Pictorial Trip Report

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Here are pictures from Denali. All the pictures are on one page, so take a break for 5 minutes while everything downloads.

On May 29 I flew to Anchorage, AK.  I picked up a shuttle run by Denali Overland Transportation for a ride to Talkeetna.  In Talkeetna I met Scott, my climbing partner.  From Talkeetna we chartered a bush plane, a Cessna 185 run by Talkeetna Air Taxi, to land us on the Kahiltna glacier at 7,000' elevation.  We attempted to fly to the glacier on May 30, but clouds settled in over the runway on the glacier prohibiting us from landing.  We had to turn around and try again later.  We were successful the next morning in reaching the glacier.  From there we took the West Buttress route up the mountain to the summit at 20,320'.  We summitted June 12, day 13 of the expedition, and hiked all the way out the next day.  Here are some pictures.

Loading the plane at Talkeetna Air Taxi. It is a 35 minute flight from Talkeetna to the southeast fork of the Kahiltna glacier.
Brian and Scott Eden, my partner. Brian and his partner, another Steve, climbed the West Rib. On their way they helped retrieve the gear left by the British climbers who were rescued off the same climb a couple of weeks earlier. On the mountain every team was known by their expedition name. Brian and Steve's team was "IDGSA", Scott and I were called "The Flatliners".
Our first view of Denali on the flight to the glacier. Denali is on the right. Mt. Hunter is on the left. Mt. Foraker is further to the left, but not in this picture.
Still in the plane, we are pointed directly up the main Kahiltna glacier, with a great view of our route for the next 3 days. The flat hill at the far end of the glacier is Ski hill.  Our first night's camp was at its base.  The Northeast fork of the Kahiltna glacier, also known as the valley of death, goes to the right from the base of ski hill.  More on that later. 
Unloading the plane at Kahiltna base, 7000', on the southeast fork of the Kahiltna glacier.  Basecamp Annie is in the bright pink jacket (looks orange in this pic). Mt. Hunter towering in the background. At base camp we buried a cache of some heavier food for our return, picked up fuel from Annie, loaded our sleds, and headed out. (They don't allow climbers to carry fuel on the plane.) 

We camped at 7800' that night, at the base of Ski Hill.  The next day, in heavy fog, we carried a load to 9700' and buried it.  When burying a cache it must be at least 1m deep to prevent wind and ravens from uncovering it.  After burial, it must be marked with bamboo wands with identifying tape so it can be found later.  Since it can snow many feet the wands must also be long. 

The following day we packed up what remained of our camp at 7800' and carried straight through to 11,000', bypassing our cache at 9700'. 

The day after that we descended from 11,000' to retrieve our cache at 9700'. 
A campsite (not ours) at 11,000'.  Snow walls are always built around the tent to keep out the wind. It is not unusual for a high wind of 75 mph or higher to rip a tent or break its poles.  We were fortunate and never got any high winds.  If you're lucky you can find a tent site with walls already built. 

The next day we lugged half our gear to the camp at 14,200 and cached it. 
After lugging loads to 14,200' we returned to a windy campsite.  Not having enough walls to keep our stove from blowing out, we ate non cooked food.  Smoked oysters, brie, and melba toast was our appetizer for the evening. 
The next day we moved camp through windy pass, shown here, up to 14,200', called 'basin camp'. 
Scott on Squirrel Point. 
A corniced ridge seen from Windy Corner. 
Alpenglow on Mt. Foraker, seen from basin camp. 
Scott and I at 'the edge of the world' at 14,200'.
Scott, Brian, myself, and the other Steve.  Brian and Steve have completed acclimating at 14,200 and are heading down to the northease fork of the Kahiltna glacier, also called the 'Valley of Death', to begin their climb.  The Valley of Death is so named due to the narrow valley in which you are never safe from avalanches.  They did very well, considering, only falling into 6 and 8 crevasses respectively. 
The best cheesecake I've ever eaten. Basin camp. 
From the 'Edge of the World' you can see the Kahiltna glacer and Mt. Foraker.  You can see the trail we used on the Kahiltna stretching from left to right.  The resolution of this pic isn't good enough though. 
Drying our sleeping bags at 14,200'.  Our tent is the blue and gold Sierra Designs in the rear.  Chris Stubbs and Mike slept in the burgundy and gold Garuda in the foreground. 
Me, Mike, Chris Stubbs (kneeling), and Scott before Chris and Mike headed down.  Mike summitted from basin camp.  An amazing story as he left at 2:30 am in a snow storm, had to wait 45 minutes on the ridge for a whiteout to clear, then had to wait at 17,000' an hour and a half for wind to die down.  Finally forged his own trail across the autobahn (the riskiest part of the climb), and summitted. 

Most people are barely capable of reaching the summit from 17,000'