Denali 2019

88 days to Day 1 Training for the Denali Summit Day Distance one way, km Elevation gain, m Rohr 8.3 1,156 Denali 3.7 931 We had waited for the annual arctic cold front but it seemed it would never come. Yet we needed to test our expedition clothes at least at -20°C cold. November and December came and passed, all warm. January 2019 was the same warm. We almost gave up on that idea, when the cold suddenly arrived! Environment Canada issued "Extreme Cold Warning" in BC - it was very good news. Off we went to Mt. Rohr. Lesson learned : DO NOT overheat! We wanted -20°C and got it. At the parking it was -22°C, exciting! Vera was wearing just windproof, at -20°C and was super comfortable. I was wearing a lot of layers, forgetting that once I climbed Rohr is just shorts and base layer (-20°C). Naturally, I overheated, from head to toes, got wet and then got very cold. Such was the lesson: too much warm clothes will make y...

60 days to Day 1 Tested our brand new sleeping bags, tent and stove at -20C cold. Test passed! Lesson : even if you wear lots of layers, you will get cold very fast if your feet are not insulated too.

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...

128 days to Day 1 Camped two nights at Dinkey Peak . We wanted to check our tent under heavy static stress and we got lucky. It was pretty big (for local standards) dump of wet snow overnight and our expedition tent passed the test. Had to get out at night and check the structure - the tent stood, with thick layer of wet snow on top and sides. Lesson leaned : watch tent poles. If accidentally dropped, they can travel over and then under the snow quite a distance. Although I knew this, I still managed to drop one and it was gone down the steep slope in less than one second. It was already dark, so we pitched the tent without it. Next morning, Vera spotted it sticking out 10 meters below us. So I lowered her on belay and she retrieved it: after being airbiorn like an bow arrow, it pierced hard layer of crust and stopped, only 20cm of it still sticking out. One pole is gone...and odds of finding it next morning being <1%. Vera's attitude in such situations (not first time!...

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...

206 days to Day 1 (1st attempt) Two of us climbed  Mt. Shasta 4,317m (CA)  via Avalanche Gulch route. It became the 30th, above 4,000 meters peak,  that we climbed together. The climb was to train for the Denali summit day. Distance one way, km Elevation gain Shasta 7.8 2,107 Denali 3.7 931 Lesson : if you can't self-belay on a snow slope, never count on self-arrest, instead protect PHOTO: Avalanche Gulch is just in the middle The climb The descent On the descent we stopped for lunch break at Misery Hill, and Vera pointed out to the shifted metal band on one of my crampons. I said "ah, it's just cosmetic". I have climbed like that many times. But then I surprised myself taking the crampon off, inspecting it and readjusting anew. I remember clearly at the back of my mind a briefly flashed image of the exit chute of the Red Banks with entire stretch of Avalanche Gulch and also the episode when Joe Sim...