The Alaska season has begun! Denali Team #1 is on the mountain, as is Kurt Hicks’ Mt. Hunter expedition, run out of Kahiltna (Denali) Base Camp. I met with Team #1 climbers and guides as they were making their last preparations at the airstrip. This mostly consists of changing into mountain clothes and boots, making a last phone call to the “outside world,” eating some rockin pizza, and weighing gear. Then, you load up the planes, step on, strap in, and say goodbye to dirt for three weeks.
Photo #1: The Alaska Range. Denali is in the center of the photo, with Hunter and Foraker to its left. The Tokositna Glacier is in the foreground, which flows from Denali.
Photo #2: Denali, so close you can touch it (with your wing tips)
Photo #3: The Mooses Tooth massif. One of the premier destinations for alpine climbing in Alaska!
Photo #4: Another view of the Mooses Tooth massif. The Ruth Glacier is in the foreground on the right, and the Coffee Glacier in the back left of the photo.
Photo #5: The Great Ampitheater of the Ruth Gorge. The Mooses Tooth is in the left of the photo and the right side comprises some of the most challenging alpine terrain in the world. The peaks of Barrill, Dickey, Bradley, Wake, Johnson, Grosvenor, and Church (on our right side of the photo) rise dramatically out of the glacier. Dickey, for example, rises 5000 vertical feet above the glacier in a steep rock face.
Photo #6: Mt. Hunter. Denali Base Camp is located on the left side of the photo, right where the glacier disappears from view.
Photo #7: AAI Team 1’s Base Camp setup, with Mt. Francis on the left and Denali’s summit in the background. It looks cold up there today!
Photo #8: The imposing North Buttress of Mt. Hunter. Wow! Right out of Base Camp, steep alpine terrain awaits those who dare. This creates an interesting mix of climbers on the Kahiltna Glacier – some day-craggers, some alpine hardmen, some suitors for the West Buttress, and a handful of NPS rangers all come together at the BC to put themselves to work on their climb of choice. Denali is truly a special – and beautiful – place.
–Mike Pond, Instructor and Guide