2003 West Buttress

Up until 2003, I had been on three Denali trips.  I summited on my first attempt but failed on the next two.  Marcia, on the other hand had been on four trips with her successful summit on her last one.  Obviously, I had to get catch my tally up with her.

Another thing goading me to go bac was a description of Brad Washburn’s last ascent of Denali when he was 47 (my recollection, anyway).  He described his looking out from the summit and realizing that it was probably the last time he would experience that view.  I felt I needed to make the ascent one more time and get that kind of closure as well.

The team was 6 members, Craig Miller (who led the Annapurna Circuit trip Marcia and I did), Jeff Bowman, Leonard Russell, Nancy Lashbrook, Craig Rowley and myself.  Craig Rowley and been with me on two previous failed Denali trips.

The weather was the usual mix of good and poor weather but we made good progress up to 14,000 feet.  It was there that I began to realize that my motivation wasn’t quite up to the task.  We weren’t getting real stable nice weather so it was clear that we’d have to first wait for a weather window to get to the high camp at 17,000 and then probably wait there for another weather window for a summit bid. 

There is a dramatic difference in the conditions (weather and altitude) between the 14,000 camp and the 17,000 camp.  At the 14,000 camp there can be lots of socializing with other climbers and it can feel festive.  At 17,000 living is more desperate and most people hunker in their tents only going out as necessary.  The thought of an extended stay at 17,000 was not appealing.

In the end, Craig R, Nancy and I bailed at 14,000 after a climb up to 16,000 on the West Buttress to support Craig M, Jeff and Leonard.  We headed down from there to while they headed up to the 17,000 foot camp to wait for weather. Happily for them, they summited a couple of days after we separated from them.

After getting back to Talkeetna, Craig, Nancy & I had an extra day to kill before flying back to Seattle so we did a scenic flight.  When flying to/from glacier landing zone, the pilot usually takes the most direct safe route so sightseeing is an after thought.  The scenic flight gave us an opportunity to see the mountains from the air in a more leisurely fashion and was well worth it. 

In the end, I got whatever “closure” I needed and did catch up with Marcia.  We now each have four Denali expeditions with one successful summit attempt.

1993 – West Buttress

Marcia organized this climb with 2 other woman, Billie Butterfield and Gayle MacCleary, who had attempted to climb Mt McKinley but failed.  Since everybody knew each other, had considerable climbing experience and all of the necessary gear, the organization was pretty minimal.

The flew onto the glacier in early June and hoped to summit near the solstice.  Their health was good and the weather the usual mixture of good and bad.  They did have to spend several days at the 17,000 high camp waiting for the weather.  Despite some grumbling and noises about turning back, Marcia squashed those thoughts and kept everybody inline until the weather window showed up.  On summit day, everybody made it without drama or injury.

The descent went quickly and they had no wait at the airstrip.  Billie and Marcia went out first followed later by Gayle on the last flight of the day.

		1993 - West Buttress VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

1992 West Buttress

The 1992 trip was designed to be a “let’s just get it down” kind of climbing trip: a small experienced group, Craig Rowley, Marcia and I, to keep logistics simple; the straightforward and popular West Buttress route to keep route finding simple; and optimum timing, mid to late June, to provide long days and a low climatic probability of severe cold storms.  I had descended the entire West Buttress route in 1981, Craig, Marcia and I had all descended the  route from Denali Pass (18,200) in 1988 and Marcia had ascended the route as far as the fixed lines at 15,000 feet in 1989.  No problems, let’s just get it done!

We applied our experience and moved efficiently right from the landing strip at Kahiltna Base (6,800 feet) on the SE Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier.  Rather than doing a double carry from the airstrip, we took advantage of the downhill section leaving the airstrip and the relatively shallow slope on the lower Kahiltna to do a single carry to our first camp at about 7,000 feet.  Double carries were used from then on.

My previous two Denali climbs had been on rarely used routes so I was concerned that the crowds would be off putting.  As with some many things, enjoyment comes from expectations.  Yes, there were other people on the route, but Denali is big, and while moving I never felt crowded.  Only at camps do you have large collections of people.  The 14,000 foot camp, below the fixed lines up to the buttress, is the most populous and then the crowds just a part of the experience.  The scenery is beautiful at all times.

While we didn’t have any major problems on the trip, the weather was mediocre and Craig and I  suffered a bout of “malaise” at 17,000 waiting for better weather.  Marcia squelched our rebellious thoughts when she won a decisive game of hearts on which the course of the trip hinged.

When the weather finally appeared to be settled enough for a summit bid, Craig opted out so Marcia & I went as a team of two.  We learned a valuable lesson that day, don’t go first!  We were the first team out of high camp and I ended up having to break trail.  Since no one had climbed the route for a couple of days, that wasn’t a trivial effort.  By time we reached the summit ridge at 20,000 (a few hundred vertical feet and a quarter of a mile away), I was exhausted and could go no further.

Reluctantly we turned around.  There had already been 7 fatalities that year on Denali, the most ever to that time, and we did not want to add to the number.  The weather deteriorated significantly as we descended and the visibility made the descent difficult.

We were very glad that Craig was at camp when we arrived as he saw to our needs getting food and hot drinks into us.  He also took our photo when we arrive.  He joked that he now knew how we’d look when we were 60.  Frankly, I think we look a lot better now than we did when arrived back to our 17,000 camp.

We took a few days to get back to airstrip at Kahiltna base where we luxuriated in the warmth and thick air.  The morning after we arrived, we were greeted by thick, dark clouds and a fine gray dust on everything.  Mount Spurr 80 miles west of Anchorage had erupted spreading material in our direction.  After an all hands stomping party on the airstrip to compact and smooth the surface, the air services began flying and we got off the mountain.

1989 Denali West Buttress

While we successfully traversed Denali during 1988 Muldrow Trip, Marcia did not have a summit to her credit.  After being stuck with 5 guys for nearly 5 weeks, she decided to go the other extreme and organize a trip with 4 woman instead. 

Three of the members, Cindy Luksus, Debbie Wolf and Billie Butterfield were friends of Marcia from The Mountaineers.  The fourth member of the trip was Mary who came recommended by John Arnold one of our Muldrow trip mates.  They chose to attempt the West Buttress route (the most popular) in June when the weather is warmer (by Denali standards).

They chose the expedition name of “Seattle Women’s Alpine Team” (aka, SWAT).  There was another all-women’s team on the mountain, “Chicks on Pricks” (the “pricks” being crampons) with whom they were occasionally confused.

They got off on a rocky start when after flying on to the glacier, it turned out that Mary brought along a severe cold.  Not wanting to slow the rest of the team down, Mary flew off the mountain after a few days but not before passing her respiratory ailment on to the others. 

They continued on with the expedition but each of them came down with the “crud”.  Between battling illness and poor weather, they abandoned their trip after 2-1/2 weeks having spent many days at the 14,000 camp and making a carry to the West Buttress at 16,200’.

1988 – Denali, Muldrow Traverse

The 1981 South Buttress traverse of Denali got me keen on seeing lesser visited areas of the mountain.  Even though the Muldrow Glacier on the NE corner of Denali was the only route climbed from 1913, the year of the first ascent, until 1951, the year the West Buttress was climbed, the Muldrow now comes in a distant second in popularity to the West Buttress.

One of the Muldrow’s drawbacks is its longer approach to the glacier before the climb begins. On the West Buttress, climbers land on the SE Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier at 7,200 feet and start from there.  For the Muldrow the start is from Wonder Lake at 2,100 feet and nearly 20 miles distant from the Muldrow Glacier. In addition, the McKinley River has to be crossed.  Depending on the river flow, that crossing is a major challenge.

Recruited for the trip were, besides Marcia & myself, Craig Rowley, Dave Sparks, Al Ellsworth and John Arnold.  To address the longer approach, we allowed for a 4 to 5 week climb and we hired a dog sledder to haul a substantial part of our gear to McGonagall Pass and the glacier.  We solved the McKinley River crossing by leaving early, the second week of April, when the river was frozen.  Since we were traversing the mountain and descending the West Buttress route, thus dodging a river crossing during the breakup or Spring floods.

The climbing was not extremely technical but the route finding through crevasse fields kept us on our toes.  We took way too much food (my fault as I planned out much of the food) which slowed us down.  To keep our pack loads down yet get everything from camp to camp, took multiple trips.  We ended up dumping substantial amounts of food in crevasses along the way.  Even today I can’t look at Danish butter cookies without thinking of the tins that went into crevasses at 16,000 feet.  The good side of our slower pace was that none of us had any major altitude problems on the trip. 

While we failed to summit the peak on account of bad weather on our summit day from the 17,000 camp on the West Buttress, we did complete the traverse and dragged ourselves and oodles of gear over Denali Pass at 18,200 feet.  The climb lasted 34 days, and, with the exception of a National Park Service climbing team returning from Silver Throne (a nearby peak east of Denali), we saw no other climbers until we reached the 17,000 camp on the West Buttress, nearly 4 weeks of solitude. 

		1988 Muldrow Traverse VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

1987 – Aconcagua/Argentina

The 1987 Aconcagua trip was Marcia’s and my first foray into organizing an expedition. Joining us were fellow Mountaineer friends Craig Rowley, Bob Bergstrom and Larry Anzalone along with John Arnold and Scott Darsney, climbers that Bob knew and recommended from a previous trip.

We planned for a 3-week trip flying from Seattle to Miami, Miami to Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires to Mendoza in one push. 1987 being before the current practice of airlines extracting revenue at every opportunity, we strove to get our many duffel bags onto the airplanes without paying excess baggage. One tactic was to demonstrate how light they were by having Marcia heft the bags onto the baggage scales. We figured the mostly male counter agents would assume that any bag hoisted by a female couldn’t be overweight.

At the frontend of the trip we spent several days in Mendoza getting our permit (at the time, the Argentine government required all foreign climbers to present a doctor’s medical statement and an EKG) and supplies. Finding white gas for our stoves wasn’t possible so we ended up with paint thinner for our stoves (MSR XGK). That fuel later created problems as it repeatedly fouled the stove’s fuel jet and its fumes were noxious.

Mendoza, though, was charming. The hotel we stayed at had a lovely courtyard in which we were able spread out our gear during the repack. The food and wine were excellent. Even today, I remember the meals featuring thick steaks and wonderful red wine.

Our original thought while in Seattle was to attempt the more difficult Polish Route rather than the Normal Route. After we arrived at the lodge (Penitentes) from which you choose the drainage to ascend, we quickly changed over to the much easier Normal route.

It is a 2-day trip from the road to the base camp, Plaza de Mulas. While mules carry most of your equipment, they travel separately from you, so you must carry your personal and camping gear to be self-sufficient for the walk to basecamp.

Once at basecamp, there are 3 intermediate camps before a summit attempt. To help with the acclimatization, you typically take at least 2 days between camp by carrying some gear to the next camp on one day, caching it, returning to the lower camp and then moving your camp on the second day.

The Normal Route is not technical, but its challenges are the altitude, your health (i.e., avoiding respiratory or travel illnesses) and the weather. First Craig, then Larry turned back because of altitude issues. The difficulty in getting the stoves to reliably melt water while spewing noxious fumes from burning paint thinner probably contributed to Craig’s and Larry’s turning back.

On our summit day, John, who was battling respiratory issues, turned back and Bob accompanied him back to camp. It was Scott, Marcia and myself who summited. We were the only people on that summit at the time but there was the body of a climber who had become disoriented on the summit in a white-out and died just a few days earlier.

The trip out took a couple of days. Scott and John remained on the mountain (I think John subsequently summited). While Bob, Marcia & I returned to Mendoza. Larry had stayed at the hotel until our return while Craig returned home.

The four of us (Larry, Bob, Marcia and I) toured Mendoza for a few days then returned to Buenos Aires. While Larry and Bob continued to the USA, Marcia and I detoured to the border of Argentina and Brazil where we visited Iguazu Falls. Afterwards we headed to Rio De Janeiro but by this time we were getting tired of carrying large duffel bags of outdoor gear through airports and headed for home rather than spend more time in Brazil.