19 May ,
2019

Day 13: climbing up to the 5000m ridge, technical terrain, fixed-lines, it’s the real deal

 Not a great night of sleep too tight in the tent. I am squashed between Xavier and Marc, the snow under us is at an angle and Marc slides to my side, it sounds ridiculous but its unbearable after hours trying to sleep. 7 hours of climbing round trip from Camp 3 to the […]

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18 May ,
2019

Day 12: Back cache from camp 3

Midday, we head down the mountain to pick up the cache content. Its beautiful. The Alaska range mountains fill up the horizon. Some gigantic crevasses, next to the path down, are masterpieces of nature’s art. Its Kai, Xavier, Eric and I picking up the cache, Marc is resting and desperately trying to recover from his […]

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17 May ,
2019

Day 11: first sunny day, rest at camp 3

(Featured photo: our home in the mountains, a Mountain Hardwear Trango 4 tent. Officially for 4 people, but just enough space for the 3 of us and that’s with our backpack sleeping in the snow outside and our big boots in the vestibule!) Elevation 4400m Sunny and cold Rest Day to recover from the past […]

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16 May ,
2019

Day 10: on the way to the big mountain

We leave camp 2 in the snow again but this time we are carrying all the remaining gear to move to camp 3. It’s heavy and the first section is busy. Lots of traffic going up. Some people walk over our rope, some skiers making switchbacks cross our rope and get tangled up, we are […]

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15 May ,
2019

Day 9: high consequence terrain

Weather: overcast and snow We carry the loads in order to cache after windy corner planning for our move to camp 3. The first hill right out of camp, motorcycle hill, goes straight up, no switchbacks. It makes it a bit faster but also more difficult. The final section has a bunch of crevasses and […]

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14 May ,
2019

Day 8: back cache & Xavier’s birthday

Weather: light snow, overcast with some sun at times Kai, Xavier, Eric and I walk down to the cache site. Marc stays in camp to rest and try to recover. At dinner time, we celebrate Xavier’s birthday, a liquid cheesecake is served – it did not have time to set – but the sugar intake […]

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13 May ,
2019

Day 7: move to camp 2, surrounded by magnificent glaciers

Start sunny and magnificent views on the Kahiltna glacier down valley. Half way through the push Marc is not feeling great. I offer to carry the remaining parts of our tent so that our rope team can push to camp 2 and start setting up camp.

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12 May ,
2019

Day 6: finally we move & cache at Kahiltna pass

Finally we have a some visibility and a little sun so we get moving and do a cache day with all the gear that we will not need for another 2-3 days. It is a very long day up and down from camp 1 to reach the cache site at 3000m. 7hours of climbing with […]

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11 May ,
2019

Day 5: another weather day

2400m Oxy 93 HR 78 WH breathing: harder to hold breath but feels really good and energised after a 20’ session sitting in the kitchen tent followed by stretches on the snow. Stuck at Camp 1 we cover all options for moving higher on the mountain. None of them seem to make sense at it […]

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10 May ,
2019

Day 4: involved in a rescue

It is stormy out and Kai calls it, we are not moving today. It is snowing and cold with no visibility. During our late morning breakfast we hear on the radio that a French climber is injured and needs rescue. Melys, one of the National Park Rangers at camp 1, is skiing from tent to […]

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