Denali West Buttress, May 2001 — the Denali trip for Warchild

Introduction:

On May 16th, 20.00 hr local time, I reached the summit of Denali, 6194 m (20,320ft, the highest point in North America and therefore one of the 7 summits.) together with my climbing partner Jose, being the 18th person to reach this summit this millennium.

Just the day before the first person summited (one German man), we were the last climbers on the second 'summit day' of this season/millennium. The weather was great and that day about 17 people summited (but still the success rate was about 15%, normally about 50%).

I am glad that I could help raise $$ for Warchild, the organization that helps children in war-torn countries like Kosovo and Guatemala by building schools.

The following is my trip report; as you will notice I don't just talk about the climb itself, but also about the people I met on the mountain. The report is therefore written from my perspective.

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We left Seattle the evening of may2, slept one night in a youth hostel and left for Talkeetna (100km from Denali). That same day we had our talk with the rangers, and left with Talkeetna Air Taxi for the Glacier!

That was an exhilarating flight, which took about half an hour. The pilot took us through high mountain passes and put us down on the Lower Kahiltna glacier (2200m) around 19.00. We had to build camp immediately as the temperature was plummeting the moment the sun disappeared behind mount Foraker....

The next day the hard work begun: on touring skis we dragged about 50 kg each (25 on our back and 25 on a plastic sled) up the mountain. This first part was 9 km long but quite flat and we were happy when we finally reached a suitable camping spot in the evening. We had to make 1 meter high igloo walls first as the winds started to come up, so by the time we got to the cooking it was almost 'dark' again and the temperature outside the tent was already -16 the moment I ate (Jose was feeling sick and tired and didn't eat anything). Thank you The North Face, for these wonderful down pants ;-}

After a restless night we moved on the following day up a friendly slope called 'ski hill'. Well, the one who thought up that name certainly wasn't dragging a 25-kg sled behind his backpack as this part was really one big fight with gravity. Even the climbing skins under the skis and specialized ski-crampons couldn't stop me from sliding back down the hill many times and quite a few curses have been heard on the mountain that day...

We didn't get as far as we wanted and made camp on the middle of the glacier. First we had to probe the area for crevasses (with a 3-meter long pole) and then the melting of the water started, while temperature was dropping soon. But the view down the glacier was amazing and we really enjoyed that evening.

The next day our odyssey up the hill continued, but we managed to carry our stuff all the way up to just above 3100m (10,000ft) where we were the only ones to camp. Normally your tent gets blown away at this point (below Kahiltna pass) but we were lucky and were sleeping under a clear blue sky.

No resting day today, in the evening we took about 20 kg of gear and food we didn't need and brought that up to the base of Motorcycle hill, 3400m (11,000ft). This hill is named after the idiotic steep motor races up some hills around the world...

We cached our stuff in one of the old campsites/igloo walls and skied down. That is we tried to ski down, but the mixture of mountaineering boots instead of ski boots, tiredness and difficult snow made us crash quite a few times. But we were very satisfied when we arrived, this had been a good acclimatizing trip and already most of the food was at 3400m (almost another 3000m to go...).

That night the temperature inside the tent lowered to -16 C, (so outside it was probably -26 C) and we woke up because of the snow inside the tent! (Frozen condensation).

After wiping the condensation snow from our faces and sleeping bags (I love The North Face Dryloft!) we started our daily chores: get fresh snow and make a few liters of water for breakfast and the way up. While the snow was melting we packed our stuff and after breakfast we went up to Motorcycle hill camp where we left most of our food the day before.

We felt very strong and the trip took us only an hour and a half, which almost made it feel like a rest day. (It was only 400 meters up).

The next day we would have to cross the infamous "Windy Corner" which defends its reputation with pride... The plan is to take up most of our food to Windy Corner (4150m), travel the next day to Medical camp aka Base camp (4350m) and pick up the food the day after.

So we left with our heavy backpacks zigzagging up motorcycle hill. The day before we met a few Japanese climbers coming down who obviously though that this hill wasn't steep enough and they tried the route that has been named the "Japanese Direct" for this season. Direct into a big crevasse that is, and they lost so much gear and food that they had to abandon the climbing attempt for this season.

The weather was actually quite nice but the hill steep and icy. It's a long way from 3400m to 4150 with a full pack and it took us several hours before we reached the cache site. We were both very tired, and were feeling the effects of the altitude and were very grumpy to each other. This led to our first big fight: at first we planned to continue to the next camp as the weather was still quite good (although even in this perfect weather, Windy Corner was the odd one out: it had been blowing like crazy a few hundred meters back...) I asked Jose if he could help me put my heavy pack back on and he absolutely refused. He said that it was his principle that every one should take care of his own luggage. I said I agreed, but that we both save energy if we just help each other with the packs, but he kept refusing to help and we got in to a endless discussion and ended up leaving our food at the spot as originally planned.

I was leading on the way down (we were always roped together with a 60 meter climbing rope) and the anger gave me a lot of energy. I almost raced down the steep slopes and after one hour and 10 minutes we arrived at our tent. After an hour of silent snow melting I asked Jose if he had anymore surprise principles I should know about before we went any higher, but he apologized and assured me that I could always count on him on the mountain; that was good to hear as a team without trust is no team…

The next day we took up the rest of our stuff, but just when we reached Windy Corner, she got very nasty. The winds were ferocious and the temperature was dropping fast. I had to take my inner gloves out of my overgloves every few minutes to warm my fingers up again. Jose was very tired and wanted to rest, but I had no desire to stop at all and decided to take over his tent so we could continue. When we reached our cache site it started snowing as well and we went into the snow walls for some protection. There was a tent pitched and the accompanying two climbers came out and advised us to pitch right besides them as they expected much worse storm in Base camp, about 1,5 hours up the mountain.

These two, Ivan & Marc were French Canadian, around forty and very friendly, they even helped us with our tent and snow walls.

Just when we were finished two Austrians we passed earlier arrived and together we build another snow wall. Just a few minutes later two other couples arrived, all Americans, living in Canada. One of the woman seemed to have frost bite on her hands, so Marc put her into his big tent and we started making hot soup and tea for her. It was amazing that she wasn't completely frozen as she was clearly underdressed for the situation; this turned out to be our first real encounter (we had spoken to hem before) with the climbers later referred as "the 2 crazy Americans".

We helped to build them a camp as well and after a few hours we had turned one snow wall into a perfect 6-tent camp!

The next morning the weather was much better and we started our food-carry up to base camp. I thought I had lost my overboots and made everybody looking for them, but finally I found them in one of my bags and was rightfully ridiculed...

We passed a few minor crevasses where almost every group had stepped in at least once (just to their knees or waist) and one really big crevasse. Just before Base camp the sky darkened and I saw Jose bend over; just when I was about to ask him what was wrong I found out for myself and I was almost blown of my feet by a sudden gust of cold wind. I had to use my ice axe and walking pole to stay on my feet and had to turn my face and hands away. After a few seconds the wind stopped just as abruptly a it had started and we continued to walk the last few hundred meters to camp. But then the wind came again and we hade to lean on our pole again. This game continued for about fifteen minutes and then Base camp suddenly appeared before us: about 7 climbers tents and a few big ranger tents, including a medical cabin, hence the nickname "medical Camp".

One group was just leaving and we could take their high walled spot. We pitched our extra tent and put the extra food inside. We talked to some climbers and they told us that the day before all snow walls had blown down and everybody had to rebuild and fortify them. We took a last look at our guy lines and ten stakes and left for our trip down to Windy Corner, hoping that my tent still would be there when we would return the next day...

When we returned back in Windy Corner camp we heard that the American woman with the minor frostbite had been crying; not because of her frozen finger but because of not being able to be on the summit today. Today? Was that a joke? Did these people have any idea what they were up against?

I soon found out that one of the couples had quite a lot of mountaineering experience, at least in technical rock, but the other two ("the 2 crazy Americans") had no experience whatsoever. They were excellent athletes (world class triathletes actually) and they had the accompanying mentality: get to the finish as soon as possible. They did not realize that the finish was getting off the mountain in one (breathing) piece; to them the finish was the 6194m high summit.

The fact that no-one of the experienced climbers on the mountain had come higher than 5200 meter on the mountain so far only got them more excited: "so we can still be the first on the summit!" Sigh....

Anyway, the next day we packed our stuff and walked up to Base camp. The weather was a little better and it took us little more than an hour. On the way we met several big groups who had spend over 3 weeks besieging the summit, but without success. A few people stepped into crevasses, but the snow bridges were still strong enough to keep them from falling in completely.

Yes! Our North Face Mountain tent was still standing proudly in the wind! We quickly pitched our other tent next to the two French Canadians tent and started organizing. With two tents available we finally had some private space again which was very liberating.

Ivan and Marc (the French-Canadians) wanted to talk to us: "We have seen that you are a good mountaineering team and you are nice guys, therefore we would like to warn you: watch out for these two crazy Americans! We talked to them, and they are getting more obsessed with the summit every day; they are very dangerous, not only to themselves, but to everybody near them as well!."

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It seemed that Marc had to ask his clothes back he had lent to the woman when she was cold a few days ago and she was complaining constantly about her heavy pack..., meanwhile the other couple still had to tie all the needed 8-nuts every morning as they didn't know how to do that themselves.

Marc has been a captain (at sea) for may years and the next few days he proved to be as valuable for a successful summit attempt as an ice axe: after looking at the skies above and below us he could give an exact forecast for the next few days, differing for the different altitudes. When the official weather report from the rangers warned it would storm 110 km/h that evening he took one look and said: "There will be storm, but no more than 50km/h and tomorrow the wind will be less". And everyday he was right! (And the official broadcasted ranger weather reports were mostly wrong!)

The next few days we also took a little hike to what is called 'the edge of the world'; you will know why it is named that way if you go there. After a short (20minute) walk on the base camp glacier, the ice suddenly ends, dropping over 1000m vertical. We anchored ourselves to one of the rocks at the edge and enjoyed the magnificent view of Mt Foraker, Mt Hunter and the West Rib of Denali. We also saw most of the way we took up the Kahiltna glacier, the weather was perfect and we really enjoyed our little day trip.

That day a few really tough Alaskan guys (2 meter each, grungy looks and cool voices) came down from high camp (5200m) after spending 3 days there, waiting for a nice day to summit. They had tried to make camp by building a snow wall, but every 40x40x40cm snow/ice block (these weigh about 15 kilos each there) they cut out and put on the ground just said: "whoooiessssjjj" and they were blown off the ridge. So they dug a snow hole but after a few days they had lost so much energy they had to come down.

On Day 11 our weather guru Marc told us that there might be a weather change (on the summit is was still storming) and we decided to bring up a few days of food and one of the tents the next day and see if we could stay at high camp and maybe push for the summit the next day. The two crazy Americans were running around nervously and were asking everybody about their plans but no-one would really talk to them.

So we weren't really surprised when we saw them leave hastily for the headwall early the next morning. We left a few hours later, packed with about 5 days of food & fuel, gear and a tent. This made the packs very heavy and we were going very slow. After about 100 vertical meters I felt sick to my stomach and weak in my legs, all within a few seconds. I called Jose, said I needed a rest, but was unable to stand on my feet and had to sit down on the snow feeling completely weak. One of the rangers passed and he gave me some water and radioed the camp doc. He advised me to go down and Jose and me decided that he would take the food and would try to cache it on the top of the fixed lines, at 4900m, so we wouldn't have to bring that up again. I would take his sleeping bag, mattress etc and go down.

When I went down I went to see the doc, who asked me all about my physical and mental situation, mountaineering and altitude experience. I said that this was not altitude disease (Acute Mountain Sickness or AMS), at least not as I knew it. He checked my oxygen saturation level with one of those new little machines, but that said 86, which meant I was at least acclimatized enough to the current altitude and therefore this 100m extra should have been no problem.

It seemed that I hade not been drinking and eating enough and he advised me to take some soup and some carbohydrates which seemed like a good idea to me. When I went into my tent to prepare some noodle soup I saw a large group of people standing at the base of the fixed lines. I heard that here was a little 'bergschrund' a 1,5 meter vertical piece of ice that you had to overcome, but it seemed that nobody was moving at all up there.

I drank my soup, ate some powerbars and rested for 30 minutes. When I came out again I felt a lot better and I asked the doc if it was ok to give it another try. He thought that would be ok, as I didn't seem to suffer from AMS. So I packed my bags and started up the big slope again. To my amazement the group at the fixed lines seemed to have grown, but still nobody was moving up the lines.

The headwall is about 600 m high, the first 400 is just a steep snowfield with little crevasse risk and but after the bergschrund it changes into 40-60 degrees steep ice, hence the fixed ropes. I went up slowly and about halfway I met the Austrian couple who were really pissed off. "Up there is a stupid woman who has been on the fixed lines several hours and she does not know how to move back or forth! She blocks the way and nobody can pass, so we are going down and will try again tomorrow...".

It took me about a split second to realize who that woman was ... When I was about a 100m away from the group I saw Jose climb up the other rope, which is meant for descending only. I shouted at him, but he did not hear me. My stomach was better but I was still very tired, and it took me another 45 minutes to reach the stuck group. At that time it it turned out that Ivan and Marc actually had to rescue the 2 crazy Americans from the rope as they could not move up or down. First they lowered their backpacks down the steep part just before the fixed lines and then they helped the Americans down. The other couple was clearly embarrassed at this sight and Ivan and Marc were not happy either. I passed them to start on the fixed ropes by myself, but just as I was at the base of the bergschrund I heard Jose coming down. He was really amazed to see me up there: " I though you were sick?" he asked " I thought so to" I replied" but I feel a little better now and brought all the stuff we need to camp, should we go up?" " I can't, I really can't!" I could see that, he was looking very tired after taking up an extremely heavy load, containing the tent and 5 days of food. It wouldn't be a wise idea, as I was not feeling so good myself so we left some stuff we did not need in base camp and descended together, both really tired and dehydrated.

Down in camp we heard that many people had talked to the crazy Americans and that they had to see the rangers in the morning. Jose and I asked Marc about his weather forecast and after consulting our barometers and the skies he said that tomorrow and the day after might be without wind, so we should try again if we could.

That night we slept in one tent again but got up very late as our bodies were still exhausted. When making breakfast we saw the 2 Americans return from the ranger hut, and they were not looking very happy. Later we found out from the other couple that the rangers had literally forbid them to go up the mountain anymore and threatened them with arrest if they tried. Unfortunately the previous day had taken the fun out of Marc and Ivan's trip and they decided to go down the next day. They had driven all the way from the east coast of Canada to the Denali, not to go for the summit, but to enjoy the experience and the views. Many years before Ivan was there with 4 friends, but he had to descend before the summit attempt. His friends did go up, but got lost on the way down and fell to their death down the Messner couloir... Marc told me that they really liked meeting us, but that these crazy Americans had ruined it for them.

We wished them a good trip and headed up the headwall again. We had met another Dutch guy, Elio, in camp who had tried to summit the day before, right from base camp with his Swiss partner, but his partner had gotten sick at Denali pass, around 5500m and they had to return. His partner was still not feeling well and he had asked if he could join us.

But halfway up the headwall he suddenly changed his mind said he was unsure about the weather and that he would go down again, and try for the summit from base camp the next day. 3 years before he was on Denali as well, his tent got blown to pieces in a storm at high camp (5200m) and he had to find refuge in a Russian tent. Then he and a few Russians spend another few days, jus sitting in the tent with their backs to the wall, so the tent would not collapse, hoping that they would not blow off the mountain.

I assured him that Marc's forecast was always right, but he had made up his mind and went down; I asked him if it was our (slow) speed and he said that that had to do with it as well.

The rangers were just finishing with replacing part of the fixed roped that had to be cut by Marc the previous day to get the Americans off and Jose and I could start on a brand new rope. Crossing the bergschrund was interesting, it took one big swing of the ice axe, some front pointing of the crampons and a few rock climbing moves, but we passed it within a minute. The ice was steep and we were feeling the altitude effects and therefore it took us quite some time to get up this part of the route.

When we finally were at the end of the lines at 4900m it was already after 19.00 and we were in doubt about what to do. The weather was still nice and it would be light up here until at least midnight, but after loading the cached tent and the food the packs were so heavy that we could hardly stand, let alone climb the steep and narrow ridge to high camp. But we didn't feel like camping on this narrow ridge or digging a snowhole either so we decided to give it a try.

It was really step by step and we had to be very careful to stay on our feet. At one point I thought I stepped my crampons in another piece of packed snow, but just as I moved my balance on that foot, the snow came off and I started sliding down the steep slope. My reflexes still were ok and with one swing of my faithful ice axe I managed to stop the slide and got on my feet again. It took me a few minutes to get my heart rate and breathing back to normal and we continued up. We took a break at the big rock known as "Washburn's Thumb", named after the first man to climb Denali, about 50 years ago. It was getting late and we started again. This time Jose slipped but he performed self-arrest as well.

The track led us over the very top of the narrow ridge and the views were amazing. Although is was nearly 23.00 the sun was still up and there was enough light to continue, but our energy levels were dropping with the temperature... The track went through several rocks, passed some steep parts and finally led us to a flat part known as high camp. There were 5 tents and we pitched our right next to them. It was now midnight, the sun had disappeared behind a ridge but the full moon was bright enough. The temperature dropped below -25 and I had to take care of my fingers when I was making some soup to hydrate. Tomorrow would be our summit day, but I had the feeling it would take at least a week before I could raise enough energy to get moving any higher; I still felt the exhaustion of yesterday's climbing and today I had only punished my body more. Well, let's get to sleep and see how we feel after one night at 5200m altitude, my personal overnight record so far....

Day 14

I had quite a restless sleep and woke up because of the heat in side the tent. When I opened up the rain fly I saw most of the other climbers walking around in harnesses already and I woke Jose up.

I was feeling really bad, no altitude headaches, but just total exhaustion (which has a lot to do with the altitude of course as the pressure and therefore the oxygen level was less than 50% of sea level pressure). I started the snow melting but had problems with my stove again. I used Jose's stove as well, but it took a long time until we had enough water for the trip. Jose had brought 3 cans of Spanish food (Potatoes, chorizo and veggies) that only had to warmed up, but the easy-opening of the cans broke off and our can openers wouldn't work either. So it was time for some extreme measures: get the ice axe! We finally managed to get the contents out, but they were frozen solid of course and this took a long wile to cook as well.

It was already 12.00 before we were anywhere near ready to go and I was feeling weaker and weaker. The weather was perfect: it was sunny, warm and there was no wind and no cloud in sight; but would I be able to punish my body for another 10 hours? I expressed my doubts to Jose, he was not feeling too strong either, but he kept on telling me that everything was between my ears and that we should try.

We left about 12.30 and started slowly to the first part of this day: the traverse to Denali pass. This is a 40 degrees ice and snow slope, which you cross diagonally towards Denali pass at 5550 meters altitude. This looks easier than it is and it is actually the place where the most accidents happen, so we roped up and went slowly. But the rope was more a nuisance than a help as it got stuck behind several little pieces of ice and I had to descend 3 times to get it loose. This got me even more tired and when we finally arrived at Denali pass, I had to stop for a while. The next part was less steep and we decided to continue without the rope; we were not the only ones as there were already 3 ropes on the pass.

Slowly we continued up the ridge toward the "football field" at 5800m. After an hour we met Elio, the Dutch guy and his Swiss partner. He had started from Base camp early in the morning, passed us and went to the summit where he met his Swiss friend. They were amazed that we were going up this late and said that we'd better return. as it would be midnight before we would reach the summit.

We were now at 5700m and we decided to see how long it would take to get to 6000m. If we could do that within 3 hours, we would be ok, if not we would have to think about returning to camp. Just when I was so tired that I had to start humming to get my rhythm going someone was coming down. It was an American guy who told us he returned at 5900m because he wasn't feeling well. I looked and him and this guy looked 10 times as strong as I felt at that moment and and that moment I was seriously in doubt about the climb to the summit.

But when we reached 6000 only 2 hours after leaving 5700m so at least our pace was still alright, albeit on the thin line between conscious and automatic. At 6000m we could see the real summit ridge for the first time and we noticed other climbers coming down from the summit. We rested for a while until they passed us and we shook hands to congratulate them. When they passed we were the only two persons above 6000m (on this continent) and we continued slowly to the base of the summit slope. Step by step, resting after every 5 steps we went higher. Jose was very tired as well and we had about the same speed. When we reached the top of the wall I saw on my Suunto watch that we were only at 6100m, so there were another 94 to go! We had to follow the narrow ridge for another kilometer or so. At this moment we would like to have our rope back as some of the track was actually ON the 25cm wide ridge, with drops of 200m to the left and over as far as we could see to the right...

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But the ever present Ice axe kept us safe and after making a last turn around a big corniche and up a little hill around 19.45hr, we saw a thin line of Tibetan prayer flags: The summit of Denali, USA and the North American Continent! Suddenly the tiredness was gone for a moment and for the first time on the ridge I could take the time to enjoy the magnificent views.

My watch read 6175m, but I hadn't reset it since 4200m so I was impressed with it's accuracy as it was only 20m off.

We hugged and congratulated each other on the summit which is a few square meters wide and starting taking pictures of each other, the sponsor banners and of course the amazing views. The sun was setting and the light was great. I took out my handycam battery and shot about 10 seconds of film with a shaky hand. There was no wind at all and we didn't have to wear our Gore-Tex, let alone the down jackets we brought! A few thin clouds passed the sun and immediately the temperature dropped 20 degrees. Time to get down!

Going down the narrow ridge was even scarier than going up and we took our time for it. The crampons were biting the ice, the ice axe helped us keeping our balance and were descended safely. We noticed how exhausted we were when we had to climb about 20 meters up the "Pig Hill": this took us about 15 minutes and we needed about 5 rests each! Fortunately the rest of the way was down from here...

4 down, 2 to go!

We kept on moving while the sun was setting and stopped only for taking some pictures of the incredible views of the Alaskan range.

We just blindly followed the other crampon tracks down, but when we reached Denali pass we couldn't find our rope. It seemed that we had descended about 50 meter too much it took us quite a while to get back up again. We roped up at the start of the traverse which is also known as 'the Autobahn' named after the speedy way many climbers go down here, of which a large number are European. The next day we heard that it deserved it's name as one of the Austrian climbers we saw summiting slipped and fell over 250m down. He was very lucky as he only broke his nose and his ankle and he was taken off the mountain by a helicopter.

The rope got stuck again and we decided to descend the rest of the slope unroped. Like zombies we went down and it was after 23.00 when we finally reached our tent. Jose went to sleep immediately, but I was so dehydrated that I need some fluid first and I started to melt some water. Just when it was starting to cook, the sun disappeared behind one of the ridges and the temperature dropped to -25. I drank about 1,5 liters of soup and energy drink while shivering all over and then crawled into my warm sleeping bag.

The next morning the weather was still nice and one of the climbers that didn't make it yesterday went for the summit with a ranger. We got up very slowly again, still tired but satisfied after the successful summit day. The clouds were still at 4200m level and the view down the ridge was amazing. I shot some film of the scenery and in the afternoon we went down to base camp. We had to stop several times to take pictures of the beautiful ridge between 5200m and 4900m while other tired climbers slowly made their way up the ridge. The mountain was completely surrounded by a blanket of clouds and only the ridge we were standing on and Mt Foraker in the distance were able to poke through, verrrry nice!

When we came to 4900 we had to use the fixed lines again, but going down is just a bit trickier than going up as you have to face the 40-60 degrees slope while descending. The ice was crunchy and was shattering under our feet; we were very glad that the fixed lines were in place!

After the lines it was just another hour to base camp and (again exhausted) we dumped our backpacks in front of Jose's TNF Mountain Tent that was waiting for us. The base camp was fully packed and the bringing of the extra tent probably saved us from making a new campsite.

We discussed the next day and decided to try to bring al our stuff down to base camp in one day. But the next morning Jose didn't want to wake up until late and it was already 14.30 when we left. We had almost 2 weeks worth of fuel and food left and we gave that to a group of Spanish climbers who were very happy with the Hamburgers, Parmesan cheese and chocolate! Even without the food our packs were about 30kg each and the descend was very hard (We each carried a tent now and had all our gear we took up in two separate carries; also we had al our garbage to carry down).

Jose was going fast and I asked him to take a rest around Windy Corner but he wanted to rest further down. I was really tired and it didn't take long until one of my crampons got stuck behind my other feet and I tripped. It was not on a very steep part, but I landed on my knee and the weight of the backpack made it quite painful. I shouted to Jose that I needed a rest now, but he said that that this was not a good place, that it was all in my head and continued, pulling the rope and me with it. Meanwhile we were inside the clouds and it was very windy, but my knee wouldn't let me descend on a high speed and I tripped again. This time my thermos filled with warm tea slipped out of its pocket and before I could grab it, it slid down the icy slope, full speed over the edge.

I was tired and getting really pissed off now and shouted to Jose that I did want to stop now, as this Motorcycle Hill was not really a place to trip and slide down as there was an even steeper and icier part ahead. I walked slowly towards Jose, and we got into a heated discussion! Harsh words fell towards the both of us, but the moment I I said the magic words 'Fuck You Jose, I am going to rest now' he got crazy. He approached me, eyes wide open and shouted that no-one talks to him like that and before I could move he put the sharp end of his pickel to my throat, threatening to push it if I didn't 'behave'.

I was really getting angry now, but kept my calm and said and did completely nothing but staring back until he lowered his ice axe. This was not the best place to get into a physical fight and I wanted to get down the mountain as soon as possible.

After a few moments we started moving again without saying another word until we reached the Motorcycle camp. The clouds were very thick now and we could not see more than 50 meters. We found our cache, marked with our skis and dug up our big red North Face duffel bags and the two sleds we hid under the snow.

There were a few Swiss people in our old camp and they invited us in for a cup of pasta, which we gladly accepted. This also forced us to talk again which broke the ice a little bit between Jose and me. I went to him and said that we reached the summit together and that I wanted to get off the mountain together too and he agreed.

We discussed about the best way to get these heavy sleds downhill through the snow and decided to let it slide before us, while skiing behind it, tied to the sled with a few schlinges. This was actually quite fun, although not really effective and it took us almost an hour to get down the hill. There we changed placed with the sleds and dragged it down. Every time the slope was a bit steeper my sled would pass and either flip over itself or flip me over so it was not the easy ride down we had hoped for. After another disastrous descent on Ski Hill (were I took off my skies and walked down and still was faster than Jose skiing). We decided that we'd better spend another night on the mountain as it would be at least another few hours to the landing strip and it was after midnight already (but still light!)

We pitched only our inner tent, made some food and went to sleep.

The following day Jose spent over two hours getting up and organizing his stuff before we could continue and we left at noon. This last part was almost horizontal, but 9 km long and Jose was clearly very tired as he kept going slower and slower (it's just in the head right?).

He asked me to go ahead and I continued with a firm pace, but he could not keep up so I had to wait every few minutes. Just when we reached the last hill -named heartbreak hill because it's actually 180m up- I noticed that I didn't have to stop for the last 10 minutes and I looked back. Jose had untied the rope without letting me know, because of the weight of the rope I had not felt the difference and he was several hundreds of meters behind. This made me very angry and gave me an energy boost that took me up the hill in no time. Halfway up I untied as well, leaving the rope on the hill for Jose to pick up and continued to the base camp manager.

She had bad news: the clouds were so thick that we would not be able to leave today, and maybe not even tomorrow. I went outside to tell Jose who was approaching, but he didn't answer and went to the campsite to pitch his tent. I joined a few other waiting climbers into the fuel storage and we had actually a fun evening, with 3 rolls of chocolate chip cookies we got from the rangers, a bottle of gin from a Canadian climber and lots of good stories from the mountain! The storage tent was half-filled with boxes containing 6 gallons of Coleman fuel each (the stuff we cooked on on the mountain) and I spent that night on top of more than 750 liters of explosives, which made it probably my most dangerous night ever!

The next morning it was still cloudy and we spent the day inside the basecampmanager's big tent solving riddles and exchanging stories. She told us that last week some climbers had seen a bear on the mountain at 2300m altitude. They were not completely sure, but it had happened a few times before, one time the bear was even inside a tent and another time one had fallen into a crevasse...

Just as we were preparing for another night on the fuel cans a patch of blue sky appeared and within an hour about 6 Cessna planes arrived. There was a long line of waiting climbers in Talkeetna and therefore there were enough spaces to take us all out. On the way we encountered a hailstorm but the flight was as enjoyable as on the way over.

We decided to spend another night in Talkeetna with the other climbers we met; (Jose and I did talk to each other and actually had quite a good time, but our ways parted the next day.) First we went in to the laundry, not for our socks, but for ourselves! There were hot showers and you never appreciate such things until you are deprived from it for 3 weeks... The famous Roadhouse was not serving dinners yet so we went for a big McKinley pizza and then continued to the Fairview inn. This place is known for the mix of climbers and locals and we had a good time until late at night, drinking many pitchers of Canadian beer, while the Alaskan music was played live by a band called Yukon Rider.

That's it!!! The rest of the time I spent in Seward, where I walked up Mt Marathon (900m) which is actually a race every year (43 minutes is the record for the ascent and descent!); I went on a cruise and saw whales, orcas sea lions, sea otters and a 'tourist' glacier up close; I went to Homer and spent a few days in Anchorage hiking, mountain biking and relaxing.

I have seen no bears, but did see two big moose, of which one up close, come see the video!

CU all soon and thanks again for the support!

Thanks and keep climbing, Harry

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The Denali trip 4 Warchild team is sponsored by:

* The North Face Outdoor Gear: http://www.thenorthface.com

* ESIRE e-consultancy: Http://www.esire.net

* Suunto Wristcomputers: altimeters and more!: Http://www.suunto.fi

* Radical Design backpacks: http://www.Radicaldesign.nl

* Northern Mountain Supply: Online outdoor gear: Http://www.killerdeals.com

* Talkeetna Air: Denali flightseeing tours!: Http://www.talkeetnaair.com

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