Today our goal was to take ‘half’ our stuff and cache it at about 10,000ft. Half of the total, a lot of which we can’t move. Our tents, sleeping stuff, cook tent, kitchen all have to stay. So we basically carry most of the food we need for the total expedition – personal food and group food, and fuel. We also cache anything else we’re unlikely to need tomorrow – ascenders, very heavy gloves, climbing helmet, spare glasses – anything to reduce the weight on the 2nd carry. What we don’t bring today is 5 days of food, in case conditions change, and we get stuck here at Camp 1. We carry all our layers up and down, as conditions can change at any moment.
We were up at 2:30 am – a ‘sleep’ in. Breakfast, finish packing, and leave at 4:20. Today is a long slog in snow shoes. Ski hill is known for crevasses, but the route is safe. Dominic, who’s been here many times, occasionally moves from the established path, to ground he knows is inherently safer. The loads are joyfully lighter than yesterday, but the ground is steeper. The pace is slow, steady. I like it. We take 3 breaks, approx an hour apart. Each time we stop I wished we’d kept going. I liked the pace, and stopping always mean re-establishing a rhythm. However, breaks are essential, we need to hydrate to eat, and put on sunscreen – always putting on sunscreen!.” Without food and water we’ll struggle later in the hike. While I walk I am focused on the rope in front of me – connecting me to Andrew, and our team. Keep it taut, but don’t pull on it. Also walk in the exact path of the person in front, on tested ground. The ground to the left or right might not be as safe.
As we walk people do different things. Many listen to music – 1 ear-piece only – some to a podcast. I pray for the first hour or two. Pray for my family, friends, relatives, deceased family, and the world. These prayers lead to my mind wandering about people, and how they are, what they’re doing, and wishing them well. It makes me grateful for the planet earth, and how beautiful it is, and hope we do something to prevent its destruction. It makes me realize how much I love my family, and how lucky I am, and I pray for their health and happiness. After that I just let my mind wander. Perhaps I will throw on a podcast. However, I try so hard to stay focused on the task in hand – getting safely to the next objective. I don’t try and take photographs as I walk – it would be nice, but I don’t have confidence in my skill to multi-task. I take photos at the breaks, or at an unscheduled stop.
The walk today brought us north towards the Kahiltna pass, with Kahiltna dome on our left. On our right is Thunder ridge, and behind that is Denali. As we cached, Dominic pointed out the route to Camp 2, and then to Camp 3 at 14,000 ft. Neither is visible, but it’s nice to have a vague outline of the next few days.
When we cached the temp was 15F, but with the breeze it was about 5F. Multiple layers were needed as we dug a deep hole to cache the stuff. Seemingly ravens will unearth and rip open shallow buried food.
After we turned around it was near empty backpacks, and empty sleds. Controlling the sleds, as we quickly made our return to Camp was “fun”.
We were back by 9:30. Then it’s rest, sleep, snooze, read, hydrate and eat.
Tomorrow will be similar, but we will bring the rest of the gear straight to Camp 2.
So far, so good….
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