Today was the start of the “real mountaineering”. I wasn’t sure what that meant, but I guess that’s why I came. I knew from reading about Denali that we were going to get to meet Squirrel hill, Wendy corner, and the Polo fields. I also knew that there was a tragic fall just a couple of weeks ago at Squirrel hill. One tries not to think, or especially dwell, about this stuff, but it does stick in one’s head. We were up at 5:20 am for a 6:30 start. Our goal today was to cache our food and stuff we need later in the trip just shy of 14,000ft camp. Between us and there was almost 3,000ft, and those renowned aspects of the mountain. Today was our first day wearing crampons, carrying an ice axe in hand, and wearing a helmet. The helmet is really a head scratcher. On steeper sections its goal to is protect us from stuff climbers ahead of us might drop – water bottles most likely. In other sections, such as today’s, it is to protect us in the case of a rockfall. I wonder about this, a big boulder thundering down from Windy Corner, and my little helmet is all I need!!!
Out of camp it was a testing start, 1,000 feet up Motorcycle hill. Not sure why the name, but a motorcycle surely would be handy, except there’s no way a motorcycle is getting up this! I used all the steps – mainly the duck-step, and occasionally the side step – to minimize muscle pain and fatigue. The other key trick is the break step, which allows you to take micropauses between steps to rest the non-load bearing leg. I reckon today I am carrying 40 – 50 lbs. I don’t look up, I’m taking it one step at a time, ensuring I take the micropauses, don’t stand on the rope, and only lift my head occasionally to ensure I’m in Andrew’s trail. We did well, and in no time we were traversing Squirrel hill, with the Peter glacier thousands feet below our left side. Once we hit the Polo field, a large fairly flat section, the sun was beginning to hit. Before we reached Windy corner we were in base layers. The temperature was about 20, but it was so hot. Windy corner it was not, so across an icy section with exposure to the right, threading the path between some crevasses, and we reached the cache site. From there we had great views of the various routes up Denali, including the Messner route, named after the famous climber, which is rarely attempted. We could see people making their way out of Camp 3 towards the 17,000ft camp.
A relatively quick turnaround and we were on the way back. Squirrel hill showed its true exposure on the return leg. I try not to think about the person who died here just a couple of weeks ago. He was doing this section on skis, so not roped in to other people. We were back at camp at 1pm. 6.5 hours round trip. Dom was happy – always a good sign. He constantly is monitoring the fitness and movement of the team, understanding what, and what not, we are capable of, and how fast we can move. Critical aspects of conditions were to change suddenly.
An afternoon of rest, reading and 2 episodes of Clarkson’s Farm. Dinner was Jambalaya – 6 lbs of minced beef with rice and some vegetables. Today I had seconds.
Tomorrow is a rest day, with breakfast at 9:30. Woohoo!
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