First Denali Trip Photo Essay

Chris

Zlatko

Returning from our cache.

Climbers returning to the 14,000ft camp.

A lenticular cloud over the summit of Denali.

Lorenzo heading down.

 Sergey and Vitali spent at least part of the day building an igloo. 

Sergey and Vitali building an igloo.

The master builder at work.

By the middle of the day the weather started to worsen and by night the winds became very strong.  We spent five days hunkered down at the 14,000ft camp due to very cold temperatures and high winds.  This amount of time in one place on the mountain is pretty trying, but we managed to entertain ourselves by listening to NPR, an making some videos of both the weather outside, and our attempts to cook appetizing meals for ten without the use of our cook tent. 



A short break in the storm allowed us to get outside and do a little digging and maintenance

Cooking for ten…
 

Mt Foraker after the storm.

After spending way too much time in our tents we made the decsion to decend rather than attempt a fast trip to the summit.  I was concerned about the possibility of getting stuck in bad weather at 17,000ft camp after the ascent as the weather window to summit looked to be very short.

–Alasdair Turner, Instructor and Guide