Denali Expedition 2012
I don't even recall if I kept a journal on this trip. I'm sure I have photos though. This blog post is a placeholder until I dig that stuff up.
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denali
A collection of 59 posts
Denali Expeditions
Denali Expedition 2012I don’t even recall if I kept a journal on this trip. I’m sure I have photos though. This blog post is a placeholder until I dig that stuff up.A garage sale for your mindCurtis JonesDenali Expedition 2011The following is a compilation of posts related
Denali Expedition 2011
The following is a compilation of posts related to my self-guided Denali expedition in 2011. This also includes posts related to planning as well as the climbing journal posts.
Denali 2010 ChangesMy part-time Denali team wants a return trip in 2010, so here are my notes, mostly aimed at shaving
Mt. McKinley (2011) - Day 23
A last breakfast in Talkeetna where a stranger recognizes my iPad case as her professor's design, a ride to Anchorage, and then home. The trip was concluded.
Mt. McKinley (2011) - Day 22
The final push: Camp 3 to base camp through the bright Alaskan night, then Sheldon Air flies us out while the Rangers, who missed the previous evening's window by forty-seven minutes, sit stuck. A shower (twice), a shave, and Talkeetna restaurants that never quite manage to serve me.
Mt. McKinley (2011) - Day 21
Down from high camp in a t-shirt through a whiteout so total there was nothing to be seen. We pass the guide who nearly killed his team, give away free calories, dump the CMC in its peaceful resting place, and reach Camp 3 to thaw smoked salmon into ramen.
Mt. McKinley (2011) - Day 20
Summit day at last: the steep new route to Denali Pass, Team Yark, Team Gabby, the traverse that is still the best part of the whole climb. Then a slow descent that turns into a second rescue when the team that accused us of stealing biners peels off the autobahn.
Mt. McKinley (2011) - Day 19
Two in the morning, a team falls 1,500 feet off the top of the autobahn, and high camp happens to be full of military rescuers staged minutes away. Two dead, two survivors, and another reminder that this mountain keeps its tally. Summit day tomorrow?
Mt. McKinley (2011) - Day 18
A flat mattress, a CMC neglected, a serious headache, and a guided team firing up stoves for the summit at 3am. I persevere and stay in the tent all day. Tomorrow, weather permitting, we head up by ten.
Mt. McKinley (2011) - Day 17
A rest day at high camp: gusts hitting the tent, fortune cookie weather reports that never quite agree, and freeze dried beef stew so inedible a 3 Musketeers had to stand in. Eager to finish the trip, and already sad to leave the landscape behind.
