Denali in 2008

This is a look at Denali from the Talkeetna Air Taxi Web cam. 
Click here to see the live web cam.


Team Powersauce, Matt Walsh and Bernie Hohman, made our attempt on the highest point in North America at 20, 320 feet. We reached 19, 900 feet before making the decision to turn around. 

Below you will find the vast majority of our pictures divided up by day/camp. Also, there is a selection of short movies for your viewing enjoyment.


Photo Galleries

• Talkeetna, Alaska
• Flying from Talkeetna to Base Camp on the Kahiltna Glacier
• Unpacking and repacking gear at Base Camp at 7,200 feet.
• Camp I at 7,700 feet--we were both very tired!
• Camp II at 8,800 feet--we were feeling better except for Matt's hips from his sled. The next day he solved this problem.
• Camp III at 10,200 feet--this was a great campsite that is known for receiving heavy snow. The night we were there was a beautiful, calm night.
• Camp IV at 11,500 feet--We built our one and only igloo here, and it was great. We drew a crowd of curious climbers as we constructed it. Some people even took our picture with the igloo!
• On this day we climbed up to 12,800 feet to cache half of our gear for the climb to 14 Camp the next day.
• Camp V at 14,200 feet--this camp seemed like a tropical paradise. The sun was extremely warm during the day and the weather was almost always nice. This was our home for many days as we acclimatized.
• After three days of rest, we climbed up to the top of the Headwall at 16,200 feet and cached gear for our climb to high camp the next day.
• High Camp at 17,200 feet--we stayed here overnight before our summit attempt. This camp is only 3,000 feet higher than the Basin Camp, but it is a completely different world. It is cold, windy and there is tension in the air at all times.
• After our summit attempt, we slept at 17,200 and then returned to the tropical camp at 14,200.
• The next day we began the "Death March"--11 hours of hiking down to Base Camp. The weather was great and the midnight sun made travel at night very easy. We crossed at least 40 sagging snow bridges over crevasses. It was a frightening time on the lower part of the glacier, and we were glad to be at Base Camp.
• Finally back at Base Camp at 2 am, we just crashed under the midnight sun. We were too tired to set up a tent and besides, it was very warm--at least 30 degrees!
• By 10 am we were on a plane headed for Talkeetna.
• Talkeetna, Alaska again to repack for the plane ride back to Denver. We were able to arrange shuttle service to Anchorage and change our flight with Frontier, so we were home by the next morning at 6 am.

Short Movie Clips
Please note that many of these files are quite large and will take some time to download and may not stream very well. Enjoy!

• Bernie and Matt standing on the tarmac at Talkeetna Airport.
• Taking off from Talkeetna with Ricoh at the controls
• Heading for One Shot Pass
• Going through One Shot Pass
• Another going through One Shot Pass
• Landing at Base Camp
• A plane after us landing at Base Camp
• Ricoh takes a group of climbers back to Talkeetna
• Matt at Camp I
• Bernie at Camp I
• Matt's tour of Camp II
• Bernie enjoys breakfast at Camp II
• Bernie's Camp II report
• Matt's Denali Super Breakfast -- He has a future as the host of a cooking show.
• Denali Super Breakfast follow up
• Matt counts the steps from Camp II to Camp III
• Block cutting for Camp III
• More Camp III block cutting
• Bernie's Camp III report
• Breaking out the ICEBOX Igloo Tool at Camp IV
• Bernie's Camp IV report
• Camp IV Megamid Super Kitchen
• Camp IV stinky, steamy feet
• The deep pit entrance of the igloo steals Bernie's candy
• Matt digs the cache at Camp IV
• Matt's Parade of Homes at Camp IV
• Digging our cache at 12,800 feet
• Setting up Camp V
• Matt's tour of Camp V
• Moved to our new and better campsite
• Tour of upgraded kitchen at Camp V
• Matt's international incident with the nearby French team
• Matt's 8-day sock
• Matt packing his GIGANTIC sleeping bag
• Bernie ascending the Headwall for the first time. This was the section of the climb where we both broke our highest elevation record for the first of many times
• Arriving at 15,309 feet to rest
• Waiting for our turn at the fixed ropes on a very busy day
• Matt showing his fixed line setup
• Bernie ascending the bergschrund on the Headwall
• Matt topping out on the fixed lines at 16,200 feet
• Matt demonstrating the setup and change over on the fixed lines of the Headwall
• Matt descending the Headwall fixed lines in a snow storm
• A look at the ridge to high camp
• Bernie talking about the summit day
• Matt descending the "16 Ridge" in the clouds
• Bernie descending the "16 Ridge" -- Who is belaying him???
• Packing up 14 Camp for exit
• Team Powersauce travels through a VERY recent ice fall below 14 Camp
• The top of Motorcycle Hill
• A plane coming in to Base Camp
• Our plane arrives!
• Flying over the lower and heavily-crevassed Kahiltna Glacier
• More flying over the lower Kahiltna on our way to Second Shot Pass
• Flying through Second Shot Pass on the way to Talkeetna