Alaskan Adventure – Denali ‘The High One’

 

 

 

Arriving at Edinburgh Airport on the 24^th May 1997, and meeting up with the rest of the team, was the culmination of 18 months of planning and training. In just a few hours we would be almost half way around the world preparing to climb Mt McKinley in Alaska, the highest peak on the North American continent. This expedition was the second of the Scottish Scouts Seven Summits Project which plans to put Scottish Venture Scouts on the highest summits on each continent. The first expedition to Mt Elbrus in the Russian Caucasus mountains had been a great success, but would be considerably easier than what we were about to undertake. At 20320ft, climbing Mt McKinley, or Denali as it is known to the native Alaskan Inuits, is a serious undertaking, with the greatest height gain from base camp to summit of all the major mountains of the world, and with a reputation for ferocious weather and terrain.

 

 

Having ensured all equipment was safely checked in, and said goodbye to our families, we boarded the shuttle flight with increasing excitement. One and a half hours later we were still on the tarmac becoming increasingly anxious. Our transfer time at Heathrow was limited, and with an on going connection from Seattle to Anchorage the same day, we could not afford a bad start to the expedition. We finally arrived at Heathrow with 15 minutes to spare and dashed from Terminal 1 to Terminal 4, getting on the plane as the doors were about to close. We had made it! – unfortunately our luggage didn’t and would follow the next day – not the start we had hoped for. Already on the plane was Anastasia Gromov, who had traveled from Moscow to join us and maintain the links from our previous expedition.

 

 

We eventually arrived in Anchorage to be met by the sound of bagpipes and our hosts in Alaska – members of the Boy Scouts of America Troop 229, Eagle River, Alaskan Scout Council. The next 36 hours were a blur as we tried to adjust to the time differences, purchase and divide up supplies and equipment for the mountain and generally ensure everything was in order.

 

 

We set off in a fleet of 4x4s to drive the 2 hours North to Talkeetna, from where we would fly into the base camp. We checked in with the Park Rangers, listened to the safety and hygiene talk, paid the fees and then settled in on the floor of Doug Geeting Aviation, who would fly us into the mountain. His motto is ‘walk a week or fly an hour’ very appropriate for Alaska – ‘the last frontier’. The flight left early in the morning so we sorted and weighed gear then bedded down on the hangar floor.

 

 

Due to the size of our group and the weight of equipment for a possible 21 days on the mountain (50kgs each), 4 flights were necessary to ferry us up to base camp on the Kahiltna Glacier. The flight was awe inspiring, with some of the most spectacular mountain scenery in the world on view, and a decidedly scary landing on the uphill part of the glacier runway. Having collected white fuel and sledges from the Park Rangers, we then proceeded to set up camp for the first night. This involved digging out platforms in the snow and building walls to protect the tents from the severe winds that are not uncommon when you are only 300 miles from the Arctic Circle. Once the tents were sorted , the rest of the time was spent admiring the views, talking to fellow climbers and preparing the equipment and sledges for the following day. The sledges are needed to help transport the amount of gear required and helps keep weight on your back to about 30lbs. Setting up sledges is, we discovered, quite an art, and if you don’t get it right you can suffer as we did the following day. We even had time to be interviewed by the Anchorage Daily News and Discovery TV Channel!

 

 

 

Following an uncomfortable first night, which was spent listening to avalanches thundering down all around us we set off early down ‘heartbreak hill’ for the first carry to camp 1 at 8000ft. Early starts are essential to ensure that the snow bridges over the crevasses are as firm as possible. We were now carrying about 70kg (with fuel) and that weight of food and equipment is too much to carry in one go, so we were planning double carries all the way to the high camp at 17000ft.

 

 

Having established ourselves at Camp 1 after 2 days on the glacier, we were then hit by severe storms, with tents being buried every 2 hours by heavy snow falls, which meant getting up in shifts to dig them out. After 2 days , conditions improved sufficiently to allow us to ferry equipment to Camp 2 at 11000ft, this involved walking in snowshoes for the first time – not to be missed! Unfortunately the weather deteriorated again and we were forced to spend an extra night at Camp 1. After 6 days on the mountain, we were still only at 8,000ft, and we were starting to get concerned about timescale. News from higher up the mountain was bad, with details of a tragedy involving British Military climbers affecting all of us, and bringing home the serious nature of our undertaking.

 

 

A change in weather saw 3 glorious days, allowing us to climb to the 11000ft camp, and then onto the Advanced Base Camp at 14000ft, this took 2 days of hard slog, ferrying all the equipment. This section is steep and difficult, ascending over 3000ft in just 2 miles, taking in such features as Motorcycle Hill and Windy Corner, which was unusually still, before a final slog up a crevassed snow bowl, all very hard work in the reflected 40° heat.

 

 

This camp is the main resting area before proceeding to the high camp and summit, and there were about 100 climbers from all over the world, as well as Park Rangers and a Medical Team. Having ascended 600ft in 3 days it was time to rest and acclimatize to the altitude. Our expedition doctor was monitoring for signs of AMS and we checked saturated oxygen levels regularly to assess acclimatization. This would help us improve our chances of success further up the mountain.

 

 

The weather closed in again and we settled down to the daily routine of eating, drinking, clearing snow and resting. It was uncomfortable conditions with snow falling and hazy sunshine, which meant we could either suffer inside the tents as temperatures again reached 40°, or get wet and cold outside. It was now very cold at night , with the temperatures dropping to -15°, ensuring a thick layer of frost on the inside of the tent in the morning, which had to be cleared before it melted and soaked everything. Sleeping bags were now becoming filled with various pieces of equipment to prevent them being affected by the cold and damp, making sleeping more uncomfortable.

 

 

The next part of the route was to the ridge at 16000ft and is technically the steepest part of the climb, however the top section has 400ft of fixed rope to reduce the difficulty. After several rest days, the weather improved sufficiently to allow us to ferry a load of food and equipment onto the ridge in preparation for a summit attempt. The weather again closed in and it was another 2 days until the summit team of Ian Johnson, Brian Adamson, Kev Mitchell, and Nigel Williams set off to establish the high camp at 17300ft. In the true spirit of scouting leadership Kevin Lloyd the expedition leader broke trail for the summit team allowing them to reach the ridge in good shape. The narrow ridge was climbed and the team dug in at 17300ft, below the notorious Denali Pass.

 

 

We spent an uncomfortable night squashed 4 of us in 3 man tent, as the temperature plunged to below -30° off the bottom of the scale on the thermometer! We set off early the following morning for the 5 mile round trip to the 20320ft summit. The altitude was telling on us all and the pace slowed to a monotonous plod. After what seemed like an eternity, the 4 of us, plus a polish climber who had tagged along, struggled the last few feet onto the summit ridge. In deteriorating weather we edged our way along sitting astride the ridge and shuffling along on snow we hoped would take our weight. Nigel decided that as we could see the summit less than 200ft away it was all becoming very dangerous, so we gingerly about turned and made our way back to safer ground. The elation was short lived and, after a brief stop for photos and frozen chocolate, we battled back to the high camp, with the section down the Denali Pass being particularly difficult and requiring us to protect it with snow stakes to stop us slipping down 5000ft! After the longest 5 miles we stumbled into the camp to brew up and inspect numb toes, and generally to be relieved that we were alive and in one piece.

 

 

While the summit team were battling with the elements in their attempt to reach the summit, the rest of the team were having a very pleasant day climbing onto the ridge and almost reaching the 17300 camp. This ensured that most of the team had been higher than before, gained valuable experience, and saw the full beauty of the Alaska Range.  

 

 

The summit team descended the following morning, taking care on the ridge, and arrived back at the 14000ft camp to the relief and congratulations of the rest of the team. The expedition had been successful so far, but we still had to get everyone off the mountain safely. After a hot meal and several mugs of tea, the camp was cleared and the team headed down the 7000ft to Base Camp. This was a long and tiring walk eventually arriving at about 1.00am on Friday the 13^th! We then had a few brushes with crevasses which were becoming more numerous and dangerous.

 

 

The weather in the morning was, rather predictably, lousy, so we sorted out gear, fed the snow buntings and waited for the drone of planes. The weather cleared mid – afternoon, and planes were soon buzzing around. The flight out was a bit hairy, with one plane unable to take off, stopping and throwing someone, before trying again!

 

 

We had survived for 18 days on the mountain, enduring stifling heat, white outs, freezing temperatures, crevasses and a host of other little difficulties, and come away with a new – found respect for the mountains. This would prove vital to the success of our future expeditions.

 

 

Once back in Talkeetna, we invaded the local pizza restaurant for something different to pasta, our staple diet for the last 3 weeks. Our Alaskan hosts picked us up and returned us to the Scout Camp which would be our home for the next couple of days before moving into home hospitality.

 

 

 

Over the following week we were able to visit local Scout Troops, helped out at the Cub and Scout Camp, went white water rafting and cruised the Kenai Fjords looking for humpbacked whales. We were also invited to lunch at the Oilmans club by sponsors BP. We had been given assistance by the Grangemouth plant and their Alaskan counterparts were keen to meet us – multi national indeed!

 

 

After an emotional farewell to our host families we spent a day sight seeing in Seattle with our expedition meal overlooking Puget Sound. We then returned home to be reunited with our families (and some of our luggage!)

 

 

 

There are numerous people without whom this expedition would never have succeeded. Parents, friends, fellow scouters are all to be thanked along with the following:

 

Bp Oil, Keela International, GEC Marconi Avionics, Tunnocks, North Cape, ARCO, TISO, Nevisport, Rab Down Equipment, Sports Warehouse, Landline Ltd, REI Anchorage, Fuji Film, Scottish Scout HQ, Western Alaska Council Boy Scouts America.

 

Mal Duff for his advise, information and help with equipment, who tragically died, just before the expedition, while on Everest.

 

Kevin Lloyd, Alex Munnoch, Nigel Williams, Kevin Mitchell, Brian Adamson, Amy Hutchinson, Ian Johnson, Nick Kinniburgh, Steven Robbie Chris Scott, and Anastasia Gromova.