling setting up camp and knowing that we would be staying for at least two nights. The camp was bustling with activity as the recent snowfall had prevented teams from
moving to the 14,000 ft. camp. Even the Rangers on the first patrol of the year were in camp.
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