Anyone ever climbed Denali?

[Wasatch Rebel]

If so, what can you tell me about it? I heard the first guys to climb it were three gold prospectors more than 100 years ago.

[trackrunner]

several have. one member handle name is denaliguide another has climbed the seven summits.

[Iceaxe]

As with many things like this

[CarpeyBiggs]

[quote=Iceaxe]As with many things like this

[Sombeech]

Partly Animal - Bruce, has done all 7 summits

[denaliguide]

what do you want to know? i was a guide on the mountain for 12 years. 23 expeditions and 13 summits. not all as a guide though. you thinking of a trip?

sourdough expedition did the north summit in 1910 as someone else has pointed out.

they came in by dog team from fairbaks and nenana. climbed to the summit from a camp at 10,000 ft on the muldrow glacier. north summit is 19,000+. thats a long day cutting lots of steps. they also carried a spruce pole that they had hoped would be visible from fairbanks. nuts.

[Wasatch Rebel]

what do you want to know? i was a guide on the mountain for 12 years. 23 expeditions and 13 summits. not all as a guide though. you thinking of a trip?

sourdough expedition did the north summit in 1910 as someone else has pointed out.

they came in by dog team from fairbaks and nenana. climbed to the summit from a camp at 10,000 ft on the muldrow glacier. north summit is 19,000+. thats a long day cutting lots of steps. they also carried a spruce pole that they had hoped would be visible from fairbanks. nuts.

I'm kind of mulling it over. I had never really thought about it until I saw the Ken Burns National Parks series. It sounded like if the sour doughs could make it without much equipment, then maybe I could with some warm up climbs.

How tough is it really? My biggest challenge when I climbed King's was adjusting to the altitude, and Denali is over a mile higher. What kind of technical skill is needed? I guess I want some details on the difficulty and the expense of doing the climb.

[denaliguide]

first off let's just say that the sourdoughs of 1910 werent like us. they were MEN! really, really tough SOB's. to do what they did with no goretex or down bags, or beta is amazing.

obviously the difficultiy is dependant on which route you do. i have been on two of denali's routes. the west buttress and the west rib.

the west buttress to me is winter camping at altitude. techinically not that difficult. your summit chances depend on the weather and whether you acclimitize well. the only really techincal day is from 14,000 to 17,200. you have 800' of fixed line up the headwall to 16,200 and a beatiful ridge from there to the camp at 17,200. the route from 17,200 to denali pass has also had fixed pickets in years past. i don't know if the nps is still maintaining that part of the route or not. they started doing it several years ago on a stretch called the autobahn. it was a stretch where there had been many fatal falls over the years.

i have taken complete novices up the buttress and made the summit.

the west rib is a bump up on the difficulty scale. it starts with a walk up the "valley of death". a valley so narrow that if an avalanche starts up high it can run all the way scross the valley and up the other side. very few safe places to camp until you are at the bottom of the couloir which starts the route. this is a fantastic route and you won't have anywhere near the crowds like on the buttress. starts with a 50 deg couloir for 1500' which is a blast. then keeps going up. if you can locate a video called "denali storm" it's worth a look. might be hard to find.

expense depends on how much of the gear you already have. if you had absolutely no gear then i would estimate $4000. but if you already have a quality 4 season tent, -40 sleeping bag, puffy down parka, double plastic mountaineering boots, you have the big ticket items. other than that its your normal winter camping clothes and gear. harness, 6 biners, a pulley, an ice screw, snow picket or two, crampons, couple of cordelettes, and an ice axe are about all you need for technical gear. i recommend snowshoes over skis. unless everyone on the rope is a good skier, its just a cluster _uck trying to ski roped up. if you can find a course on crevasse rescue, take it.

lots of good books out there with info. too many to mention.

take food for 21 days. my shortest trip was 11 days and longest was 31 days.

going guided is not a bad choice if you don't have the time to put in on the logistics. guides will pack the food and have all the group gear and of course local knowledge is hard to beat when looking at the weather. trips used to be around $3500. check with mountain trip for good info there. (shameless plug for who i used to work for)

you also have airfare to anchorage, a shuttle ride from anchorage to talkeetna (i think around 60 bucks) and a flight from talkeetna to basecamp (used to be around $350). you also need to register with the NPS at least 60 days prior to you attempt and its $150

that should get you started. anything else let me know how i can help.

[stefan]

i've also hear weather turns a lot of people back from summiting. a friend of mine spent two weeks trying to summit but didn't cause of the weather. however, he did watch someone snowboard down from the peak.

[Wasatch Rebel]

first off let's just say that the sourdoughs of 1910 werent like us. they were MEN! really, really tough SOB's. to do what they did with no goretex or down bags, or beta is amazing.

obviously the difficultiy is dependant on which route you do. i have been on two of denali's routes. the west buttress and the west rib.

the west buttress to me is winter camping at altitude. techinically not that difficult. your summit chances depend on the weather and whether you acclimitize well. the only really techincal day is from 14,000 to 17,200. you have 800' of fixed line up the headwall to 16,200 and a beatiful ridge from there to the camp at 17,200. the route from 17,200 to denali pass has also had fixed pickets in years past. i don't know if the nps is still maintaining that part of the route or not. they started doing it several years ago on a stretch called the autobahn. it was a stretch where there had been many fatal falls over the years.

i have taken complete novices up the buttress and made the summit.

the west rib is a bump up on the difficulty scale. it starts with a walk up the "valley of death". a valley so narrow that if an avalanche starts up high it can run all the way scross the valley and up the other side. very few safe places to camp until you are at the bottom of the couloir which starts the route. this is a fantastic route and you won't have anywhere near the crowds like on the buttress. starts with a 50 deg couloir for 1500' which is a blast. then keeps going up. if you can locate a video called "denali storm" it's worth a look. might be hard to find.

expense depends on how much of the gear you already have. if you had absolutely no gear then i would estimate $4000. but if you already have a quality 4 season tent, -40 sleeping bag, puffy down parka, double plastic mountaineering boots, you have the big ticket items. other than that its your normal winter camping clothes and gear. harness, 6 biners, a pulley, an ice screw, snow picket or two, crampons, couple of cordelettes, and an ice axe are about all you need for technical gear. i recommend snowshoes over skis. unless everyone on the rope is a good skier, its just a cluster _uck trying to ski roped up. if you can find a course on crevasse rescue, take it.

lots of good books out there with info. too many to mention.

take food for 21 days. my shortest trip was 11 days and longest was 31 days.

going guided is not a bad choice if you don't have the time to put in on the logistics. guides will pack the food and have all the group gear and of course local knowledge is hard to beat when looking at the weather. trips used to be around $3500. check with mountain trip for good info there. (shameless plug for who i used to work for)

you also have airfare to anchorage, a shuttle ride from anchorage to talkeetna (i think around 60 bucks) and a flight from talkeetna to basecamp (used to be around $350). you also need to register with the NPS at least 60 days prior to you attempt and its $150

that should get you started. anything else let me know how i can help.

Thank you, sir! I sure appreciate all that info. It looks like I'd better do some other things to get some real experience before attempting, and start acquiring gear. I think my best sleeping bag is good to about -20. I have a good tent, but I'm not sure if it's good enough. I have a nice down coat that I almost never wear because it's too warm for almost any conditions I've been in. I think if and when I decide to do it, it will be a guided trip. Anyway, I really appreciate the info as that will help me make my ultimate decision.