Denali 2019

It was snowing and we were in a whiteout. There was no wind, so we packed up and left 17K camp. We were going home! As always, the packs felt the heaviest. The footpath was partially gone, so by the time we reached the top of the fixed lines, I was concerned that the approach would be covered by snow and that we might wander into a crevasse. So we decided to bivouac, exactly where the Mongolians had their tent ruined by a snow block hurled by the wind. The platform was already there, so setting up the tent was not a problem. That's what we thought, only to discover that a tent pole had broken - the piece that connects to the poles was stuck inside one of the poles. Luckily, it was calm on the ridge, so after a few tries, we were able to splinter it with one section of a ski pole. You can see a more detailed report by Vera here .

I woke up at 02:00 a.m. to find Vera already awake and waiting for me with wide-open eyes. The sky was clear and quiet, and the digital thermometer measured the snow temperature at -19.7°C. After melting some snow and eating breakfast, we dressed up and left the 17K camp at 04:45 a.m. We had trained for the Autobahn traverse on Mt. Hood, thinking it was twice as difficult as Autobahn on Denali. But in reality, it was the opposite. Autobahn on Denali turned out to be twice as hard as we expected, with hard snow and no possibility for self-belay. Our ice-axes were only good for balance, and we didn't have an extra ice tool, only one straight axe each. So when we came across the 50m unprotected stretch, we both realized that one slip from either of us could end it all. It was only a 20-meter unprotected traverse, but it was enough to get our adrenaline pumping! We then passed Denali pass, Zebra rocks, Football field, and finally arrived at Pig Hill, which was the real challenge at the...

I was really concerned that our thirst on the first night at 5,220 meters 17K camp might trigger Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) or even worse conditions like High Altitude Pulmonary Edema (HAPE) or High Altitude Cerebral Edema (HACE). To make matters worse, I had lost some water from my system due to a bout of diarrhea on the 16K ridge. Despite my offers to share the remaining water mixed with snow, Vera refused. In the morning, after sunrise, we packed our stove and headed down. The weather was good, a bit windy and cold, but still climbable. We descended the 16K ridge to the top of the fixed lines in 1.5 hours, retrieved our cache and melted snow, and cooked some Mountain House. After a break, we returned to 17K camp. Some guided teams followed us and passed ahead. I thought they were moving too quickly after climbing the fixed lines, and their speed seemed to have exhausted them. Their original plan was to move the cache to 17K, but after reaching Washburn thumb, they changed their m...

Today was a big day! We moved to our 17th camp at an altitude of 5,200 meters. This is our 6th camp so far. We spent our first night without drinking water or food, and it was very thirsty. View Larger Map Full story by Vera  here .

Today is our last day at the 14K camp, and it's hard to believe we've spent 10 days here. The storm has tapered off, and the skies are blue with no wind. We have packed our stuff and sealed the sled for preservation. Tomorrow, we will leave for 17K.

First full day of the snowstorm at 14K camp is exactly as forecasted. Lucky for us, we didn't trust the InReach's "all clear" and instead relied on the NPS rangers' prediction of "heavy snow and wind." The wind on the 16K ridge makes a horrible noise, similar to a passenger jet landing, which has been nonstop all night and day. No one ventures outside due to the severe weather. Inside our tent, it is dry and comfortable, although strong gusts of wind occasionally strike the tent, but it holds strong. The forecast for 17K is a temperature of -30°C and winds up to 60 mph, so we will be staying put.

Two weeks have already passed since we arrived on the mountain. The morning was clear, and as we had planned the day before, we began packing to move our camp to 17K. However, a weak intuition prompted us to check the weather forecast one last time at the ranger station. The forecast warned of a snowstorm coming in the late afternoon and lasting for three days. Although the calm blue skies made it difficult to believe, we decided to play it safe and stay at 14K. Our decision was proved right as the storm was indeed real. By noon, the skies started to cloud over, and by 1pm, it was a complete whiteout. I will never forget the sound of the wind on the ridge, it was like a modern passenger jet was landing nearby. Some people either didn't know about the forecast or ignored it. Zhula and her guide were among them. They decided to move to the 17K camp but didn't get far before they had to stop because of the wind. Their tent was promptly destroyed by a gust that blew off a block of ...

TODAY'S STATS     Denali     Mt. Foraker Registered Climbers 1,084 12 Climbers Currently On Mountain 475 3 Completed Climbs 74 8 Number of Summits 2 0 Summit Percentage 3% 0% From Denali Dispatches : "Frank's patrol flew out of the range on Wednesday, May 22, attending a patient who collapsed at 9,800 feet, thus ending an eventful first patrol of the season." The InReach weather forecast service, which is a paid service, reported clear skies for tomorrow. This was in contrast to the report from NPS, which indicated a big storm. We chose to trust InReach and made a mistake, as this will be the last time we check the weather with them. We decided to move our cache, which consisted of seven days' worth of fuel and food, to an altitude of 5,000m, with the plan to move to the 17K camp tomorrow. The fixed lines proved to be steeper, longer, and icier than we had anticipated, but we climbed them using jumars and a Microtraxio...

Another rest day at 14K camp, and the big storm is approaching. Despite this, some climbers are attempting to take advantage of the remaining good weather by caching supplies and even moving up to the 17,000-foot camp. Interestingly, some climbers are choosing to wait until Saturday, the actual day of the storm, to move up to the 17K camp. This has resulted in the destruction of their tent at the 16K bivouac site, followed by a difficult descent down the fixed lines in the storm. Some climbers have even attempted to summit from the 14K camp, but have given up on the Denali Pass and have had difficulty finding their way out.

We spoke with a ranger who informed us that a snowstorm is expected on Saturday and it would be unwise to be above 14,000 feet. She advised us to be back down by the day after tomorrow. Based on this information, we decided to abandon our original plan to cache on the 16K ridge. We only went up towards the fixed lines for exercise. Everyone is currently building snow walls around their tents to prepare for the storm. We also met a climber from Mongolia named Zhula. She climbs with her personal guide and they have been staying here for a week. They had already cached on the 16,000-foot ridge, but for some reason, they had never moved on to the 17,000-foot camp. They should have, as it will be too late to do so tomorrow with the big storm approaching.

Windy. Vera keeps building snow wall. From Denali Dispatches : "Patrol #1 is glad they descended to 14 camp yesterday, as it is howling enough there today. High camp would have been brutal, and all are relieved that no teams are up high...Gorgeous skies, but definitely one of the windiest days this season with gusts at 14K clocked at 36 mph.  A big fat lenticular cloud is perched on the summit...Wilson and Oliver Hoogendorn of Nome, Alaska were the first two -- and so far the only two -- mountaineers to reach the summit of Denali this climbing season.  The brothers (age 20 and 21, respectively) began their West Buttress climb on May 5.  They reached the summit on Sunday, May 19, and returned to Talkeetna today.  "

Retreived cache from below Windy Corner - carried it twice in the backpacks. Very strong wind. 17K camp to summit temperature: -35°C From Denali Dispatches : "..Windy Corner still in challenging shape -- icy and exposed. Lots of crevasse falls and self-rescue at 13,200 feet.  ..Patrol #1 was the only team at high camp yesterday, and in light of a poor weather forecast, they descended to 14 camp today in snow and wind.  No teams (NPS or otherwise) are currently above 14,200 feet." TODAY'S STATS     Denali     Mt. Foraker Registered Climbers 1,065 12 Climbers Currently On Mountain 369 9 Completed Climbs 40 2 Number of Summits 0 0 Summit Percentage 0% 0% Weiwei writes: Following the harrowing experience of traversing Windy Corner, it took us an entire day to recover and mentally prepare for retrieving our cache. Despite the favorable weather, we remained in our tent. The thought of having to cross the traver...

Rest day at 14K camp (our 5th camp). Temperature -20°C. Vera builds snow wall.

We've already spent one week on the mountain. A major milestone has been reached - we moved to the 14,000-foot camp at an altitude of 4,346 meters. This is our fifth camp so far. We successfully navigated the icy and dangerous Windy Corner, and braved overnight temperatures of -20°C. On our way up, we met two Canadians who were unable to reach the summit due to one of them developing Acute Mountain Sickness at 14,000 feet. View Larger Map For more on Windy Corner, written by Vera, click here .

Weiwei wrote: On May 17th, on Day 6, when the temperature was -15C, the plan was to "Cache with the sled and go as far as we could." The sled was heavy, so I loaded my backpack as much as possible to ease the burden on the Doctor. We managed to make it up to the top of Motorcycle Hill, where I accidentally dropped into a crevasse, but it wasn't too deep. Then we climbed Squirrel Hill, which was icy. We reached the base of Windy Corner and, upon looking up, saw that the sky was clear blue. However, halfway up the mountain, a sudden gust of wind and a drop in temperature occurred. We quickly put on our ski goggles to protect ourselves from the harsh conditions. Even with two layers of gloves, I was still cold. The ice grew thicker, and the snow became thin as we climbed higher up Motorcycle Hill (later determined that the wind was too strong for the snow to stay in place). With determination, we trudged on, but the wind grew stronger and soon we found ourselves in a whiteou...

Moved to 11K Camp (or our 4th camp), location: N63.07441 W151.14500 at 3,363 m. This is our first and the easiest milestone! View Larger Map TODAY'S STATS     Denali     Mt. Foraker Registered Climbers 1,041 12 Climbers Currently On Mountain 271 9 Completed Climbs 24 2 Number of Summits 0 0 Summit Percentage 0% 0% From < https://www.nps.gov/dena/blogs/field-report-may-16-2019.htm >

Well-deserved rest day at Camp 3. Summits so far: 0. Summit temperatures: below -30°C. View Larger Map

Today, we moved to Camp 3, which is at an elevation of 3,084 m and has forecasted temperatures of below -30°C and windy conditions. View Larger Map TODAY'S STATS     Denali     Mt. Foraker Registered Climbers 1,012 10 Climbers Currently On Mountain 215 8 Completed Climbs 9 0 Number of Summits 0 0 Summit Percentage 0% 0% From < https://www.nps.gov/dena/blogs/field-report-may-14-2019.htm >

On our first full day on the mountain, we packed and moved camp 3.7 km higher up to an elevation of 2,858 m. According to a radio weather update, the weather is expected to be very cold. We have heard reports from descending climbers that it is "really cold" on the mountain. I recall seeing a pair of climbers at the ranger station who had managed to reach and return from the 17K camp, even though there were no rangers at the 14K camp at the time. They had frostbitten fingers. I am glad we brought better down parkas and mittens with us from Talkeetna. Our current goal is to reach the "official" 11K camp. We know that rangers were stuck there for several days due to bad weather. At the same time, an injured climber was waiting for rescue at Windy Corner, where temperatures drop below -20°C. Climbers have also reported that the conditions at Windy Corner are icy. They said, "We protected ourselves by using both ice screws and snow pickets." Later in the da...

Finally, flying to the Base Camp!!! At the base checked in with Lisa (camp manager for 20 consequtive years), left cache (the food will taste so good on return!) and moved 8.3 km to our Camp-1, at location: N63.02578 W151.18675 at 2,308 m

Another day of bad weather. And we were happy about it. Took good shower in TAT dormitory. Went to the local AMS "Mountain Store" to  get Vera a $3 nose guard, ended up buying used down parkas, one (Mountain Hardware) for me and one for Vera (Lowe alpine, only $20!), MH liners and a pair of Mountain Hardwear Nilas Down Mittens. These will prove to be super good on the climbing day. Then went to TAT and replaced my TNF jacket, our stuff was still loaded into the same airplane.

Boarded TAT air taxi, but last minute called off - bad weather at the Base, can't fly. Car camped outside TAT dormitory - great - can take shower and boil water. Climbers from all over the world. Two young guys from Peru plan to climb Denali in one day from the Base. Went to buy Deli food in nearby store. Nobody so far summitted: saw some frustrated Polish and some skiers. "How high did you guys climb?"  "Not high". Summit temperature: -30°C, so we are not in great hurry to get there, in fact hope weather still bad for a few days. In the afternoon, met a solo climber from Japan. Vera asked him: "Wow! You climb alone! But what if you drop into a crevasse? There will be nobody to save you". The answer was: "Then I will die". Certainly, percent of insane people is high over here.We never saw him again.

After driving 3,532 km, we arrived in Talkeetna! Took mandatory orientation at Ranger's Station. Got three CMCs. Checked in our stuff with Talkeetna Air Taxi: 260lbs of gear, food and fuel. Vera suggested to rent an extra sled, and we did, although originally planned to pull only one. Adding extra sled was critical - not so sure if I could pull all our stuff in one sled - first it's too heavy, secondly, center of gravity would be too high making sled overturn as we would see it on Squirrel Hill on return. Very thankful to Vera's insight!

In Palmer, AK. Raining. Stayed in Pioneer Motel - pretty neat. Went out to eat, had some of the most horrible pizzas in my life - not sure how they run business like that, felt like chewng pants' belt. Otherwise, we are in good moods.Vera keeps knitting good stuff.

Drove 1,216km, total 3,085km from home. Crossed Yukon border, then US border. Car camp in Rest Area . Vera finished knitting socks (will be super useful on the expedtition).

Took Hwy 37 recommended by Google Maps and not recommended by car GPS. The choice turned to be not as good as Alaska Highway . Car camped at  Beaver Dam Rest Area . Vera, when not driving, was busy knitting..

LET'S GO! Left home 7:30 a.m., drove 899km, car camp at Dry Williams Lake Rest Area .