Cabin Fever
I think something is wrong with me. I just set up my tent in the middle of my apartment, escaping the city by confining myself to an even smaller space. The countdown to ice, mountains, and McKinley is on.
Topic
climbing
A collection of 218 posts
Dear Ego, How Big You Are
I admit to having read this email several times. The paperwork is in order, confirmation coming soon, and the ranger notes that my experience will help the other two on their first Denali trip. It seems like a fitting picture.
McKinley Training - Week 12 of 26
Almost half way to McKinley. Seven training sessions this week, all the trip logistics locked down except the daunting food planning. My brother asked me to be his best man, and bachelor party ideas are already coalescing. Also: I now own twice as many chairs as I can use.
McKinley Training - Week 10 of 26
I skipped a few weeks of training updates but not the training: four days, including 71 flights of stairs with 62 pounds. I have started wearing my boots on the stairs and sworn off buying alcohol until after McKinley. And ice climbing is just twenty-one days away.
Goodbye, El Fede
I just got word that Fede, one of our three guides on McKinley, died Friday on Aconcagua. Two friends from that same trip are on Aconcagua right now. I almost went with them.
Denali Expedition 2008
This blog post is a compilation of the McKinley 2008 posts. They are mostly in chronological order, with some grouping to make it more accessible. The posts include the actual climbing log as well as posts related to preparatory paperwork and fitness.
Ice, ice, baby
My shiny new Petzl Nomic ice tools arrived this morning, quite possibly the most beautiful things I have ever seen. Dangling a couple hundred feet up on half an inch of pick is the stuff of dreams. (It is less thrilling than it sounds. We are top-roped the whole time.)
McKinley Training - Week 6 of 26
MooseJaw had a 25% off sale, so I stocked up for ice climbing and McKinley. The La Sportiva Baturas come to just $52.50 per toe, and shaving a couple pounds is huge when people drill holes in their toothbrush handles to save weight. As for workouts: I slacked off.
Reflections on a Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim
The day before the forty-eight mile death march we hiked down a couple miles to scout it, a view that proved daunting twenty-three hours in on the way back up. A satellite phone that only worked from the rim, and a rental Prius that negated every ounce of macho-props.
McKinley Training - Week 5 of 26
Three trips to the gym this week, four would have been better, no stair running. I looked through photos of my last trip, including the Valley of Death and Camp 1, and I am just dying to get back. Twenty-one more weeks.
