3 June: We awoke to a glorious morning. George and Ron were up early and had walked to a nearby river to see a magnificent view of the range.
After breakfast, we then headed over to the Ranger Station for our compulsory briefing and to pay the park fee of $150. After this we went back to the Hudson’s hangar to finalize our packing and to await flights.
Teams were being flown out when we arrived. A German climber has arrived back and was waiting out by the hangar door. Both his hands were loosely bandaged - frostbitten. On summit day he had woken up with cold hands and they did not warm up as he hoped. He turned around on Denali Pass. All his fingers were blue and blistered, swollen to twice their normal size. He was waiting for a lift to the hospital.
The boss at the Hangar was in good spirits “everyone who wants to go out today will get their ride”. It was music to our ears. By 3pm we had all been shipped to base camp at 7200’ .  |
The landing was abrupt as Hud had left the plane's wheels down through the skis – this caused the plane to get bogged.
We unloaded it and Jake managed to rev the plane out of the jam. The remainder of the day was filled with preparations, eating and camp work .
 4 June: We woke at 3 am for breakfast – hot oats and a muesli bar. We dismantled the tents and we packed our sleds with the remaining group gear. Caeful packing is required so that the sled is not too bulky or unbalanced. A low profile sled works best. Everything in the sled is non critical. Items like the tent, sleeping bag and half of all lunch food should be packed in your backpack. |
We headed down Heartbreak Hill. The going was excellent – the track at this stage was well marked and hard from the cold night air. Thee was no drastic exertion needed on this leg, we carried our full load. By noon we had reached 7800’ and set up camp. We occupied another groups base which saved us from any digging. At 1pm we broke for a sleep.
We regrouped at 4pm for a briefing – the plan for the next days was laid down by JR. We were given clear orders to pack to carry up a cache for 9800’ . After packing for the next day we met up for dinner.
5 June: We woke at 430 am and headed out efficiently thanks to last nights pre packing. The sleds were kept light and we used crampons on the hardened slope. We headed up towards ‘Ski Hill’ to camp at its foot. We cached and returned to C1 by 12:30pm.
“Life is full of false summits”
Morton Lane
| 16 days of carrying and caching pass by... We head up Ski Hill, slog up Motorcycle Hill, and pass Windy Gap to reach the Ranger camp at 14'200 where we were spent 4 storm days. .  During the storm, those at high camp were totally battered, tents blown apart - the Spaniards had 7 in one tent for days … when the storm breaks a Spaniard needed rescuing -with possible appendicitis he needed to get down to 14200 for an airlift . The rush to come down the headwall created a traffic jam on the fixed lines...4 people come down with frostbite injuries from waiting about up there. We found an abandoned igloo and spent 3 days in there sheltering. |
18 June : We establish high camp at 17'200
19 June: Forced rest day because of high winds
20 June: Summit bid tomorrow – it loks like everyone is going for tomorrow – after tomorrow the weather deteriorates significantly. We are hopeful of summiting and getting back before the storms break out on Wednesday. Tomorrow is the 21st of June which is the Sumer Solstice. A summit on this day would be very special. Several guided groups have arrived this evening – we carried ice blocks over to an Alpine Ascents group led by Eric to assist them build their walls. Eric’s team were tierd after spending the last night in a snow cave at 16’200. His guide and two clients got frostbite up on the headwall.
21 June: Summit day! 5° F – Summer Solstice. We were up at 7:30 and the weather looked clear - we were going for it. After breakfast and packing we headed up Denali pass at 9am. JR led he rope and I followed. The NOLs team of instructors [the only ones who had successfully waited out the storm up at 17k for the last week] followed. We were the only two teams heading out. The slope of Denali pass looked loaded and we ploughed along wasting no time here. After this the going was reasonable and everyone felt strong. Pig Hill came up upon us and it posed the challenge of the day – we saw the NOLs team work their way up its slope, the snow up to their knees. We rested a bit, cached our backpacks and got ready for the last leg up.  Step after step and it was done – we were on top of the world, walking along the magnificent final ridges towards the summit. We reached the summit at 4.55pm and returned to the camp at 9.45 pm. |
22 June - Descent: After a second nights sleep at 17200' I was finding it hard to drag myself out of the sleepng bag. It was a relaxed start and left it until around 11am before heading off. JR made it clear about the importantce of being alert down the precitipous ridge down to Washburn's Thumb. We had a break at 14200 before heading down on to camp at11K. A quick camp was made for a 4 hour sleep. We ate Quesadillas and macaroni and cheese! The camp was slushy so it was wise to elay walking on the lower glacier until "night fall"
23 June - Descent to airstrip, helped a team in their rescue of a lad with a dislocated knee back to the strip. On arrival we sat about drinking Everclear with a tangerine vitiman drink until our flights arrived.
Gear at great prices :