Curtis Jones

Day 30: Travel back to New York, hobbling slowly through airports with swelling feet (walking slow has its perks; nobody gets in your way). Driving through the city, watching the noise and trash, all I could think was, I live here? My epic month makes the old routine seem sad.

Day 29: A flight-seeing tour spiraling up to the summit, where I skipped the oxygen mask and apparently became the first the pilot had seen do that. Surreal to cover in minutes what took us days on foot, and I spotted our igloo at 14k. Then first class home, feet still throbbing.

Day 28: A 3am start, sleds again, and a hobble to base camp on feet I'm sure are bloody stubs by now. Fog, waiting, a scramble to fly out, and finally Talkeetna: a shower, a shave of forty days of beard, and burgers at the West Rib. Gortex keeps the stink in.

Day 27: Camp 5 all the way down to Camp 3, an eternity on the crowded fixed lines that nearly finished my quads. RMI 5 found my green frisbee while digging through our cache, and Yuri pawns off all our extra food on a grateful Russian group. The thick air down low is wonderful.

Day 26: Summit day. Skipped the oatmeal (not my brightest move), got kicked around by the coldest wind I have ever felt, and scrambled up Pig Hill and the endless summit ridge. Seven hours later we stood on top of Denali, for just a few freezing minutes.

Day 25: A sleepless night spent designing a ham-radio RC car in my head, another day of oatmeal I am thoroughly done with, and that jet-engine roar of wind over Denali Pass. Maybe a summit attempt tomorrow, better odds the day after. I can almost taste the Talkeetna pizza.

Day 24: Fifty mph winds upstairs, so we live inside the tents, tossing water bottles to the guides and scurrying back in. I find forgotten cash and credit cards in my jacket pocket, the jacket I almost ditched in a cache. Hot drinks are everyone's high point except mine.

Day 23: Stuck at 17k, just one climbing day from the summit and watching the winds above. The hike across the West Buttress was amazing, parts only a foot wide with thousand-foot drops on either side. Eat, hydrate, rest: my three new favorite activities.