Approaching Camp 2 at 11,000 feet
From May 30 to June 20, I was on Denali working a trip for Alpine Ascents International. This was my first trip on the mountain and a trip that I have wanted to do since I first started guiding in 2003 in Southeast Alaska. A lot of guides have a love/hate relationship with Denali, i.e they say they hate it but keep coming back to work more trips. I found the trip to be a lot harder than I expected. I felt physically prepared but I definitely felt tired at the end of the day. The altitude and the heavy loads were tough for me in addition to all the cooking, shoveling and putting on a happy face. We had a lot of bad weather and ended up spending 6 days at the high camp at 17,000 feet waiting out weather. There were high winds and really cold temperatures. In the end we left without a summit but we did leave with all of our toes and fingers. Here are some photos from the trip. Thanks to Steve Tambosso for sharing all of these images.
Climbing on the lower mountain with heavy loads
Such pretty views and weather
Heading up in a storm
Climbers on the upper West Buttress Ridge
Looking out at Mt. Foraker from the diving board at high camp at 17,000 ft
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