Climbing@alanarnette.com
Site Update Notifications and Expedition Dispatches

This is home for site notifications and dispatches from Alan's expeditions plus updates on Memories are Everything Alzheimer's fund raising activities. Alzheimer's is a devastating disease and the true cause of the disease is unknown. Researchers are making great progress but more is needed. And there is hope.

I have partnered with the Alzheimer's Association, the leading voluntary health organization in Alzheimer care, support and research. Their mission is to eliminate Alzheimer's disease through the advancement of research; to provide and enhance care and support for all affected; and to reduce the risk of dementia through the promotion of brain health.

100% of your donations go directly to Alzheimer's issues. None go to Alan's climbing expenses. I encourage you to read more about this excellent organization and make your tax deductible donation today.

Please Donate Today
Memories are Everything

« The Road Back to Mt. Everest: Memories are Everything | Main | Hurry Up and Wait... »

Made it to Talkeetna

Made it to Talkeetna,a small tourist town serving as the gateway to Denali National Park. I visited the National Park Service headquarters to see how the season has gone thus far - not good news.


As of today, June 11, there have been 1176 climbers registered to attempt all routes on Denali. Of the 547 who have finished their attempts only 193 have reached the summit. That is a 33% success rate. Normally about half summit each year.

The 2007 season has extremely high winds pinning down many teams at the Basin Camp at 14,000'. There have also been 41 people fall into crevasses thus far and of course, 5 deaths in the area. So once again Denali proves it reputation as one of the world's toughest mountains.

I meet up with team tomorrow morning. I rode up from Ancorage with Mike, the tattoo studio owner from New York. A very nice guy and, as you would expect, covered in colorful tattoos! I expect to learn about the business after spending the next three weeks with him.

We will have a briefing with Park Rangers tomorrow to understand the various rules. As a US National Park, Denali is tightly controlled for pollution, unsafe behavoir and overall saftey. We also pay a $210 permit fee each which inlcudes helicopter resuce in dire cases.

It is raining today with temps in the 50's. On the Hill, highs range from 5 to 35 and lows from -10 to +10. The winds have finally calmed down a bit allowing a slew of summits the past few days. Let's hope it continues when we go for the top near the end of June.

After a 40 minute bush plane ride, we will be dropped off at 7200' on the Kahiltna glacier to start the climb.
Next dispatch from the glacier!

Climb On!

Alan

Comments (2)

Hi Alan,
Great to read about you returning to Everest for another try. I am impressed with the number of mountains that you are going to climb this year. I am also thinking of going to Shishapangma this coming fall - Will Cross, Blair Falahey & Dawa Stevens are planning to go there with Asian Trekking as well.
Best of luck with Denali. Will be following along. Cheers, Paul.

Eugene from France Author Profile Page:

Hi Alan,

I am very pleased to see your progress on the mountain.
Climb on and make safe as you can.

Post a comment

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)

This page contains a single entry from the expedition posted on June 11, 2007 5:49 PM.

The previous post from this expedition was The Road Back to Mt. Everest: Memories are Everything.

The next post from this expedition is Hurry Up and Wait....

Many more posts and VIDEOS can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.

Recent Posts