Denali Part 2 - Getting to 14200

So we had turned in for the night and would get a peaceful nights, today we would break camp and move as much as the 3 of us could carry to 9600 and wait for the others.  There was discussion of pushing onto 11000 and descending the next day to meet Dan and Will at 9600 and retrieve the cache, but we thought this might put too much ground between us and them and we had the best part of the kit and food and if the weather turned it could get a bit painful for Dan and Will.

Nick, Alex and I ate, packed and broke camp and headed for 9600, the weather had started to turn after we had been waiting for the sun to sink a bit lower.  As we started off the wind had picked up and the snow started to fall.  We were about to experience some Denali weather.  We pushed on and made it to the camp, dug out the cache and got the tents up fast and ate.  The weather got increasingly bad and more snow and spindrift was picked up by the wind.

 Change in the weather.

We quickly turned in and assumed that Will and Dan would do the same down at 9400, bit it would turn out they only made 7800 in the bad weather.  The next morning I woke, the wind was all but gone and the sun was out.  Fearing the worst the night before I put a shovel in my tent and I needed it, see below.

  Kangri after a bit of digging.

Soon after I was out Nick and Alwx heard from Dan and Will and that they had only made 7800 and bundle into the tiny BD tent and spent a trying 17hrs in it, total respect guys.  We waited for them to join us which would be a while as they were tired from their over night and the massive effort of heading down with Franca.

As they arrived we got them fed and watered and discussed if moving to 11,000 was worth it.  We decided against this to let them fully recover and head up the next day.  So we spent the day eating drinking and relaxing a bit.  We also met Ty and Aaron for the first time at the camp and would move up the mountain with them pretty much to 14200.

The next day we moved to 11,000 not without some sled and pole issues (I broke one, disciplining my sled).  Whilst we had started off quite comfortably the hill below 11,000 camp needs to be traversed a little and this is where it all went a bit wrong for a bit.  Alex had a sense of humour fail, I managed not to, but did manage to snap a pole re-inacting Basil Fawlty hitting his car with the branch, and could only summon an "Oh bugger" when I did it, Dan was upset as he had just stopped videoing just before this.  Sorry Dan. :)

Soon, we where into the meat of the climb and pushed on at a casual pace, Dan and I being the tortoise to everyone's hare.  At 11,000 we struck camp in a lovely split level site with great views, ate and got to bed.

 View from 11000 Camp

The next day we rested, sorted gear for the haul to 14200 the next morning and I think this proved to be a good idea and it was good to see the team making decisions together and discussing our options, that had been limited by our fool-hardiness in our catering (something that will be given greater attention to detail next time).

The next morning working in the following teams Nick and Will, Dan, Alex and myself we headed off for a haul to 14200.  At about Squirrel Point I started to feel rather ill and let Dan and Alex know.  This meant we had to move slower and that I might have to turned back if it got any worse.  The guys kept and eye on me and after about 3.5hrs we arrived at 14200 and found the others and they had found a good campsite.

Camp site 1 at 14200, headwall in the background.

We dropped our gear, sorted the site a bit and rested for a little and started down, I was still not great and was still feeling rubbish after Windy Corner, it was not until nearing the top of Motorcycle Hill, well below Squirrel Point I felt better again.

Back at camp we sorted stuff for the move the next day and went about the normal end of day duties.

The next we moved to 14200, tired and in need of rest, we sorted the camp the best we chose ate, melted ice for water bottles and the 5 of us piled into the Heksa and fell asleep, cocooned in our down bags and the heat within the tent.

The move to 14200

The next day we milled around the campsite, dug the snow walls a bit higher and enjoyed the views.  We also welcomed Ty and Aaron to 14200 and chatted to other climbers and watched the precession up and down the fixed lines and the massively high winds batter the summit ridge and everything down to Washburns Thumb.

Garmin Battery Pack by PowerTraveller

Sometime ago I bought a Garmin Battery Pack for my Garmin to keep it running for the 24hr races that I do. Most Garmins give out at about the 10-12hr mark dependent on the temperature and how you have it configured.  So something had to be done to record all the information I wanted to and be able to read the vital information I use when racing.

So the pack was ordered and received. It is shown below.



It is effectively a PowerTraveller PowerMonkey commissioned by Garmin, so it was clearly going to get use elsewhere in time.  The pack comes the battery, solar panel, varying adapters, rubber case and velcro strap for fastening it to your bars or stem.

Using it with the Garmin 705 on the bike for 24hr races it does what it says on the tin, no doubt and in an unobtrusive manner as you can mount it neatly with the rubber case and strap, not to mention rapidly (important for me as I only put it on when the Garmin internal battery is getting low).

Once it is mounted plugged in and turned on it provides the Garmin with more than enough charge to finish a 24hr race.

But being a PowerTraveller product and with me heading off to Alaska in June for a month long climbing expedition and PowerTraveller providing other team members with products I decided that I would chance my arm with this one.

Well what can I say, powering a phone, several camera and GoPro batteries it is fair to say that the PowerMonkey far exceeded expectations.  Sure it drained quickly due to its small size and it being overworked, but it worked.  With near full 24hr sun the solar panel dutifully charge the battery and when I needed to charge another product it was ready.  It coped brilliantly with the cold and I was very glad I chose to take it.  Other on the expedition also used PowerTraveller products and were very impressed with them.

PowerMonkey, what can I say I use it a lot and in the mountains and on the bike, it is just great.

Denali Report - Part 1

On the 25th May, a team of climbers with varying experience left London Heathrow for Mount McKinley (Denali), Alaska.  The team consisted of Will Hardy, Franca Serafini, Daniel Bergo, Nick Mortley, Alex Erskine and myself.  We all had different strengths and weaknesses coming into the expedition and some of these would be shown.

We arrived in Anchorage very early on the 26th, got some sleep did our food and last minute equipment shopping and then headed for Talkeetna, the gateway to Denali.  We got registered at Talkeetna Air Taxi (TAT) and then rested up for the night.

Talkeetna Air Strip

The next day we had our briefing with the rangers at the Denali National Park Service and then we began to wait at TAT for a window of opportunity.  The weather needs to be good in Talkeetna, in the range and in between.  We would wait here patiently some times and others frustrated for a few days.  Even one evening we were in a plane with our new friend Nina, off the ground and heading for the mountain.  It rises straight out of the tundra and looks intimidating when you first see it.  But this flight was turned around as we heard the weather had closed in again.

The next day however would be our lucky day, as we got crammed into Cessna 185's and after a flight with amazing views we were stood on the glacier at Base Camp.  It was finally all happening.  We registered with Lisa, got our fuel and set up camp, ate and got some sleep.

 View down the airstrip at Base Camp, Foraker in the distance.

The next day was meant to be a rest day, but eagerness and maybe a bit of weakness saw us heading off across the glacier in the middle of the day for 7800 Camp.  With skis on our feet and sleds attached to our rucksacks these sleds would cause us no end of frustration and I would even break a ski pole on one, we headed into the white cauldron. Dan, Alex and Nick and one team, Will, Franca and I as the other.

It was hot and hard work and Franca was already struggling with weight of pack and sled, and she was having binding problems also. This was resolved by me, and the application of her ski over to the boot that kept popping out of the ski.  Half way up, Will and I swapped rope positions and Will lead to 7800 camp.  We arrived and met the others, who had set up camp and started to melt snow.  We set up camp and began to help the guys.  Franca was still struggling and appeared to be faffing a lot.  Few members of the team had noticed this and were concerned about the apparent difficulties that lay ahead on the route.

 Camp 7800 (Ski Hill)

After a good meal we retired to bed and I got a surprisingly good nights sleep.  The next morning after a solid breakfast thoughts turned to the next few days and how to approach them and some of the team members expressed their concerns with Franca in an open and candid discussion and that they were concerned that the weather and speed of movement may affect the group safety and summit bid.  As we made plans to head to Camp 9600 and then 11000 to allow for good acclimatisation for the entire group.  Franca took me to one side to discuss what had been discussed and had decided that she thought it best to head to BC and out of the range.  A no doubt difficult and painful decision to make.  But this did change our plans.

Will and Dan would head back down to base camp with Franca, Nick, Alex and myself would head up to 9600 with a load carry and hope to meet the guys back at 7800.  Not long after they headed to BC, we sorted a load to carry and headed up to 9600 Camp.  The weather was getting a little gloomy and threaten to whiteout a few times.  But soon after arriving at 9600 and caching the load we were on a out way back down.

On the way back, Alex was struggling greatly with the mountaineering boot ski combination while Nick and I cut turns and even videoed each other.  Who said mountaineering was hard work?

Soon back at camp and some toys out of Alex's pram ;) we ate and turned in for the night.


Part 2 soon.