Mt. McKinley Climb

Well over the past day we have pieced the story of the British climber better. We have talked to Paul the survivor and the Rangers. There were 4 British guys. Two turned back before the summit. The other 2 made the summit but the weather came in. Somewhere near the football field they slipped. Now off course, they decided to take a traverse down to 17,200 instead of going down to Denali Pass. While in or above the Messner Couloir, the snow they were on slid and they slid down the whole couloir. Paul the survivor was unconscious for an unknown amount of time. When he awoke he found his partner dead. Now some where near the flats of 14,200 he yelled for help not knowing where he was. Now Chris, who went after Dave, had come down the wrong way and was headed toward the Messner, not camp. Luckily, since he was lost he ran into the British climber. They were both lost and Chris was going to build a cave but he heard our team yelling and whistling. That's what got them into camp. That's the story as best as we got. We even heard the story told on a Talkeetna Radio Station. Now its 1:11 p.m. and the weather is great. All day it's been nice. They just can't predict weather here. There are a lot of clouds below and nobodies moving because we know how fast it can white out around here.
Now it's late at night and I'm not tired since I got so much sleep. It's also Saturday night and I'm listening to an Anchorage station 101.3 that's playing party music. Bruce has put a pulley system between our tents. They are chatting between tents passing a drink back and forth. They may be drunk I can't tell. Anyway, I'm trying to finish a book called "Victory" by Joseph Conrad. It's ok, getting better near the end. The temp is 20 deg. in the tent, fairly warm since I'm not wearing gloves. The temperature outside is around -5 to -8 and at times very windy. Bruce is now calling a radio station to request a song. O my gosh, he's threw! They are taking the info. They are going to mention us within 3 minutes and play our song. His request "Somebody to Love" by Jefferson Airplane. Unbelievable, they just said our names on 100.5. She got all the info right saying she "got a call from the 14,200 thousand camp on Mt. McKinley, its -9 there and they are waiting out a storm to actually climb the mountain." Then she said "good luck to Bruce, Cortland, River and Eric." We all were screaming after it at 12:20 at night. How funny! I'll close tonight by giving a few feelings. We've been here for 7 nights now. For the first time on the trip I have a few mixed feelings about a trip like this. I am having a great time but I feel like spending so many days stuck in one spot is kinda lame when I think of all the other stuff I could do. I know these will be great stories when I get back, and that the summit will be worth it. That we have going for us. Unlike many, we have the food, fuel, and drive to wait here till we get up. That we will, but I understand why a lot of people like to get to 14,200 as quick as possible. Most people waiting out this storm have only been here from 3-8 days. I think we're on our 16th day. But hay, we've seen everyone from the beginning of the season to nearly the end when we are done. The most fun I've had with this whole trip is seeing our progress getting further and higher. I think our tent is about to take off!

For the first day of June, it was a really lame day. Actually it just plain sucked. We couldn't do a darn thing. Dinner was just cooked by me and I must say it wasn't worth it. Not at all. All day the wind gusts would hit with blowing snow. It was just cold today. The funny thing was that inside the tent was warm since the sun was out. All the trails to the bathroom are covered from only several hours ago because of the wind blowing snow. The weather forcast is annoying also. Tomorrow is supposed to be ok now but another system is coming in the day after (Tues). I am sick and tired of sitting here. You know if we wouldn't have taken those stupid rest days down low like I wanted to move on, we would have summited like the "Fire on the Mountain" group. On the bright side we have one heck of a lot more stories.

Now that my pen has been warmed under my arm pit it will write. It's around -10 outside and dropping fast. I am writing from 17,200 camp. Its 1:44 a.m. and I'm very tired but now cozy in my bag listening to the radio. River is still outside melting water and stuff. He has made this trip so much more than if he wasn't here. Well the day started with the most excellent weather. Pure blue, forever. The forecast was for good weather today, but then another front coming in. I thought, screw this! I want to go up and be one day from the summit. Both Bruce and Cortland were against the idea. I said, well my tent goes up today. Anyone is welcome to join me. River says, "Count me in." Bruce and Cortland decided to listen to the 12:30 forecast. We all packed and once the forecast for 2 good days came, we finished packing it all up. Cortland said he still didn't feel perfect but he would try. We made a big cache near camp. Everyone started hiking up while I buried the cash. I said good-by to our 14,200 camp that we had stayed 8 nights or so in. A lot of people were going up. I caught up and passed Bruce and Cortland around 15,000 feet. Then I caught up to River near the bottom of the fixed lines. Some guy para-sailed down the hill from 15,500 to 14,200. I went up the fixed ropes watching the helicopter retrieve the dead Brit. Bruce had left Cortland and at one point all 3 of us were at the top of the fixed lines. Bruce was to wait for Cortland while River and I went up to 17,200 to set camp. We sucked some O's getting up here. River wanted to die. I was suckin but not dying. We were passed by 2 Germans who just climbed Foraker, about to summit McKinley and would do Hunter on the way out. They would be the first ever to do it in one expedition. Pulling into camp was slow and I had a new headache, was hungry, thirsty, and experiencing altitude sickness symptoms. I found a great spot and called River over. Setting up camp was a pain. The shock cords in my poles were frozen. Just staking the tent was hard. There is no air up here. I can't wait to be down in the good O2. After camp was up, I jumped into my tent and bag because my toes were freezing. It was great in my bag resting. After some time, Bruce showed up and said Cortland was 10 minutes behind. Bruce got some water going and soon I had dinner. I drank a ton, rested and soon I felt pretty good. Feeling better, I put on my warmest cloths and went to the crapper. Nice crapper here at 17,200. The weather forecast is for 2 days of good weather, with low winds. This was not predicted last night. We will attempt the summit tomorrow afternoon. Tired. Must sleep.

Well, I'm sure there was more to say about yesterday but I wasn't able to think. Today we decided to rest for 2 reasons 1st we know the weather tomorrow is to be good and 2nd we all are dead tired. We could have left around 2 p.m. and summited around 11 p.m. but why? Well go tomorrow and be in the sun the whole time. Our only concern is if tomorrow is the last good day, a lenticular cloud may form as usual. I really need this day of rest. I'm tired, I woke up with a headache and not wanting to eat and drink much. Knowing what this meant I ate and drank as much as possible. Now I'm pretty good. I even went down and took another dump as I did last night. The summit is only 3000 feet up. River wants to summit tomorrow on his birthday.
Now its 5:40 and there isn't much to do but listen to the radio and write in my journal. We just ate dinner early so we can get lots of sleep and keep out of the cold. I've ate and drunk a lot. I'm feeling pretty good. Earlier I went to look for a cash that a Scottish group was giving us because they had to go. Two of their 3 wanted to go. The one left couldn't find a tent to jump into so, tough. There was an XGK stove in the cache that Bruce was going to send to him but the rest was ours. There was 4 fuel bottles plus 5 days for 4 people, including 60 candy bars. Unfortunately we could not find it. We think it may have been dug up or they marked it with some cheep wands. If we summit tomorrow I am going to have a lot of extra food that I don't think I can part with. I'm looking at a heavy pack down to 14,200. At this moment we are talking about how quick we will be out of here if we summit tomorrow. We probably will come down from the summit, pack up and drop down to 14,200. Camp, then maybe get out the next day to base.

Packin up to go to 14,200. That's right, today we summited. Yea, too bad were all dead or else we might go down further. Seeing its 12:30 at night and Cortland and Bruce are still on their way down. We see them coming down from Denali Pass. I left a bit before River and returned at 9:30-10ish. River left an hour before me this morning. He was on the summit 1 hour waiting for anyone while just chatting with summiters. Bruce and Cortland left when I did, roped up. At the top, after all my summit pictures I said I'm going. River came with and right about then one of the high clouds drooped and made getting down the summit ridge a pain. When we got to the bottom of the summit ridge we ran into Bruce and Cortland. Slow but steady. We gave them some pointers on the knife edge ridge but they had a rope and Phil of RMI had set some anchors. I went back to camp while River was going to make sure they made it up and back down the ridge. Going down was quicker but I still had to stop to rest. I hadn't eaten or drunk enough but I didn't care. I figured the lower I got the better. On the summit I had only the slightest headache, not much at all. I was mainly exhausted, especially from the last headwall to gain the ridge. When I first got to the summit the 2 RMI groups led by Phil Ershler and George Dunn were getting ready to go down. Soon it was just River and I. I got some good shots. My print camera was froze. River did a handstand and other odd stuff. For as miserable as I thought this day would be it wasn't bad untill near the Football Field. I didn't even bring a pack. I put it all in my parka. In fact, I was so warm I never zipped it up my parka. My feet were toasty, and my hands were sweating from all the handwarmers in my mitts. I'll forever be grateful to the Korean who saw me plop down before camp to give me some honey tea. It was hot and good. My throat hurts from breathing so hard and my lungs.

Well I'm sure there was more to say about yesterday but I was pretty wiped out. Now at 10:49 p.m. the day after I'm getting back to normal. We awoke today around 9 or 10. I was up earlier because of a darn headache. It went away with 2 aspirin and some forced down water and food. None of us ate much on summit day. Phil Ershler came over and asked if we needed any fuel or food. Nope. Phil and George's groups headed down. We decided to get out of there because the weather was crapy but no wind. We did not want to stay another night up there. You can't sleep well and its cold. We left around noonish. I went first to get down to dig up the cash at 14,200. Cortland was roped to Bruce because Cortland was not feeling well. Real bad cough, he even thought it might be pneumonia. My pack was so heavy that it was tough on the ridge. I almost sprained my ankle 2 or 3 times. It would be very bad at that spot. I was also very tired because of lack of water and food, plus being exhausted. Coming down the fixed lines wasn't too bad although with a heavy pack really killed. There was a lot of snow on the fixed lines compared to the ice my other times. I was very frustrated near the bottom because 2 people were taking forever to drop below the Burgshrund. Below the lines was so tough. My pack being so heavy and the deep snow so unpredictable that at certain times you would step wrong and wham, you're on your butt. Then you don't want to get up, just sit there forever. It took me a long time to get down to 14,200. I was just too tired. Once down to the bottom I strolled into camp at our cache. There in our camp was another RMI group. They were traversing to Wonder Lake. I dug halfway down to the cache when River showed up. He left the other guys at the top of the fixed lines. We saw how long it was going to take them to get down. We also knew how tired we were from our packs that we decided to set up a camp. I started the stove at our cache and began re-hydrating with my stash of hot cocoa. There was so much air at 14,200. I never thought I would say it but it was easy to breath. It took almost 2 hours for Bruce and Cort to get to our new camp. I spent my time drinking hot chocolate, then getting up camp. River with all the extra food cooked another good meal with other people's food. After dinner, I filled up a sled with gas and food and went all over camp trying to get rid of it. I got rid of a lot. We still have a lot to pawn off. I kept drinking and now I feel great. When Cortland got down he was still coughing up crap. He went down to the medical tent and they told him he had Bronchitis. Solution, rest but get lower and out of here. They were surprised he summited yesterday. The next 2 days is to be bad weather but were gonna go. We won't get to Base tomorrow because Cortland and Bruce are very slow, but we hope to get to 7,900.

Well now, I'm back to 100% but not all are. River and I feel great. Cortland and Bruce are dead. We got up around 9 or 10. The stupid thing is that we didn't leave till 3:30 or so. We decided to do 2 rope teams because we knew the other 2 would be slow. River and I headed down from 14,200 with another guy (Max, a Russian who lives in Boston) who didn't want to go down un-roped. We did ok. The trail was well worn in the snow, even though we were in a white out at times. Windy Corner's crevasses weren't too bad but on the bottom side of the corner we hit a bunch of people coming up. The trail through the power wasn't wide enough for 2. I was dying pulling that sled that did not stay up. It was a major pain to say it nicely. There was a lot of snow in areas we only remember as ice, even blue ice. Even coming down Motorcycle Hill was a pain in the rear. Finally, we got to 11,000 camp. Now the ari was thick. I coud run uphill with out too much problem. It took a while to find our cache. Our camp wasn't being used, nor had anyone been in our snowcave in a while. We dug up the cache and it had what we wanted - Snowshoes! Our crampons balled up all the way down Motorcycle Hill. We started a stove and ate dinner. We got all our stuff ready and as much of the other guys as possible. About 1:45 minutes later they finally got to the 11,000 area. We had hot water for their dinners ready. We finished all packing and then River and I were ready to go again to set a camp up at 9,600. The Russian Max also went with us. It was much nicer traveling on less steep terrain. We got down to 9,500 in about an hour. It was so beautiful leading down. I just stared down the Kahiltna Glacier for miles. All the mountains had an evening glow to them. River and I just wanted to go down the whole way. Unfortunately the other 2 are slow as slugs. At 9,500, we found all the sights full so we just flattened 2 areas and put up the tents. I even dug a crap place before they arrived over 1 hour later. We also said good-by to Max who only travels unroped at night when snowbridges are hard. When Cortland and Bruce showed up, they looked dead. Both River and I are a bit inpatient with this slow trot out but I can hide it. River on the other hand lost it because I heard him tonight telling Cortland to F- off. My headphones were on but Cortland was only asking a question. Cortland was complaining since he got in. River said nothing until one commit like "I guess it isn't worth talking to you tonight" Cortland said something like "probably true". I didn't hear them speak for about 20 minutes when I heard River telling him off. I looked at Bruce and said, "I guess well have separate ropes tomorrow". We don't have a choice. They are just too slow. If it was up to them we would take 2 or more days to leave. River wants out of here as bad as I, its just stupid how slow we have to go. So I know he's planning on leaving early with me. Were going to go and hopefully catch a flight to Talkeetna. These guys probably won't get in till late and have to sleep at Base while River and I are eating at a nice restaurant. I'm not sure but something is wrong with these 2. Cortland may be a bit sick but even Bruce looks like hell in the tent here. He hasn't drunk enough or something. He zonked out after only a few minutes. Cortland is snoring hard next door. Tomorrow is the Day. Saturday - the day we get out, weather permitting.
So weird, its 1:08 a.m. and people are passing buy our tent up the mountain. We passed so many people, talking and we tell them of our summit, and we get congratulated. It's so nice to know we climbed it. I'm not tired so I keep writing. Well I may not be home this Sunday like I hoped but at least I can call tomorrow and let my family know I made it and am safe. Then anyone that asks can know.

Well this really sucks! We made it to Base camp but have been stuck here the rest of the day because Talkeetna weather is bad. The weather has been nice here most of the day. Strange its ok here but bad there. Then around 6 it became a white out here. It's almost 9 p.m., and planes stop at 10 p.m. so it don't look good. Our tent is up and I'm in my bag. What's really lame is my radio could go out at any time. I also tried to call collect from the ranger's phone but nobody was home. The worst part of this mess is they are predicting not so good weather the next 3 days. I will go crazy here for 3 days. D***, Cortland, we would be gone if he and even Bruce would have been quicker. Anyway, let's talk about the hike here. Last night River was fed up with Cortland and he even stayed outside for 3 or more hours. I awoke a bit before 8 when River said he was going to get up. He got up with all intentions of going without Cortland. He would have gone alone if I stayed. The stupid thing was we got ready at top speeds. Then at the same time Cortland got up at the same speed. I thought he was sick? He always hadn't felt well till then, now he's top speed, seemed perfect. All 4 of us were ready to go about the same time but 2 rope teams. River didn't talk to Cortland all morning. We took off first and made good time going down Ski Hill. Our sleds were rigged well but it was tough for me on some flat spots (pulling 2). Down on the lower Kalhitna some of the crevasses had really opened up. The crevasses are so big but the bridges were big also. It was very warm on the glacier. I ended up with my cotton T-shirt on. It felt good. Going up Heartbreak hill took a lot and I could have done it faster but even River was asking to take it slow up. I wasn't breathing hard at all because of all the air here. Once we got to the airstrip we dropped our stuff and got our place in line. No planes were flying because of bad Talkeetna weather. We were # 8 and #9. Our Russian friend was # 7 so River, Max and I will be on the 3rd Doug Geeting flight out of here. The 4th plane flight will be Bruce and Cortland #s 10 & 11. They were only around 45 minutes to 1 hour behind us. We were quite surprised to see them so soon. When we got our place in line we were in the rangers hut. That's where the weather is broadcast. The ranger gave us some water. We chatted awhile. Finally we found a sight and started cooking some of the canned food we had in the cache. When the others arrived, I melted snow for all our bottles. River was sun tanning until the clouds came up the valley, then we were in a white out. It didn't improve and here I am. Finally set the tent up because it was starting to rain. RAIN! What's that! I hope so much we can get out of here tomorrow. PLEASE!!!!!!

It's almost 1 p.m. Awoke 2 hours ago and its still foggy out. This really sucks. There is so much I want to do at home. I'm stuck here and it's driving me crazy. Help me, please, somebody, is that a plane I hear? No, its my imagination.
Now its 11:16 at night. It hasn't got better at all. This is so crazy. I hate it here. I had some relief the past 2 hours reading an Outside Magazine I got from the ranger hut "Annie's Hut". She is in Talkeetna- can't fly in for same reason we can't fly out. The real annoying thing today is that Talkeetna is now clear and can fly but here is bad. Yesterday was the opposite. Reminder for future climbers- leave lots of good food at Base before leaving, even books and batteries. My batteries are almost dead. They only work in Bruce's radio, that's how dead. Another hint- Rivers extra film was brittle on the summit and broke when he tried to put new roles in so go to the summit with a fresh role.
Now we hear avalanches because it's snowing a lot. Bruce has been playing cards with some ladies that are here in base camp at the ranger's area. When I was there I met the girl who is the youngest to climb the mountain about 2 or so years ago when she was only 12 yrs. old. She seems real sharp and an energetic type of girl. I see why she made it. Oh, we heard someone else died today on the North Butt- although I'm not sure where it is. Pray for good weather!

Well, crap weather again. Its noon, maybe it will improve tonight.
It did, I now write from inside my tent only its June 10th at 10:30 at night. A military helicopter is landing on my right, a road with cars is in front of me and railroad tracks are at my back. I'm in Talkeetna camping across from Doug Geeting Aviation. We are waiting for tomorrow to get River out of jail but that is story #2. Let me finish the first. The evening of the 9th the weather cleared and the planes started coming in. We were almost out when one of Geetings planes had a dead battery. Aaa, its starting to worsen (the weather). Finally another plane showed up and we went to it. Then the pilot says 3 people - no gear. What! Leave our gear! We had to leave it in a pile. We took off and had an uneventful flight home to Talkeetna. There in a few minutes was Bruce and Cortland who were told to fly back with K2. We set our airline home for the next day's night and went for Pizza. It was so good. We had a good time there, and then I went back to the hanger to sleep while the other three went to drink at the Fairview. Back at the hanger I couldn't sleep because I had gotten so much, so I just read a book called the Seven Summits. Around 3:30 a.m. they came back and that's when it all began. I don't have the paper and I'm really tired to tell it but if you're lucky I'll remember if you ask me or maybe I'll write it down.

Mt. McKinley Climb part 3