Denali == June 2008

Denali -- June 2008

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.

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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!