May 27, 2008: Summit Attempt Postponed
A weather window has finally broken on Mount McKinley. With 2 days of good weather ahead, our team decided to split up, due to how strong Peter and I were feeling. So, Peter and I decided to forge up from the 14,000 foot camp to high camp at 17,200 feet. This was a major undertaking. It not only involves a move up in altitude of 3200 feet into much thinner air but also moving up Mount McKinley’s headwall. The headwall is 2,000 feet tall and has a 50-degree incline, followed by a thin ridge leading to the high camp. In order to have a chance to summit on the second good weather day, we had to carry all our gear on our backs without sleds, totaling almost 80 pounds each. This move to high camp yesterday took almost 7 hours. It was tremendously hard. Our bodies were not only taxed by the heavy loads but our lungs burned from lack of oxygen in the thin air at high altitude. We finally reached camp about 7pm Alaskan time. Exhausted, we put up our tent and started to make dinner. It was dehydrated lasagna; it is not that good. Every movement we made felt like it was a lot of work. Even simple tasks like unrolling your sleeping bag, moving your backpack 5-6 feet or even rolling over in your sleeping bag are enough to get you out of breath.
After we got camp settled and ate, we went to bed in hopes of attempting to reach the summit today. I could not sleep most of the night. I could just feel my lungs gasping for air and my heart pounding to pump my oxygen-starved muscles as much oxygen as it had to supply them. I realized I had a mild case of acute mountain sickness. So, I decided I needed to wait to attempt the summit until my body adjusted to the altitude. Peter conservatively attempted a summit today by himself but had to turn around to come back to our camp due to the altitude and weather. The weather forecast shows another summit window Friday. Between now and then, the winds are still at very high speeds making it dangerous to attempt any moves. So, now we wait. Hopefully, I will be adjusted to the altitude by Friday.
May 26, 2008: 17,000 feet
Peter and I decided to break off and do a push up to 17,000 feet with full loads today. It was pretty tough but we made it. We’re tired but with food and rest we’ll recover well. We are planning to move to the summit tomorrow morning, about 8:00 am Alaskan time.
Tent Life on Denali
The weather on Denali now includes 90 mile per hour winds. This has left us tent-bound since we can’t climb in those conditions. As you can see by the photo below, tent-bound life on Denali is not always comfortable. It is common to be stuck in your tent for days at a time while waiting out storms. During these times, we play cards, read, talk, or just stare at the ceiling of our tents. These four season tents are durable most of the time. However, you are always sitting or sleeping on snow, which requires 2 Thermarest style sleeping pads. These are to prevent your body heat from melting the snow below you throughout the night. Being stuck in your tent on storm days is part of expedition climbing. It is not a fun part but a necessary part.
As I sit here in my tent at 14,000 feet, held hostage by high winds, I think of making it to the summit. I know the summit is as few as three days of movement up the mountain ie: cache gear at 16,000 feet, move to high camp at 17,200 feet and then summit day. For now, I must wait while I try to keep my mind focused on the task at hand, and try not to think of home; homesickness will kill your motivation. I am very excited to be this far on the mountain. We look forward to good weather so the team can move higher and closer to the goal. I am feeling strong and well acclimatized to the altitude.
The Mountain Said “No.”
The Route Up The Headwall, 2000 ft high
We woke up this morning to calm winds, clear skies and a temperature of -20 degrees F. We hadn’t planned on moving up today but conditions looked promising, once the sun came out and heated things up a bit. So, we decided to try to reach the top of the headwall at 16,000 feet. The headwall is a steep section of ice and snow 2,000 feet tall and 45-55 degrees of incline. At the top, there is a ridge leading to high camp at 17,000 feet. We packed half our gear to make a trip up the headwall to cache our loads at the top. About an hour into the climb, the winds really started to pick up and began to blow snow across us. The wind gusts were about 60 miles per hour. I started to feel my cheeks getting painfully cold. I turned around and saw a cap cloud forming over Mount Foraker, the mountain next to Denali.
Example of a Cap Cloud
These types of clouds spell bad weather and higher winds coming. I yelled up to George that I thought we should turn around. I had to yell because he could not hear me any other way due to the wind and snow. We agreed as a team turning around was the safest thing to do. We are now back in camp resting at 14,000 feet. We had made it to 15,000 feet on the headwall. Overall, it helped our bodies get used to the altitude. It also helped by breaking up a string of three straight days stuck in a tent. We are hoping for a fair weather window tomorrow to complete the climb to high camp at 17,000 feet.
The Storm
The storm has arrived on Denali. We are at the 14,000 feet camp. We had to build snow walls around our tents to shield them from the 50 mph winds and blowing snow. I remembered building snow forts as a kid and they were a lot more fun than this. Although, they were also not built at 14,000 feet in the Arctic. It took us 2.5 hours last night and another 4 hours this morning to finally secure camp from the raging storm. Yesterday, we were in a tough spot as we had carried all but one day worth of food up to our cache spot at 13,600 feet. Our plan was to pick it up on our way to 14,000 feet camp However, we received 18 inches of snow overnight, which made travel very difficult because we had to break trail the whole way. With a storm coming and almost no food left, we had no choice but to continue up the mountain, even in difficult conditions. We worked very hard and had a grueling day. The team moved up 3,000 vertical feet while breaking trail. At the same time, we felt as if we couldn’t breathe, due to the altitude. Once we arrived, we setup camp as described above and crashed into our sleeping bags.
One interesting fact the team was discussing about the route from 11,000 feet to 14,000 feet is the hill you have to climb called Squirrel Hill. I always had wondered about the name but yesterday we were reading Colby Coombs guidebook on Denali. He says, in 1993, a red squirrel was spotted on the hill surviving off dug up climber caches. So yesterday, we were trying to come up with logical explanations as to how a squirrel could end up at 13,000 feet on Mount McKinley. This is, of course, taking into account there are no trees within almost a 100 mile radius. The best we came up with was an eagle or some other bird of prey picked up the squirrel from a tree, was carrying it back to its nest, and dropped it over Mount McKinley. I know this is far fetched but it was the best we came up with. If anyone has a better theory, please email me at climbing@paulelwell.net. I will share the best theory on my website.