(Featured picture: Xavier going up the fixed lines) May 15 / Weather: bluebird, -38C morning / Climbing: 6h30 / Altitude: 4300 to 4900 to 4300   (below: morning temperature inside the tent at 9am) Our first technical climbing day of the trip, it’s very exciting, we are all gearing up for a 11am departure. It’s […]

May 14 Weather: phenomenal ‘bluebird’ Altitude: 4300 (stationary at Camp 3, Basin camp) The day starts on a roll. Its 1 am, I wake up to the wind blowing the tent around. I immediately wake up Xavier the ask him if he and Pat tied their backpacks down in the snow. There is not enough […]

(featured photo: one of the many meals in the Kitchen tent, dug right into the snow, with snow/ice benches, snow/ice counter, snow/ice cooking surface) May 13, Altitude 4300 -> 4000 -> 4300 Weather: sunny, around -20 morning, prob -15 afternoon   The night at camp 3 was incredibly cold, it went down to -32 degrees. […]

May 12 Weather: sun and clouds Altitude: 3300 to 4300 Time climbing: 6h13 (Pix of Xavier holding my monster pack before a 6 hour climb) Most brutal day so far. Carrying everything up to camp 3, Basin Camp in monster sized backpacks. This is the gateway to the high part of the mountain through a […]

Video Blog, daily debrief, May 11 2017

May 11 Altitude: 3300 to 4100 meters Weather: sunny, cold (-10 to -15), cloudy, snow / yes, all in one day Time climbing: 7h37 Rushing the morning packing, I feel a little overwhelmed with what to pack. We are going to cache at 4000 meters and come down and need to plan for the coming […]

May 10 Altitude: 3300 Weather: perfect, sunny The night was cold, probably -10 in the tent but the forecast from base camp is announcing a high pressure system and better weather. We wake up to a sea of clouds under us. It is beautiful, for hundreds of miles all around us, clouds are everywhere, nature […]

May 9, stationary at camp 2, no altitude gain It’s 3am when I wake up and exchange looks with Patrick. He mentions he finds it hard to breathe and stuffy. It’s been snowing for the past 10 hours or more and the tent is half buried in snow. Not much air is getting in. Pat […]

May 8 Altitude: 2300 to 3300 meters   (My new Garmin Fenix 5X and its maps function do a great job telling me that I am right on the West Buttress path to the top of Denali – not that I needed confirmation but its fun to see how technology has become incredibly precise and reliable […]

May 7 – Altitude: 2300 meters What do you do when you are carrying too much gear for mountain climbing travel? you ‘cache’ the gear that you will not need for the coming days for example food bags, high altitude warm down gear, crampons, snow pickets, gas for stove etc. Obviously we had to carry […]