denali 2006

Here is a brief trip report, with pics and vid, of a trip to Denali in the spring of 2006

Expediton name: Whiskey
Ed Magin-Team Leader/Head Water Boiler/Alarm Clock Operator and Motivator
John Colter- Photographer/Cookie Dough Porter/Morale Officer
Noah Howell-Videographer/Igloo Engineer

Ed enjoying the view on the flight in.

Viewing the lower Kahiltna Glacier and a good reminder of why we brought a rope.

Unloading onto the glacier at basecamp, about 7,000ft.

Our first camp was at 7,900ft, after hauling 150+ pounds for 4 or 5 miles. The clouds broke right after dinner and we were able to see the Messner Couloir and the Orient Express which are the main snow chutes off the summit plateau, they looked very far away.

Our next camp at 11,000ft. Beautiful spot where we rested and acclimated. A neighboring Korean team challenged us to a game of throw your snow wands into a bucket (i believe it’ll be appearing in the Vancouver Winter Olympics as an exhibition sport).

Manhauling up to 14,000ft camp with the 90lb beast. It’s best not to stop with that much weight on, you can’t get started again.

Ed and I chillin after setting up camp at 14,000ft. Thank God this was the last of hauling heavy loads uphill. You basically climb the mountain twice with all the shuttling and acclimatization.

Behold the urinal at 14,000ft camp.

The amazing view of Forraker at dusk from 14 camp. We were very fortunate and had many beautiful clear days.

This is the view from the tiny ridge camp at 16,000ft. We sat in awe and ate lunch.

Ed and I further up the West Rib. Fun route without any technical climbing just good and steep with some exposure.

We reached 18,000ft+ and decided that was high enough. This is a pic of Ed on the descent in 10″ of fresh pow that had fallen in the last few days.
It seemed like things were going soooo well, maybe too well.

The next day was a supposed to be a rest day and so we decided to hang out and build an Igloo (not all that restful really). This is Ed laying down the first row of blocks.

It was our first igloo and it turned out more like a beehive, but it kept the wind out and it was a nice place to hang out, especially when the 100mph wind storm passed through later in the trip. This is me cutting blocks.

Finishing up our shelter.

Team Whiskey celebrating the completion of our Igloo. What was supposed to be our rest day was actually quite a bit of work. We all felt great and if the weather was good we would try for the summit the next day. You can see the Messner(hour glass right above us) and the Orient( further lookers right). Our original plan was to climb the west rib and ski the Messner, however the Messner looked like a sheet of ice with only this new bit of snow on top. We liked the Orient better as we could easily climb it and get a feel for the snow conditons.

The next morning we started out of camp at noon, not quite an alpine start ,but since it never really gets dark out it didn’t matter. We didn’t shoot many photo’s or video we just focused on the climb which was nice.

We made it to the summit plateau in pretty good shape and time. From 19,000ft to the summit was a different story. Ed seemed unaffected by the altitude and John was hurting a little, but I was bonking hard. It was the most difficult thing I’ve ever done, 20 slow steps and rest for 20 secs then repeat, for an hour. Struggling on we did make it to the tippy top at around 9pm. The sun was dipping low and the skies were clear, but don’t take my word for it or pretend the pictures even begin to capture it. Only by going and seeing for yourself can you apreciate Denali and it’s massive existence.

Here is John playing the “Thin Air Guitar”.

This is the only summit photo we have. On the descent Ed who had the other digi cam took a fall of over 3,000ft and lost his camera along with every other piece of gear, but not his life. John and I continued skiing down the Orient very slowly and carefully. We were sure Ed was dead after watching him gap 50-100 feet at a time as he tumbled down and out of sight. We weren’t sure how we would get a dead body off the mountain. The head ranger at camp said he’s seen 4 folks fall down the Orient and all have died. Ed didn’t die, he finally stopped flipping and sliding down the slope and walked down 1000 feet to meet his rescue party. John said it well “It wen’t from the best day to the worst and back to the best in just a few hours”. This is a view down the Orient Express from about the point Ed fell. Amazingly he made the right hand bank towards camp.

Ed getting a ride off the mountain in the heli. They couldn’t be sure of his injuries so they sent him to the hospital to be checked out. He released himself the same day with only some cuts on his eyes and being sore from head to toe.

A storm had arrived and made camp life unpleasant even in our igloo.

John and I gave away all our remaining food and fuel packed up and headed out. We skied down to the airstrip in one push and were flown out the next morning. An amazing trip on a big beautiful mountain. Ed is set on going back to complete the route by skiing not sliding the chute. I think he just wants to collect the thousands of dollars of gear left behind.

I recorded the trip and it became a featured segment in “PW06” the Powderwhore Production. I took a helmet cam along to use from the summit, but for some reason it wouldn’t function properly above 16,000 feet. Here are the 2 video piece’s of the trip cut from PW06.

Thanks to Ed and John who were excellent teamates and now good friends. All photo’s were taken by John Colter, nice work.