When I started to leave the 17,200 High Camp on Denali without standing on the summit, I wondered; how would people consider this effort. One person characterized it this way: “Alan, sorry to hear of the failure, but safety first. Safe travels home.” I understand. After spending eight days watching the swirling hurricane-force winds on the summit; it was safety first. We never got an opportunity to try to summit. It would have been suicide at best most of the time. Denali, well known for some of the harshest weather for climbers, had shown her stuff. Of all my 7 continue reading

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The weather changed with the certainty of a Lindsey Lohane probation violation. Lying in our tent like sardines, uncomfortable both physically and mentally; the sudden quietness brought on by the lack of driving snow and wind caused everyone at High C…

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Today, Friday, July 9th is a rest day at the 14 camp. We are all a bit nervous as the clouds have replaced the perfectly clear blue skies we have enjoyed the last few days. Hopefully we leave for High Camp at 17,200′ early tomorrow, Saturday morning. W…

If you have been following us on the SPOT Tracker, you know we arrived at the 14,000′ Camp on Denali this afternoon, July 5th. This camp is a major milestone on a West Buttress expedition. The day had a little of everything.We awoke at 4:00 AM to the f…

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I was aware of both my toes and finger tips as I stood in line, connected to the rope like one of the dog sled pack. 1:00 AM Friday morning, July 1. The clouds covered the morning sky just like the previous mornings. An occasional break revealed the vi…

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A quick update from Talkeetna. We arrived yesterday for the NPS briefing and were ready to fly but low clouds and snow on Denali stopped all the flights. So we spent the night at the Road House. Had Half Standard; a Full would have caused me to exceed the weight limit . Weather good in Talkeetna this morning. Hopeful for the Glacier. We are on 1st flight this AM. Lots of commercial teams here so the Mountain will continue to be crowded as we enter the late season. I will continue to send my location via SPOT and a voice continue reading

I left Colorado at 7:00 last night where the sun would set in a couple of hours. Landing in Anchorage five hours later, the sun was still shining and continued that way into the early hours of the morning. This is to be the pattern for my next 20 days as I climb Mt. McKinley aka Denali. I arrived at the Earth Bed & Breakfast and immediately went to bed only to wake up a few hours later to start the process of meeting the team. We are a diverse group: several Americans, climbers from South Africa, Netherlands, Ireland and continue reading