Denali 2019

116 days to Day 1 First time ever, two of us climbed at winds approaching 100 km/h, officially recorded by weather station. We never climb when it's windy (summit wind speed > 20 km/h), but for the Denali preparation, we were curious how it would feel to have strong winds climbing open snow slopes. We had it. Result: first degree frostbite. Lessons learned : Avoid direct touch of any uninsulated metal. If windy, wear goggles or it will hurt. Crossing US border on a beautiful sunny day. Mt. Hood (3,427m)  is a super popular alpine peak. It is the highest mountain in Oregon. We have climbed it already via Pearly Gates route back in 2017. Our track Wind speed on the climbing day. 11:00 was recorded 93km/h, at 2,000m, but we climbed at 3,000m, so.. Windy..will pick up more speed higher up and will blow hardest after sunset on our descent, in darkness. We decided to quit "just" 60m below the summit. Good call it was: we didn't know yet that Vera ha...

247 days to Day 1 As they say, break your mountaineering boots early. "They" were right. Two of us climbed Mt. Shuksan - a very popular peak in Washington State. Got some mileage on Vera's new expedition boots: 22km distance, 2,000m up and down. Lesson : Wearing unbroken brand-new alpine boots on an expedition is a very poor idea. The summit! Blisters on the summut, 11km still to go! Filling summit register. Six rappels down from the top. Fun! Imagine getting these on a 20 days expedition.

145 days to Day 1 (1st attempt) Two of us made First Recorded Ascent (FRA) of Spindle Peak via Spindle Couloir. We wanted to climb (and downlcimb) something similar (or harder) to the headwall on the Denali West Buttress, which is ~250 meters high. Spindle Couloir is 580 meters, steeper and without fixed ropes - was ideal: it supports our motto - if training is not twice as hard of the real climb, it is not a training. Lessons : 1) always check ultimate backup 2) sattelite phones can't dial 911 The bad dream Many, many years ago, I saw a weird dream, which ever since had kept arbitrary popping-up in my mind: an unidentified person, who looks very familiar to me, is starting uncontrolled slow slide down a steep ice chute, then quickly accelerates under gravity and disappears out of sight, probably to her death. It is quiet from the beginning to the very end. Like in those black-and-white silent movies. No screams. And then I am still there, on that edge, alone, tr...