Denali - Mount McKinley
- Alaska
20,320 ft.
Denali Climbing Expedition Itinerary:
West Buttress
The west buttress is the most popular route on Denali. We rate this climb "General mountaineering" because it lacks technical difficulties but you should not allow yourself to be deceived by this. Denali is a difficult mountain by any standard and it does not take much for it to turn an otherwise simple situation into a logistical nightmare. The following itinerary is a general description of how we expect the trip to progress. Please understand that once we begin, existing conditions and the strength of the team will possibly dictate a different schedule.
DENALI - 20,320 ft. May 6 - June 4, 2003
Team: Monica Kalozdi with Tom, Doug, Jaime and myself.
 
Day 1: Fly to Kahiltna base camp on the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna glacier. Once the team is on the glacier we will prepare the sleds. Organize the equipment. Time permitting we will descend onto the main Kahiltna glacier for the evening.
Day 2: Our objective today is to carry a cache up to approximately 8,500ft. and leave it at the site for camp two. We will return to our first camp for the evening. We will follow this pattern of "climb high, sleep low" up to our camp at 15,00ft. This pattern will enable us to acclimatize and adjust gradually to the mountain.
Day 3: Move to camp two at 8,500ft.
Day 4: Today we will carry our cache up to approximately 11,000 ft. and return to camp two for the evening.
Day 5: Move up to 11,000 ft. and establish camp three.
Day 6: Rest day. Reorganize our supplies and establish a cache for extra gear ( snowshoes). We will sort out any unwanted items and a couple days of fuel and food for the descent.
Day 7: At 11,000 ft. the west buttress begins. First , we climb up "motorcycle hill" into a large basin beneath Windy corner. Ideally , we will want to get our cache up to about 13,500 ft. just around Windy corner, before depositing it and returning to camp three for the evening.
Day 8: Move up and establish camp four at our previous day's cache.
Day 9 : Carry a cache up to the base of the headwall at approximately 15,000 ft. and locate a camp site in the seracs. Returning to camp four.
Day 10: Move up and establish camp five.
Day 11: Rest day: again we will sort out our loads and establish a cache for the descent. We will also ascent the headwall, a short way to practice ascending and descending using fixed ropes.
Day 12: Carry a cache up to 17,300 ft. and locate a site for camp six. This is the nicest day of climbing on the route. Both the headwall and the ridge leading up to our high camp at 17,300 ft. are spectacular. We will return to camp five for the evening.
Day 13: Move up and establish camp six at 17,300 ft.
Day 14: Rest day: we will spend one day around camp, ensuring the tents are well protected before making our summit bid.
Day 15: Summit day: Leaving camp early, we will climb up into Denali Pass at 18,100 ft. and then follow the buttress up to Arch Deacon's tower in the basin below the final hill and ridge leading up to the summit. Round trip time to the summit from camp six is between 8 to 12 hours, dependant on the conditions and team strength.
Day 16: descend back to camp five and retrieve our cache. We are usually able to descend all the way to 11,000 ft. from camp six, but this greatly depends on the strength of the team.
Day 17: Rest day at 11,000 ft. We have found it advantageous to take a rest before continuing the descent. Going down is quick but is also strenuous.
Day 18: Descend to Kahiltna base, if possible
Day 19: return to Talkeetna
Day 20 - 21 - 22: are available for delays due to inclement weather, etc.
Denali / Mount McKinley is the highest mountain on the North American continent.
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