Denali (20,310′)

In June, I worked a NOLS Alumni course on Denali. It was not a typical NOLS course and it was not a typical mountaineering experience. I had wanted to climb the mountain for a long time, with various things getting in the way over the years. At last, it was time to experience the mountain.

After a number of days of preparation and with three other instructors and 9 students, we flew onto the mountain’s Kahiltna Glacier at 7,200’ from the little tourist/climbing town of Talkeetna. Different from a normal mountaineering expedition at lower elevations, acclimatizing to the altitude is a main priority. The adage, “climb high, sleep low” still reigns and so we tackle the mountain in a series of moves, caches and rest days.

There are camps at approximately 7,800’, 11,000’, 14,000’ and 17,000’. In between camps, we laid caches of supplies and equipment for the dual purpose of making our travel days easier and to climb high, sleep low – give ourselves some exercise, but also give ourselves a low-elevation sleep to recover. We generally dragged sleds loaded with gear behind us, and walked roped together wearing snow shoes.

As an instructor, there is basically no route finding. The trail is clear, unless there’s been recent snowfall, and the trail is also marked with bamboo wands with little duct tape flags. The instructor challenge, instead, is to manage the acclimatization, come up with a strategy for weather, and keep a really good pulse on the group while preparing them for the skills needed higher up on the mountain.

We steadily worked our way up the mountain to 14 Camp (14,000’). From here, the guidebook says, “the real climbing begins.” This is the camp where everyone bases their summit bids from. One looks for at least a three-day weather window: one day to get to 17 Camp, the second day to attempt the summit, the third to get back down to 14. It is a mini town here with tents scattered everywhere and also includes the local law enforcement – a National Park Service team of a lead ranger and volunteer rangers. The rangers, some of who were NOLS/Antarctica friends of mine, are there to make sure people are following the climbing guidelines of caching, human waste disposal, and camping, while also serving as a search and rescue team if necessary (they had some wild stories!).

To get to 17 Camp, you first have to lay a cache, generally somewhere on the ridge above 14 Camp. To get to the ridge which starts at 16,000’, we had to hike first up to the bergschrund, which separates glacier below from the higher slopes that are too steep for snow to compress to ice to form a glacier, climb over the bergschrund and then climb 800’ of fixed lines to the ridge. To climb the fixed lines, you have an ascender and another carabiner attached to the rope. Apparently, in the beginning of the season, the rangers go up to the fixed lines with a sledge hammer to break them out of the ice that’s frozen over them during the winter. It is steep and there are potentially many people above also attached to the fixed lines. One has to trust the anchors that were placed who knows when!

This first day up the fixed lines was the only day of the trip where I felt off. While I could still coach students and manage the risks present, I was sometimes in another world. My perception of things was different, sounds seemed amplified or with more texture to them. When I would answer a question from someone, I would ask myself, while I was answering, “Did they really ask me a question?” While on a rope team, separated by the spacing of the rope, my world shrank to my breathe and my footsteps. I had no headache or any other symptoms. One student did not feel well. He and I were the ones who took the heavy loads, so there seems to be some correlation.

Back down the fixed lines (there are two parallel fixed lines for people to go in both directions) to regroup and get ready for our move to 17. The move to 17 was spectacular. Once back up on the ridge, the clouds below, I led the few hours to 17 Camp. This ridge is exposed at parts so one must clip the rope to various points of protection, generally aluminum pickets hammered into the snow. Instead of carrying the pickets, determining where to place them, then hammering them int, you simply rack 20 carabiners, and then when you see a picket and/or its associated webbing, you clip a carabiner to the webbing, then clip the rope into the carabiner. This increases speed and safety when multiple groups are climbing.

At 17, we had a few students who weren’t feeling well with the altitude. We rested a day, and then decided to go for the summit. The three students opted out and the rest of the team, minus one instructor who stayed back to tend to the mildly altitude sick, left the following morning at 10am (a mid-morning start is the standard to allow the route to soften a touch and the temperatures to warm up a bit). At a number of places, one has to again clip into the pickets. Forty of them to start with along a big face, then a few others mid-route and then again on the summit ridge.

Throughout the day, the weather was incredible. I wore a short sleeve wool shirt, and a long sleeve over that on the way up and threw on a very light wind breaker on the way down. I had two puffy jackets that I didn’t put on the entire day. Beautiful clouds below, a steady ascent, while looking after students, who were all feeling well. We made it to the top around 6 pm, all smiles and hugs, celebrated with a few other teams, took our pictures and made ready for our descent, spurred on by some building storm clouds in the distance (they never became a factor). The route down was relaxed, as the weather remained calm as can be. We got back down to 17 at just after 11pm. We were greeted by our team, all feeling a bit better with a little more rest. It was an exquisite night.

The following day we returned to 14 Camp, took a day and a bit to rest and explore a bit of the local area, then left that camp at 5pm, trudging all the way to KBC by around 2:30 am the following morning, stopping around midnight to make hot water and have a meal in a bag for the final push. We slept a few hours once at base camp and then were picked up before 8am that same morning to be flown off the mountain. We had 24 days allotted, but had completed the climb in 16. The weather the whole time was excellent, save one evening wind storm and one whiteout day, where students almost overheated. (It was hot!)

My body felt great, other than feeling a bit strange the first time up to 16,000’. Previous to Denali’s summit at over 20,000’, the highest I’d been to was a Colorado 14’er. After reading all the mountaineering books of big and high mountains, it was really fun to dip my toe into the arena. It felt like a mini-Everest, with its camp 1, camp 2, etc., the fixed lines, the high altitude, the other people. It was interesting. It was not something I need to do every summer as some guides do (some do two a summer!), but it was a gratifying experience and it’d be fun to be on the mountain again sometime, perhaps as a volunteer ranger or instructing with NOLS again.

Surprising things: how much time it took to melt water – so much time. I knew it would take a lot of time, but it was hours and hours a night. Another was that the community was really fun. I met great people, saw old friends and acquaintances and enjoyed the socialness of it all (A guide friend says it’s the community that brings him back each summer). I didn’t have as much time to hang with students as I normally like to, as self-preservation (rest, acclimatization) were most important – I wanted to make sure I was rested so that I was ready to deal with things as they came up. The summit day temperature was around 0F, but it felt balmy while active and no wind. It’s amazing how much the wind dictates the feel of the temperature.

Overall, I am grateful to have been on the mountain with a stellar instructor team and a stellar group of students! I am thrilled to have made it to the summit, while feeling good and to have seen the world from 20,000 feet above sea-level (a little closer to space!). The views were incredible and it was hard to go into the tent each night, especially when calm. It was fun to gain some good high altitude mountaineering experience and to join the ranks of those who have climbed the mountain, especially as last year’s team didn’t make it above 14,000’ because of storms! Grateful for the whole experience, feel free to ask questions in the comments! Enjoy the pics and video!