Feeling super stoked on the future this morning. Been sitting around since 730 reading Messner's testaments to 1970's K2, and checking out vintage photos of Denali. I keep reminding myself that while Denali isn't the Baltoro or some massive 8,000m peak, and while i'm not Hillary or Messner, Mt. McKinley is still the highest point on our continent, and will be a solid check mark on my expedition list, as well as an incredibly difficult physical and mental challenge.
2012 is still two years distant, but the hard point of my training begins this winter - Three different routes on Shasta, as well as separate climbs on Mt. Hood, and Mt. Baker. Running every morning, and plenty of speed climbing. in 2012 our four-man team (representing Colorado, California, Chile, and of course. . .Oregon!) plans to climb unsupported from the base of the park, all the way to the Kahiltna around 8,000 ft. (most expeditions charter air transport to the glacier) From there we head up the West Rib route to the summit at 20,320 ft, hitting more than three high camps, and multiple cruxes of 45-65 degree ice.
I've been hacking away at my gear list, and spoke with both the guys at Feathered Friends and Mtn. Hardware about tents and some custom down gear. With a large enough order, it looks like we might be outfitted for a very good price, and with the best high-altitude down gear on the market. (My jacket/pant combo is gonna be sewn specially for me with Red, Green, and Yellow, all in waterproof eVent!) I just placed an order yesterday for a pair of the new superlight Petzl ice tools, and i'm checking out their new hybrid crampons just for kicks. I keep reminding myself that I don't need to invest in all sorts of ice screws and rope fixing gear until next year, but I can barely contain my excitement when i browse the Petzl and Black Diamond ice catalogs.
So, today, with snow in short supply, the best I can do is pump myself up for the winter.
Here's some compiled shots with which I keep myself stoked!
Route overview. West buttress is the standard. Our route from the Kahiltna to the summit is highlighted in Orange. Cassin and Isis are further to the right. Testament to their difficulty? The Giri Giri Boys went missing on the upper part of Cassin this last May after chaining W-->E Kahiltna with a variation on the Slovak Direct (which runs parallel to Cassin Ridge). The two-man Japanese team was highly skilled, experienced, and totally without fear. Victim to either avalanche, exhaustion, or falls - After 30+ hours of flight search from the NPS, their bodies still haven't been found. Cassin Ridge is the most technical face on this side of Denali, with the West Rib coming in at a close second.
Upper West Rib detail, showing approximate high camp locations. Depending on snow conditions, these camps will move somewhat.
Haulin' sleds. Between high and low camps. This shot was taken on a fairly mellow section of the lower West Rib.
View from Camp six!
View from the top of Access Couloir, on fixed ropes. Steep enough? Cassin runs up the background, climber's left.
I feel a super-strange mix of apprehension and total excitement these days. I have to keep myself humbled. Constantly. Every single bit of mental preparation i've done so far just leaves me with a deeper appreciation for my life. That's strange. . . because I feel like my mental preparation for this huge undertaking has barely even started.
When i turn 22 in a couple months, it marks a point of absolute no return. Things will change, and strategies will be adjusted - but from that point on I am committed 100% to a demanding lifestyle of sheer determination and discipline.
As I am reminded every day, even with the apparent security of fixed ropes and established camps, neither the world's greatest mountains, nor human potential, will ever be wholly predictable. At times either the spirit that brings us to the heights - or the one that we discover there - may be all that we have to draw upon to try to get ourselves and our friends down alive. I keep that in the back of my head constantly.
So this is why I laugh when people hear that i'm enrolled in the OAL program at SOU, and then ask, "Well there's a pretty good job market out there for that! Have you thought about your career?"