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Hi Folks,
From: Rob Cobb <robcobb2@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, May 15, 2010 at 16:00
Subject: To climb again - a return trip to Denali (Mt McKinley)
To: Rob Cobb <robcobb2@gmail.com>
1. Return home with all our appendages intact and fully functioning2. Achieve #1 and visit the summit
Wow ! Great trip, DESTINATION wasn't achieved, but the JOURNEY was
marvelous. What a wonderful group of friends to hang out with for over two
weeks !
down for days if we had stayed at 17K longer. We believe no one summited
for a number of days in a row in there. We should have elected to stay at 14K camp another day due to the bad
weather, but the decision was made to head down, and we had to hole up at
the flat area called the Polo Grounds between 13,300' Windy Corner and the
top of Squirrel Hill at 12,400', roughly at around 12,700'. To clarify, a
large avalanche came down the face of the West Buttress ridge on Climber's
Left, and the debris stopped maybe 400' from us. The wind from the front
of this blew loose snow onto us, and beyond for a few hundred feet. In the
dark, it was hard to tell exactly what happened, but we have great fotos
from the next day, when it cleared up nicely. The vestibule pole on my
tent snapped, tearing the fabric slightly. The sides and front of both
tents had 2'+ of snow around them. Billy was the only one able to see his
plastic boots in the buried vestibule, so he courageously volunteered to
don them, crawl out the back door, scrounge up a shovel, dig up the
vestibule, visit the other tent to ascertain their well-being, and report
that all the sleds and packs and poles seemed to be visible nearby where we
had left them. Very scary moment (only my launderer will know for
sure...). Turned out to be like a nasty dog merely nipping at you as you
ran from him. Close as I want to come.... We saw a huge avy in 14K Camp
a few days earlier, and people by the dozens ran from it. In actuality, it
stopped about 500' away, but the wind from it blew snow dust over the
entire 1/4 mile across Basin Camp. I wasn't too concerned, and was trying
to rescue sleeping bags from atop our tents where they were drying out in
the sun. Lots of newbies ran in their socks and long underwear, pretty
interesting sight. re: Stony's decision to not go higher.... He had a tough time with his
breathing going from 7,800' to 9,400' ( a non-standard camp, just enough
walls for our 3 tents). He then had a tough time with his hip going to
11,300' Camp. He then had a tough time with his ankle and foot trying to
go up Motorcycle Hill to 14,200' Camp, and lost feeling in his foot for a
bit. He stayed at 11,300' Camp for an extra day, and Joe came back for
him, then passed him off to Rob at the top of Squirrel Hill at ~12,400',
who then passed him off to me at Windy Corner at ~13,300', wherein I walked
with his gear and him to 14,200' Camp. The others fetched the Cache at
Windy Corner at the same time. Yes, you could say we "cached" old Stone
Man and fetched him. You have to understand that there are many dozens of
climbers, including guided groups and some Rangers, at most of these camps.
We communicated with him via walkie talkies at least once a day. He
maintained our presence at the 14K Basin Camp via the VE-25 he was in, and
the Cook Tent. We existed at 17K Camp in just 2 tents for 6 guys. Stony
was totally insistent on the group continuing to make progress. I believe
he knew at this point he was not going to go higher than 14K Camp, and just
wanted to make it to there. There is a NPS tent there, with a doctor and
many rangers. There are roughly 200 people in residence at 14K Camp at all
times between early May and early July. Stony did not have any breathing
issues beyond the normal huffing and puffing we all do after the 2nd day.
Stony trained very hard for this, and I was sad to see him have to face the
reality that the mountain was going to require more from him physically
than he had in his pocket. Denali is a tough place. Anyone can do it for
a day or two, but to do it day after day, with huge loads, in sometimes
difficult weather, really takes a toll on the body. For his age and
relative size, he did great, but in the end, it was too many little things
compounding for him. Stony will hopefully get to visit Granite Peak in MT
this summer, and become a 48-Finisher. By the way.... He flew from
Anchorage to Hawaii today, by himself, on a wild hair gig, and will visit
Mauna Kea this week before flying back to CO to grab his car and head home. Bill learned a lot, and is eager for more after tasting Denali. He was
strong and eager the whole trip, and sleeps like a log, a great asset in a
teammate on an alpine trip. His Urbanski wit was present every day. He is
just as much a list-bagger as the rest of us, only his lists go far beyond
the bounds of peaks to include Presidential sites etc. Joe was our superman, able to leap tall buildings and haul enormous loads
day after day. I felt sad that he couldn't summit, as he was stronger than
95% of the people on the mountain, but it's all about weather and luck. Joe
was concerned with events at home, but still stayed focused on the task at
hand. Chris was very strong too, and was constantly amazing people with his
ability to create cook tent sites, then fire up tasty meals for all, after
we had all long run out of energy. Ah youth.... He cooked pizzas one day,
then mini-bagels with Canadian bacon and cheddar cheese another. At the
Anchorage airport last night he so thoroughly charmed an older couple from
South Africa they invited him to come and stay with them some day. B-t-w;
he slept maybe a few hours Sunday evening at the avalanche camp, then a few
hours the next night at the airstrip, then a few hours after staying up way
too late in Talkeetna, then a couple hours max on the plane last night.
Dude is functioning on air right now.... Rob was the anchor, keeping everyone sane, never letting me make a poor
decision. Rob slept with the sat phone so we could make the calls every
day. I thank Rob for all he did to make this trip a success, especially
this Blogsite. Kenny was Mr. Steady, always with a reserve of energy to keep going at his
Gurvin-Speed. His knowledge of alpine skills helped the new guys
considerably, and as always Kenny was willing to share his vast knowledge
at every turn. Personally, I felt great every day, much better than in 2007 up high. I
learned to eat better, and drink sufficiently. I never had a headache,
never was really out of breath other than the first half hour in 17K Camp.
I think I had enough gas in the tank to have made a strong summit bid, but
it wasn't to be.
SPOT! The dang thing never worked at all. Tried a number of times.
Some guys from WA state ahd an older Spot1, and theirs worked fine. I
plan to test my Spot2 here in CO this weekend, and will report back the
results. Very discouraging...
PHOTOS - we will post some links to photos when the gang gets home and gets
theirs all downloaded. We needed to have access to better weather info, and to have not moved up
from 14K to 17K until we knew for sure we had a 2-3 day good weather
window. Not sure how to go about doing it better next time...
Dave
Dave called. They are making their way down to 9,000' camp today. They will stay there tonight and continue to 7,000' base camp tomorrow. Hopefully they will get off the mountain and into Talkeetna tomorrow. They are glad to be lower on the mountain breathing in the thicker air. Look for a blog post from one of the team members soon.
Rob called Holly this afternoon and reported that they were making camp at 13,000' . I'm not sure when they left 14,000' camp. Apparently they were descending very slow due to 3 feet of new snow. It was a slow process as they were breaking trail in the deep snow. They are hoping that another team will head down the mountain tomorrow and that they will be able to follow them.
Dave called late last night and reported the team has aborted their summit attempt and has descended to 14,000' camp. The weather forecast through the weekend and into the beginning of the week called for snow and wind. They did not feel they could make a safe summit attempt. They will start down towards base camp today. How far down the mountain they go today depends on weather conditions and strength of the team. Dave said the team is in great spirits and that they truly enjoyed the experience. I'm sure their thoughts now are for a shower, burger and a beer!
Today was a planned rest day for the team. They received the weather report from the National Weather Service and the forecast is calling for snow through the weekend. So they are now in a holding pattern. Hopefully there will be a break in the weather and they can make a summit bid. Dave reports that they talked to Stony via the hand held radio. He spent the day, walking around camp, reading, writing in his journal, reinforcing the snow walls around his tent, and rebuilding their cook tent that had collapsed from the overnight snow. He feels good and his spirits are high. The team wants to thank everyone for the messages they are leaving on the blog site.
I received a call very late last night. TZT2 is at 17,200 camp! They left camp mid-morning carrying all their supplies in the packs. The sleds stay at 14,200 as the route is too steep to pull them. They climbed the fixed lines of the headwall and retrieved the cache at 16,200. A smart move as now they will not have to climb back down to get it today. Dave said everyone was amazed by the views as they traversed the ridge of the West Buttress. One rope team took 7 1/2 hours the other took 9 1/2 to get to camp. They will spend their time resting and eating while they wait for the right weather that will allow them to make a summit attempt. Dave said everyone is feeling great and their spirits are high. Send your positive thoughts and prayers for a safe and successful summit attempt their way. Mountain Trip (a guiding company) offered a great summary of what the fixed lines means on their site
"Fixed lines are put up by the National Park Service to safeguard a particular steep and icy slope, so the team will clip into the rope with ascenders which help safeguard any slips on the ascent or descent. Protection is gear placed in either rock, snow or ice that will allow the rope teams to move together but still stay connected to the mountain should someone take a fall. Learning to efficiently clip through the gear (we call it running pro) in a variety of conditions will help keep everyone safe, conserve movement and keep the move days to a reasonable amount of time." (Thank you
Mountain Trip!)The team took another rest day today to prepare for the push to 17,000' camp tomorrow. The weather pattern has been the same. Snow off and on all day. They all feel good, and are excited to move higher on the mountain and wait for the right weather conditions that will allow them to make their summit push. Stony has elected to stay at 14,000' camp. He has experienced some breathing issues. Nothing serious, he just feels it would not be wise to push it and move higher. His spirits are good. 14,000' camp is a great place to be for an extended period of time. He won't alone.
14,000 foot camp aka the Basin or Ranger camp is a very flat spot on Denali about the size of three football fields. A beautiful place that provides an unobstructed view of the northern areas, Mounts Hunter and Foraker. And the Headwall the 2,000' climb to the ridge at 16,000' and the route to the High camp and the summit.
The NPS has a seasonal camp there with Rangers and Paramedics on staff. A Lama Helicopter often visits to bring fresh supplies, new staff to the camp or to evacuate a medical victim.
It was a quite morning at 14,000' Basin Camp. It was snowing when they woke up and continued to snow until early afternoon. Around 2:00 the snow stopped, and they decided they would attempt to carry some gear higher on the mountain. Dave, Billy & Joe started out first, followed by Rob and Kenny. Stony and Chris stayed at camp. They climbed the headwall to the top of the fixed lines at 16,200'. They decided to cache the gear at 16,200' and not go any higher due to their late start. They returned to camp mid evening, happy with their progress. They plan to hang out and rest at 14,000', acclimatize a bit more and see what the weather has in store for them.
Acclimatizing properly is essential to safely ascend to high altitudes. Climbers acclimatize by ascending slowly, resting one day for every 1,000 feet they climb in one day. They drink plenty of liquids and eat healthy food. They also practice a rule of thumb: climb high, sleep low. Climbing high, then descending to lower altitudes allows the body to build up and gain strength with fresh oxygen, digest food better, get sounder sleep and any wounds can heal and they'll feel much stronger by descending. It will also allow them to build up their bodies, worn from the low O2 content, with fresh oxygen.
Today the team climbed down to 13,000' to retrieve the cache that they had left there a few days ago. Returned to 14'000' camp to rest and relax for the balance of the day. They are watching avalanches in the mountains around them, and enjoying the stunning views of Hunter and Foraker to the south and west of camp. It was a bit cloudy today, but warm. They report the temperature dropped to -12 last night. Tomorrow they plan to carry gear up to 16,000', descending back to 14,000' camp to sleep. Shout out from Kenny to Melodee: "Thanks for the message, and I hope the purchase of the townhouse is coming together."
Not a lot to report today due to very poor sat phone reception. The plan for the day was for the team to descend back to Windy Corner, pick up the cache and climb back to 14,000 camp. However, due to snow and poor visibility they laid low at 14,000. I'm sure the rest day was appreciated. They will attempt to get the cache tomorrow providing they have good weather. Everyone is feeling good and glad to be at 14,000 camp. I did manage to get a few 'shout outs' before I lost phone reception for the 4th time. From Billy: Hi to family & friends. From Joe: Hi to everyone, I miss you. I'm doing well and staying safe. From Kenny: Greetings to Ms Valentine's class. Hey to Melissa, the squats are working! Mike, don't forget to call the sprinkler man. Hi to friends and family that are following the blog. From Chris: To my friends and family, Hi and I love you.
The troops are well!
| Day | 6 | 6/4 | Camp 2 to Cache 13,500' (1.75 miles/2500') |
| Day | 7 | 6/5 | Camp 2 to Camp 3 14,000' (2.75 miles/3200') |
| 8 | 6/6 | Camp 3 to Cache 13,500' | |
| 9 | 6/7 | Camp 3 acclimatization day | |
| 10 | 6/8 | Camp 3 to Cache 16,000' (1 mile/2000') | |
| 11 | 6/9 | Camp 3 acclimatization day | |
| 12 | 6/10 | Camp 3 to Cache to Camp 4 17,200' (1.75 miles/3000') |
The team made it to a very crowded 11,000' camp. The plan for tomorrow is to have Rob, Joe and Chris go back to 9,400' and pick up the cache that was left yesterday. Later in the morning Dave, Stony, Kenny & Billy will climb the very steep Motorcycle Hill and leave a cache at 13,500'. They will descend back to 11,000' for the night. Everyone is feeling good. Dave reports that he does not know why SPOT is not working. They will try it again tomorrow.
The Team all flew into Anchorage safely yesterday and took a van to Talkeetna this morning. They are planning to start their flight(s) to the glacier around 3pm AK time. The Satellite Phone has been tested and they are ready to report as they make their way up the giant mountain. They are hoping to start hiking at 3am AK time when the ground is firm.
On the right-hand navigation panel of the blog a Denali Weather Forecast link and a Talkeetna weather "sticker" have been added.
Select the Denali link to see the current three day forecast for the mountain -- the forecast is separated into 7,000' - 14,000' and 14,000' and above.
The Talkeetna weather sticker displays the current temp in Talkeetna and is a link to the current forecast.
(L-R) Stony, Rob, Dave, Chris, Ken (Bill, Joe - missing)
Many thanks to Dave Pellegrini for hosting last night's good luck/farethee well BBQ. The food, especially the elk, was most delicious. Only 2 days until departure...
