DENALI 2003

In the spring of 2003, I decide that my bad luck just cannot continue any longer. Again to improve my odds I decide to try a smaller mountain. In the middle of June, I am flying back to Anchorage, Alaska as a member of Jagged Globe expedition.

After a three-hour long trip we arrive in Talkeetna, the home of Don Sheldon's Talkeetna Air Taxi.

An hour long flight is a truly unforgettable experience. Air Taxi Beaver lands at the site of the base camp, commonly referred to as Kahiltna International Airport.

The base camp is located in the southeast fork of the Kahiltna Glacier at an elevation of about 2,350 m. It offers a beautiful view of the south face of Denali with the famous Cassin Ridge, the most difficult route on the mountain.

From the base camp we can clearly see our way to Camp 1 at the bottom of the Ski Hill. To avoid the hot hours during the day, we climb to Camp 1 (2,438 m) at night. Being so close to the Arctic Circle, the night is short and the sun disappears for only about an hour. We travel in ropes of four, carrying heavy backpacks and pulling plastic sleds.

From Camp 1 we continue our climb to Camp 2 (3,353 m) at the bottom of the Motorcycle Hill. The next day, we continue to the top of the hill where we stop to watch a small bush plane carrying the sightseeing tourists.

Squirrel Point is next to climb. At the top of the point, a gentle slope leads us towards the Windy Corner. The corner does not live to it's name, for the weather is perfect and there is hardly any wind.

From the Windy Corner the route to Camp 3 at 4,328 m follows the Washburn Ridge. It is too difficult to carry all of our loads at once, so we have to climb from Camp 2 to Camp 3 twice.

Camp 3 is located at the bottom of the headwall and at the edge of a steep drop to the Kahiltna Glacier, which is almost 2,000 meters below. The place is quite appropriately named The Edge of The World. To the west and across the glacier we can see a beautiful silhouette of Mount Foraker (5,304 m).

After a few days for acclimatization we continue our climb up the headwall and to the West Buttress Ridge. The upper 300 m of the headwall is secured with a fixed rope. A tall rock formation on the right of the ridge is called Washburn's Thumb.

The ridge to Camp 4 at 5,243 m is by far the most enjoyable part of the climb. The mountain slopes down to the south to Camp 3 almost 1,000 m below and to the north to Peter's Glacier about 2,000 m below. This certainly is not a trip for people afraid of heights. The weather remains perfect, although we can see some signs of high winds around the summit.

Camp 4 is located at the bottom of a snowy slope, which leads to the Denali Pass. We reach Camp 4 and settle down for a quiet night sleep, ready to go for the summit the following day. By midnight we are in the middle of a fierce storm, which brings heavy snowfall and winds approaching 120 km/h. We spend the whole night holding on to the tent, hoping that the anchors will hold. They do, but in the morning I am the only person determined to continue. Unfortunately, one cannot climb on Denali alone and we do not have enough guides to split the expedition. Outvoted four to one I am forced to abandon the climb. My frustration is great and I promise myself never to climb again with people who are not serious of reaching the top.

So we spend more than two weeks to reach Camp 4 and need only 18 hours to return back to the base camp. It is the third time that I am stopped from reaching the summit by bad weather. At this moment I try to remind myself about the journeys and goals, but am not in a mood for philosophizing. I failed and it hurts a lot because I do not feel that we have tried hard enough. I do not mind being forced down by bad weather on Shishapangma, after our supplies were totally exhausted. But to abandon the climb with lots of food and fuel is more than I can handle.