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...

104 days to Day 1 Training for the Denali Summit day. Distance one way, km Elevation gain, m  Hood 5.5 1,680 Denali 3.7 931 From commercial itinerary: "From High Camp we cross a long flat section of glacier and gain the slope leading to Denali Pass known as "the Autobahn". There are fixed pickets along this section of the route and the climbing can be on anything from deep winter snow to bullet-proof blue ice." We thought nothing would be better for Autobahn training as Mt. Hood in Oregon. Besides we had unfinished business there: the actual summit. So off we went. The condition of Vera's first-degree frostbite received here, two weeks prior . Taking a break at Devil's Kitchen The traverse looks pretty much like photos of actual Denali Autobahn. We just saw a climber slipping and falling down to the base. Quite a fall - she survived. Coincidentally, we also saw yet another fall almost along t...

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...