Patience, Patience, Patience.
View of High Camp, 17,200 feet
Patience is the name of the game right now on Mount McKinley. We are still at 17,200 feet, waiting for the weather to clear. The weather report says winds may die down late Friday, which would make Saturday the earliest summit window. With overnight temperatures as low as -30 degrees F, our morale is beginning to wane. We are trying to stay positive but it is a struggle. At 17,200 feet, you can feel your body get slowly weaker. Your body starts to use any fat you have in search of energy, especially in this low oxygen environment.
View to the summit
On a brighter note, being at high camp puts us within view of the summit. It seems so close, only 3,000 vertical feet above us. The years of training and weeks of pushing through difficult conditions finally has an end and a reward in sight. With anticipation and respect for the mountain, we wait for the mountain to grant us safe passage to the summit.
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.