We were woken at about 8:30 am. This was slightly later than planned, because of the cold. Despite being super tired, I was woken by the cold during the night, and had to add another layer. It wasn’t Antarctica cold, but it was cold, definitely sub-zero. Another reminder that Dominic was correct in not moving here sooner. Being stuck here with 30-40mph winds, and the resultant cold temps, would not be fun.
We had breakfast, Quaker Oats again (ugh!), in our tents, and got packed to go. Lightest backpacks of the trip, just every layer we weren’t wearing, 2 litres of water, and snacks. We all had the long John’s on, extra socks, and I had my heated boots. I was excited to see how these would work.
There were 2 teams attempting to summit. Because of the bad weather of the previous week, there was no trail, just virgin snow. Dominic, and the leader of the other team, Dallas, who coincidentally was a friend of Dominic, agreed a plan on how the teams would work in tandem. They would take turns of breaking snow, and would evaluate the risk as they proceeded. In addition to assessing the avalanche risk, they would have to find the buried pickets, essential to using running belays at the more exposed sections of the route. We gained a few hundred feet, to just below Denali Pass, when Dominic and Dallas did their first avalanche test. As my rope team was a bit behind, I had no idea of what was happening, other than we were stopped. After about 15 minutes, our rope leader said we were heading back. We would go no further today, or as it turned out, ever.
When we got back to camp Dominic explained what had happened, and our plan. He, and Dallas, had dug out a section of snow, and with his hand pushed this cut-away section of the snow pack, which moved very easily. He described it as being like a pack of snow sitting on marbles, and the cross section of the snow showed many discernible layers. It meant the avalanche risk was high, and that the weather conditions were very unlikely to alter this in the coming day(s). Our trip, our hope of submitting was over. We would break camp and head back to Camp 3 at 14,000ft.
It was a crushing blow. The instant reaction is f@@k! The 10 days sitting at a camp 3 waiting was for nothing. That damned (I can think of better f words) 20” of snow screwed us. The months of training, the hours and days away from family, those endless hikes on Fort Ben and Brown County, were pointless. The sadness, the disappointment, and the frustration, of the team was palpable. For Mikayla this was the 2nd time. 2 years ago she spent 7 days at Camp 3 before turning around. Etienne asked was there another route, surely there was another option! For me, I was very disappointed. I had failed to summit Rainier last year, so I had experienced something similar previously, but not to the same extent. I had not invested this effort, this amount of time, this level of training, on any previous trip. I had never prepared as hard. However, I promised Fionnuala I would be safe, and I would return. I did not want my name added to the Denali memorial in Talkeetna. I knew I would have summitted that day. Physically and mentally, I was ready and I would have got me to the top. I would have “won”. I was beaten by the weather, not by the mountain, and not by myself. Would I try again, probably not. Some were more upset. Etienne described the upcoming walk down as the “walk of shame”. I disagreed strongly, it was a walk of disappointment, but there was no shame. We had done everything we could, and we would have summitted. No doubt.
We gathered for photos, at the “Diving Board”, an exposed piece of rock near our camp. The views were indescribable. Directly below us, 3,200 feet straight down was Camp 3. Foraker was glowing, as usual. Hunter was 3000 ft below us, the exposure of the West Buttress was scarily apparent, and the route to the top was visible, but unattainable. People broke out their summit treats. Ben shared his Twinkies, Andrew waved his Texas flag, I kept my 5 pebbles in my pocket. 5 pebbles I intended to lay at the summit – 5 being significant as it represented Fionnuala, Sophie, Eoin, Kevin and me, and 5 being my number of children, Paul, Rory, Sophie, Eoin and Kevin. Etienne ate his brownies. We took group, individual, and friend photos. As a group we had demonstrated resilience, and teamwork.
It was time to head for home. First however, we had cross the West Buttress, this time going down. I admit I was wary, more than that, a bit scared. Going down is always a challenge, and I had a promise to keep. Get home safely. A Hail Mary, and off we went.
It was stunning. Yes it was exposed, but the anxiety and the shortness of breath experienced on the ascent, were gone. Concentration, focus, thoughts of getting back to family, and prayers. Descending the scramble and fixed rope sections were the worst. Whilst you use the ascender on the way up, which physically attaches you to the fixed lines, on the descent you wrap the rope around your arm.
Totally uncomfortable! We made great time, and were back at the top of the longer section of fixed lines in no time. At that point we agreed – it was democratic and unanimous – that we would go straight to Camp 2, at 11,000 feet, bypassing Camp 3. We scampered down the fixed lines and the remaining hill to Camp 3, dug up our cache, collected Sophia and Tait, loaded our sleds, and headed for Camp 2. Yes, the sleds were back, and we divided our weight between the backpack and the sled.
We had 2 dodgy sections ahead, Windy corner, and Squirrel hill. We now walked with a heavy sled between us. As the last man on the rope team I had no sled behind me. My role was to prevent the sled on Adjoa, ahead of me, from moving to the left or right, that could cause her to be pulled off the track, and off the mountain. I achieve this by keeping a very tight line, effectively trying to pull her back towards me. The trail and conditions were significantly different than the last time we descended back to Camp 2. The snow was deep, and relatively untrodden. At Windy corner there is steep exposure on the left, and the sleds slide strongly in that direction. On the right there is the risk of rockfall, so we once again had to wear helmets on this section. I always wonder what good my helmet would be if I was hit by a significant rock!!!!
We negotiated Windy corner pretty easily, but Squirrel Hill was a real challenge. The snow accumulation was significant, and the snow gave way easily underfoot, easily causing a stumble. the exposure here is to the right, with a huge drop to the Peters glacier. In addition, we were hit by a blizzard. The deep snow meant we were intermittently potholing on some sections, making maintaining balance and staying upright tough, and the sleds pulling hard to the right. However we got through it, and took a break at the top of Motorcycle hill. One more steep section and we would be at 11,000 feet. At this stage my quads were screaming, but we got there. It was probably 9pm. We had to put up the tents, and had another Mountain House dinner, this time Chicken Tikka Massala. Not bad. At about 10:30pm Dom said we would leave Camp by 1:30am, so get some rest. I was looking at 2 hours sleep.
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