Entries from Mt. McKinley
Posted by: Linden Mallory, Pete Van Deventer
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Thick clouds rolled into the Alaska Range overnight and when we woke up shortly before 3am, we found ourselves in the midst of a thick fog bank. It was thick enough that we even needed our headlamps to get around camp, an uncommon occurrence in Alaska this time of year. The fog bank acted like a thick warm down comforter, keeping the temperatures hovering around freezing, even at the coldest part of the night. We caught several glimpses of breaks in the clouds above and decided to venture out of camp to see if we could find some colder temperatures and more supportable snow above the valley floor. We set out through the mist, following the track that we scouted yesterday evening, and navigating the crevasse field that guards the entrance to the side valley leading up to 747 Pass.
The scene was awe inspiring while we climbed the valley. As a flat light began to illuminate our surroundings, we passed the foot of huge rock faces that stretched vertically into the air above us until they disappeared into the clouds. At the head of the valley loomed the headwall and seracs that mark the top of the pass. The views would come and go with the clouds, occasionally spitting hail and almost rain on us. After climbing a little more than a 1,000' up that pass we were dismayed to find that the temperatures had not cooled and we were sinking to mid thigh in the soft isothermic snow when we climbed the steeper pitches. Around us running water ran down the cliff faces, telling us that even the snow slopes high above had not frozen overnight. With more clouds blowing in and spits of rain coming down, we knew that today wasn't our summit day as the conditions made for exceedingly slow progress and the warm temperatures and rain increased the chance for rockfall and snow sluffs above us while also weakening the snow bridges that allow us to cross the heavily-crevassed glacier.
We pulled our climbing skins from our skis and descended back down our route, making a few fun turns in the soft, punchy snow and returned to camp. We spent the rest of the morning catching up on the few missed hours of sleep from our early start, reading, and keeping a general light-hearted banter going in the tent.
By mid afternoon the clouds lifted a bit and we decided to stretch our legs with a little tour across to the east side of the Ruth Glacier before returning to camp for the evening.
We are hoping that the clouds will continue to lift and bring in some cold temperatures to provide a good freeze for the glacier. If we get a cold night and a good freeze of the snow surface, we will make another attempt on Mt. Dickey tomorrow morning. If the weather stays warm we'll pack up camp and move back up the glacier towards Mountain House to get some ski touring in on some of the more gentle slopes in that area.
RMI Guide Linden Mallory & Team
Posted by: Leon Davis, Eric Frank
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
When the team met this afternoon at the Anchorage Airport, it was impossible to ignore the weather here. From soggy Seattle or the still frozen north, here in Alaska it's sandals and shorts weather. Our team is assembled and now in Talkeetna slapping mosquitoes and laughing with new friends and teammates. Tomorrow we will pack, prepare, and hopefully fly onto the southeast fork of the Kahiltna Glacier. Before bedding down we paused to raise a glass to the upcoming adventure.
RMI Guide Leon Davis
On The Map
Posted by: Linden Mallory, Pete Van Deventer
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
A thin covering of clouds rolled into the Ruth Glacier last night just low enough to brush the summits of the surrounding peaks. The clouds acted as an insulating layer, preventing the previous day's heat from fully dissipating overnight and we awoke early to relatively mild temperatures. The warmer temps softened the blow of waking up early and breaking camp - not the most pleasant experience when the thermometer hovers in the single digits - and soon we had everything packed into our backpacks and sleds and were skiing down the Ruth Glacier as the first ray of sunlight reached us. We spent the day traveling downhill, dropping from Mountain House northwards into the center of the Ruth Amphitheater before veering to the east and making a large 180-degree turn until we were eventually headed south down the Ruth Glacier and into the heart of the Ruth Gorge. This early in the season the glacier is still covered in a thick layer of winter snow, smoothing over the crevasses and undulations in the glacier and among the travel very smooth and straightforward.
Soon we entered the Ruth Gorge proper, a "narrow" stretch of glacier (still almost a mile wide) that is reported to be close to 3,000' deep, and walled by massive rock walls on both sides, the highest being the East Face of Mt. Dickey which rises an impressive almost 5,000'+ above us, whose summit remained shrouded in clouds. We traveled down the Gorge, occasionally stopping in awe to admire the landscape around us, until we reached an altitude of about 4,600' at the entrance to a side valley that is framed by "747 Pass" - a gap in the rock walls purported to be large enough to fly its Boeing namesake through. Here, we established our camp, just as the temperatures warmed enough to begin softening the surface snow and slowing our progress across the glacier. We spent the remainder of the afternoon establishing our camp in the center of the flat glacier that runs through the Gorge and brushing up on various climbing skills and techniques. If the weather holds, we are in a good position to make a push through 747 Pass and climb the glaciated West Face of Mt. Dickey tomorrow morning before returning to our camp here in the Gorge.
RMI Guide Linden Mallory & Team
Posted by: Linden Mallory, Pete Van Deventer
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 7,300'
The little town of Talkeetna, Alaska, was beginning to wake from its quiet winter slumber when we arrived yesterday evening. The long warm evening calling out locals and climbers alike to relax on the outdoor patios along the main strip. After dropping off our gear we grabbed a quick bite at the legendary West Rib Pub, enjoying some excellent caribou burgers as our last meal before heading into the mountains.
The morning was perfectly clear and calm and after checking in with the National Park Service we headed over to the airplane hangar at the Talkeetna Airport to finalize our gear preparations - spreading warm clothes, bags of food, skis, and climbing gear across the floor of the hangar, taking careful count of everything, and then miraculously packing it all back up into our bags. By early afternoon we were ready. We traded out our jeans and flip flips for high tech synthetic shells, pulled on our boots, and clambered into the ski plane - a turbo prop with skis known locally as a Beaver - and took off for the Alaska Range.
As soon as we climbed above Talkeetna, the incredible mass of the Alaska Range loomed in front of us over the dash board of the plane, crowned by the recognizable summits of Denali, Mt. Hunter, and Mt. Foraker. We flew above the landscape of thinning forests and lakes and gradually the formidable wall of mountains began to fade into series of valleys, ridges, peaks, and glaciers. When we reached the toe of the Ruth Glacier we made a gradual turn to the north and flew right up the center into the Ruth Gorge - a stunning stretch of glacier lined by the massive granite walls of Moose's Tooth, Mt. Dickey, and Mt. Braille. North of the Gorge stands the Ruth Amphitheater - a huge glacial cirque surrounded by massive peaks, including the summit of Denali high above. After making a few extra circles because the views were simply too stunning to pass up, we landed on the glacier near the Mountain House, a small hut perched on a rocky outcropping in the middle of the glacier.
We unloaded the plane, said goodbye to the pilot, and opting for the true McKinley experience, set to work establishing our camp on a shallow ridge to the west of the Mountain House. After getting ourselves settled in, we took advantage of the good weather to spend a few hours reviewing glacier travel skills and crevasse rescue techniques. Once the sun finally began to creep behind the nearby ridgelines, the temperatures began to sink and we found ourselves pulling out our parkas and adding layers - despite the warm weather it is still early season in the Alaska Range.
We are all settled into camp after an excellent dinner and getting ready for bed despite the sun still being high in the horizon, not much darkness up here this time of year. We are planning on leaving our Base Camp here early tomorrow morning and traveling back into the Gorge to scope out some potential climbing objectives before we set up camp. We are all doing well and very excited to be in the mountains!
RMI Guide Linden Mallory & Team
On The Map
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Mike King, Zeb Blais
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 358'
The alarm was set for 11:30 PM at 8000 ft on the Kahiltna Glacier. The rain began at 10:00 PM and continued on and off until 11:20. Rain wouldn't be considered a good thing if you were laying in your sleeping bag hoping that the glacial surface would freeze up in the night to permit safe and easy passage to the Southeast Fork and a possible airplane pickup. So at the appointed wakeup time, we had a soggy glacier, groggy climbers and a murky vision of the world. Although it is still light for twenty four hours in this part of Alaska in mid-July, it isn't very light between about midnight and four. But we made the decision, along with Rob Gowler's AMS group camped nearby, to make a break for the airstrip before the storm got worse. We were on the move by 2:00 AM and stumbling along on snowshoes in the gloom. Surprisingly, it rained no more. It was slow going at first, hitting big crevasses broadside, without being able to see them ahead of time and take evasive action. But conditions improved as we got further down glacier... there had been a great deal of new snow (bridging crevasses) the sky overhead was clearing and the snow surface was consequently freezing, and it was getting lighter. It was a great help to be backed up in route-finding by Rob and the AMS team. Together, as the last climbers on the mountain, we worked through the early morning hours. By seven, we'd solved all significant problems and found ourselves at the foot of "heartbreak hill". We climbed the Southeast Fork to the airstrip and called in the ski-planes. Conditions overhead were good, but it took a few hours until our planes could even get into the range. The bigger storm was still coming in, but all passes into the mountains were already clogged with cloud. We considered ourselves lucky to be flown out in the afternoon. What followed was a whirlwind of drying/sorting gear, connecting with the outer world again and showers and shaves. We enjoyed a fabulous West Rib victory dinner celebration, a summit certificate awards ceremony and copious amounts of laughter over our shared experiences of the past three weeks. Day 20... Trip done... all we could possibly have hoped for in defining a fine expedition.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Monday, July 15th, 2013
It was still very calm at 14K camp this morning, but it was obvious that the next storm system was moving in. So we moved out. At 9:15 we pulled out of Genet Basin and dragged our sleds to Windy Corner. The going was easy as others had plowed a nice trough through the recent snows. There has to be some advantage to being the very last team to come off the mountain. We made it around the corner, down the Polo Field, across Squirrel Hill and down Motorcycle in about two hours. At 11,000' we dug up our cache of food, snowshoes, and miscellaneous gear and took about an hour to reorganize. Then it was down to the main Kahiltna Glacier in excellent condition for travel. It only took us two hours to make the bottom of Ski Hill. By that point, however, glacier surface conditions were getting soggy and slushy -as expected. So we built camp to wait for the cool of night before going the last few miles to the airstrip. We need the freeze to firm up about a thousand snow bridges over crevasses between here and Basecamp. It is a relief to be low again. Our first time in over two weeks to be taking in so much oxygen with each breath. And we aren't even remotely cold after conditioning to the frigid heights of Denali. There is a downside, of course... there are smells again. The one in the guide tent has been described as "hot garbage."
Perhaps we will make it to Talkeetna and showers tomorrow morning.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Zeb Blais, Mike King
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 14,200'
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Sunday, July 14th, 2013
Back at 14K. A couple of long, hard, exhilarating days have come and gone. When we left 14,200' two days ago, we were happy to even have a chance at getting to 17,200'. It wasn't certain that we'd get there with the leftovers from that two-foot snowstorm. And as we moved up, we were aware that teams were coming down from 17,200' because of avalanche conditions between there and the summit. But we had a perfect day for moving up and we weren't used to perfect days on this trip... we took advantage. The going was a little slow, what with trail-breaking, but it was better than we expected to find. We were able to walk on avalanche debris for a good portion of the approach to the fixed ropes. The climb up along the crest of the buttress was spectacular and difficult with our big packs, but all handled it well. It took 8.5 hours to reach camp at 17,200'. When we got there we were overwhelmed at the generosity of the teams who'd been waiting there for days. They gave us water and helped to build our tents... And most importantly, they pointed out that recent winds had virtually eliminated the avalanche hazard on the route to Denali Pass. They were going for the top in the morning and we were invited. It was just a matter of whether we could get camp up, dinner down, and people in sleeping bags fast enough that the team would be rested for a try on the top. The next day dawned cloudless and windless and our teams were all enthusiastic about a chance to climb. We took off at 10:20 AM just behind Rob Galler with AMS and Dennis with AAI. We'd discussed things extensively and were determined that the last guided parties of the season would work together to achieve this unexpected summit. Rob did a lot of the hard work breaking trail on the steep slopes to Denali Pass. We took over a little past the Football Field to make a route up to and along the summit ridge. Throughout the day, it seemed nearly unbelievable that on a storm-plagued trip, we'd get such a perfect opportunity for the top. The wind never blew and we were comfortable the entire day... no freezing hands, faces or feet. We hit the summit at 6:40 PM and stayed there for an hour, taking pictures, shaking hands and marveling at our good fortune. A few thousand careful steps later, we pulled into high camp at 11:30 PM.
Everyone worked to get some dinner down before turning in. The guides were up for hours more, melting snow and filling water bottles. It seemed a great gift that the good weather continued into this morning. It is always rough packing up at 17K after a summit day, but it was made immeasurably easier by the calm, sunny morning. We set out at 1:00 PM and climbed ever so carefully down the narrow ridge crest and the steep fixed ropes with our giant packs. It was quite hot by the time we reached 14,200' and it seemed a good idea to set camp rather than chancing rockfall around Windy Corner. Tomorrow will be another big day as we'll try to make it to 8000', putting ourselves in position to go out the lower glacier early the following morning. Probably too much to ask, to get another nice day, but we'll ask anyway.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Awesome adventure Super Dave, thank you so much for taking my brother to the top. I can’t even begin to imagine how outstanding the view was from atop Denali, with still winds and clear skies, oh my! Dave, please tell my brother he now qualifies as a Sourdough, no more Cheechako.
Posted by: Johnny Stevens on 7/15/2013 at 1:41 pm
Scott,
Congratulations to you and the rest of your team for a succcessful and hard earned summit climb. Sounds like the weather conditions were perfect and the views from the the highest peak in North America were spectacular. Hope you took a lot of pictures. Best wishes for a safe descent and look forward to seeing you and hearing some interesting stories about the climb.
Mom & Dad
Posted by: Wayne Adaska on 7/15/2013 at 9:03 am
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Zeb Blais, Mike King
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 20,320'
Saturday, July 13th, 2013 2:30 am PST
Hey this is Dave Hahn with RMI's Denali team, the last one of the season. I'm on the summit of Denali, 20,320', on one of the more magical days that I can remember up here in 30 expeditions. It's really worked out great. We teamed up with some of our good friends from Alaska Mountaineering School and Alpine Ascents International. Great to be up here with good climbers and, like I say, just the most spectacular day. We stepped onto the top at 6:40 PM, and we'll stay up here for a while. It's very comfortable. There is maybe a one and a half mile an hour breeze and massive sun. Clouds are probably about 10,000' feet under us. We will get back to you when we get back to camp. We wanted to let you know that we got extremely lucky. Bye now.
Sunday, July 14th, 2013 8:00 pm PST
This is Dave Hahn calling from High Camp. We got back from the summit, no problem. We spent about an hour up there, altogether. I figure it took us about 13 hours and 15 minutes round trip. We left at 10:20 this morning and we got back about 11:35 this evening. Can't do a written dispatch; it's 1:30 now. After doing dinner and filling everybody's water bottles and all the normal chores for getting us in the bed. But we'll catch you up on the story in the next few days. The long days continue. This one was spotless weather but very long day. Tomorrow promises to be one as well going down the month. We'll catch up, and let you know how things are going. Thanks.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Dave Hahn calls from the Mt. McKinley summit.
Dave Hahn calls in from Mt. McKinley's High Camp.
On The Map
Congratulations on an amazing summit day! We are thrilled for you that the weather was clear and you were able to enjoy what must be the most spectacular views in the world! We are so impressed by the whole team. Anders, your whole family and tons of friends send their love. And kudos to the rest of you, especially Anders’ young tent mate Max—pretty impressive feat at your young age!
Posted by: judy and randy on 7/15/2013 at 4:39 am
woohooo! congratulations on your summit of such a worthy mountain. looking forward to pics and the story.
Posted by: michelle on 7/14/2013 at 7:41 pm
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Zeb Blais, Mike King
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 17,200'
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Hey, this is Dave Hahn calling from 17,200 feet on Mount McKinley. We made it to High Camp. Huge day, beautiful day, great weather. One of the nice things that started off the day for us was we got to talk to Mike King. He and Will and Shawn had made it to Basecamp by this morning and they were looking to get picked up within a half an hour of our conversation. They reported good conditions down there and they had a smooth exit from the mountain. We were very happy to hear that. And a big happy birthday to Mike King and a thank you for all that hard work. We set in with our hard work right after that. It did take a long time to get up here to 17,200' because we had so much snow on the Headwall.
If tomorrow is a decent day, we're going try for the summit. And that's it for tonight. Talk to you soon.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
RMI Guide Dave Hahn calls in from 17,200 ft on McKinley.
On The Map
Lots of energy and positive thoughts from the other side of the world. Thinking of you guys today. Be safe and crush it!
Posted by: Kelsey on 7/13/2013 at 11:02 pm
Rock on! Hoping for good weather and safe climbing! ‘Welcome to the City Bra’
Posted by: Joe Cole on 7/13/2013 at 9:37 pm
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Mike King, Zeb Blais
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 14,200'
Thursday, July 11, 2013
We couldn't have asked for a much nicer day, but we'd have loved to have used it differently. It was clear and sunny from start to finish at 14,200' ft, just as we'd hoped it might be to settle the slopes above us. But I'm sure every climber on the team would rather have used such sparkling and fine weather to climb, rather than for waiting to climb. It was a bit of a tough day for the team as we had two climbers descend with Mike King, bound for base and Talkeetna. Their problems, a head-cold and a sore foot, were relatively minor, but 14,200' is not the best place for such issues to resolve and we had a golden chance to team Mike up with a descending team led by guides we know and trust. But we are sorry to not finish the entire climb together. It has been a great team. We can't say for sure that we ourselves won't be headed down in a day or two, but we cling to a slim chance for getting to the summit. Zeb and I went on a short recon mission on the suspect slopes and found things better than we'd expected. Good enough that we will make an attempt on 17 camp in the morning if the weather cooperates. We are still getting reports from those at 17,000' that the route to Denali Pass (18,300 ft) is presumed to be avalanche prone and impassable at present, but we'll just try to solve one set of problems at a time.
The National Park Service rangers at 14,000' used the fine day to remove their seasonal base. A B3 helicopter flew laps for several hours to get the gear and personnel down. Camp -and the mountain in general- is getting very quiet as we near the end of the climbing season.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
take great care! good luck!
Posted by: michelle on 7/12/2013 at 3:16 pm
Good luck and be safe.
Rachael
ABQ Uptown 985 NM/CO
Posted by: Rachael C. Lujan on 7/12/2013 at 9:59 am
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A HUGE thank you to Dave and the rest of the guides for escorting Anders and the rest of the team up and down this formidable mountain. We appreciated all the updates, and can’t wait to hear all the details when Anders gets home. You certainly faced some challenging weather, and your perseverance and patience paid off in the incredible summit experience. We all appreciate it!
Posted by: the christofferson family on 7/17/2013 at 4:24 pm
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