Mt. McKinley (2011) - Day 14
Acclimatize at 15,300
10:00 - After a granola breakfast, we geared up and headed towards the upper west rib. We climbed to 15,300, which when viewed from back at camp hardly qualifies as an achievement. We turned around when we hit a crevasse with no obvious snow bridge. With all of the snow the past 24 hours, it wouldn't be easy to locate. Wes wanted to try jumping across, which in itself isn't that big of a risk, but I tried in vain to explain to him because we were aligned parallel to the crevasse, if he or I fell, we'd pendulum a great distance, unnecessarily. At the time I don't think he understood my concern, but later on he got it.
Last night was supposed to be stormy - high winds and all that, and yet I don't think there was any wind whatsoever. In fact the entire day was crappy until the evening and then it was perfectly calm and remained that way until this afternoon.
The winds picked up this evening. Without so much fresh snow on the ground, the wind is merely an annoyance and not so painful. Imagine the difference between a subzero fan blowing in your face vs a subzero fan with a dose of ice blowing in your face. The former almost becomes inconsequential.
The projected overnight low here at 14k camp is -5 and tomorrow's projected high is +15 (!!!). That's seriously balmy. I spent this afternoon in the sun-baked tent, lightly napping, and I think it was probably 85 - 90 degrees at times. I love that. It was difficult to stay cool. I placed my feet and arms on the tent floor, as close to the underlying ice as possible.
Summit winds on Monday are projected to be 15mph and then up to 30mph on Tuesday. We easily have enough food and fuel for another 12 to 14 days, so we're contemplating waiting until we know we'll have a larger window for summitting. Summitting in 30mph winds is not fun. And we want to have fun. We'll most likely wait until Sunday evening's weather report to make a decision.
Ever since I reacquired my puffy pants in the back carry from 13,500, I have only rarely taken them off. Sleeping at night and remaining warm is trivial. Not over heating is the greater challenge. Each night starts with fully unzipping the side zips of the puffy pants, and only sinking up to my shoulders in the sleeping bag. The biggest challenge, really, is just being comfortable enough to sleep and not needing to pee beyond the capacity of the pee bottle.
My Exped mat has formed a leak requiring daily refilling. It's really annoying to try to flip the mat over (which covers fully half the floor space of the tent), reinflate it and get all of my stuff resituated.
During consecutive stormy days I start thinking that the bulk of my purpose is to have my bladder act as a conduit between my water bottles and my pee bottle. The lemonade flavor mixture I've been using sparingly helps considerably. Water just gets so boring.
Mike, an Alpine Ascents guide who set up camp next door to us, and wisely a short distance from his clients, regularly has clients swinging by his tent yelling his name; and later, "Who knows where Mike is?" and "We found his tent but there is nobody." We started yelling, "Mike is gone; go away." I think I'd seriously consider leaving them on the mountain.
