Mt. McKinley (2011) - Day 01

Atlanta to Anchorage

09:00 - I ran through the gear check list one more time and found a few things I had neglected to pack. And I noticed the two-way radio, lying forgotten on the floor; it would have sucked to leave without having that particular item.

It's going to be a struggle to pay attention during the two-hour church service this morning, knowing that I'm going straight from here to the airport and then to freakin' ALASKA.

15:00 - Aimee and Jake escorted me to the airport and then took my car back home. I don't usually take advantage of curb-side check in, but with two 60+ pound duffel bags hanging precariously from my shoulders (plus my backpack), it seemed worth the obligatory tip money.

18:00 - The flight from Atlanta to Minneapolis was a breeze. The free first class upgrade might have had something to do with that. I'm sixteenth in line (for zero available first class seats) for the 2nd (five and a half hour) leg of this journey. My flight is finally boarding.

I heard from Wes via SMS. He is totally not willing to do Foraker, so it looks like we're definitely doing the West Buttress of Denali again; a 3rd time for both of us. We're basically veterans. I haven't yet told Wes that I intend to bail on his Cho Oyu trip in favor of a West Rib trip with Eric. I think I'll wait until we're on the glacier and there's no turning back.

22:00 - I've got a window seat in an exit row. Theoretically, this is a prime place to be seated if I'm not going to be in first class. In practice this sucks though. First, there's no arm rest on the fuselage side of my seat. Well, there is, but it's more aptly placed for my knee than my elbow. Second, a poster child for childhood obesity is seated next to me, and he seems to have an upper respiratory thing going on that requires lots coughing and sneezing into his tent-sized t-shirt. Suddenly I'm concerned with becoming sick right before this expedition. That'd suck. Just five more hours of this.... Maybe I can hold my breath.