We rocked another 10 hours of sleep and woke up a little groggy. We gathered for hot water under clear blue skies. The guides had a sense of excitement about them as they filled our nalgene bottles and cups. They asked how we were doing and everyone said they were feeling a bit tired and the effects of altitude. They wanted to fill our tummies with food and then gather to discuss our decision. It's amazing what a good breakfast can do for you. I filled up on two cheesy muffins and literally felt like a new man. Josh filled the team in and said the weather forecast was good for the next couple days, but the "now-cast" showed a perfect day. And if there's a rule on Denali, it's take advantage of good weather. He voted for a summit push and Kai backed him up. I felt recharged after breakfast and was totally ready to give it a shot, Zach and Markus agreed, and that was it. Today we would attempt to summit Denali.
We identified gathered a couple piles of group gear, waited a bit for it to warm up, and then departed around 1030. We moved well through the rocks just above high camp and reached the large snow slopes that would gain us the ridge. The team slowly reached the top of the snow slope (19000 ft) around 1730. The guides made it clear that at this pace we would not be able to summit. Zach and Markus decided they were not feeling it. Josh asked me if I felt I could make it and I thought I could. He agreed and said we would give it a shot. This was tough because I wanted to summit so badly, but I also wanted to do it as a team. If it wasn't for all five of us working together, we wouldn't be in the position for a summit bid. Kai led Zach and Markus back down to high camp and Josh and I were off.
I was feeling pretty strong and we made it to the summit ridge. At this point, I was pretty emotional because the reality of reaching the summit started to cement itself. Two climbers approached us and started talking to Josh for a bit. As they continued past, I realized they were actually two women. I could tell by how tight and efficiently their rope and gear were packed that they probably summited some other route than the West buttress. I later found out through an article on Alpinist, that these two women were the first all-woman team to summit Denali via the Diamond route. The Diamond is a legit Alaskan Grade 6 climb. As we continued on, we noticed two more climbers in front of us on approaching the final ridge. As we approached, we realized it was Naz Ahmed. She was one of Josh's clients in a mountaineering course a few years ago and now on a private trip with her friend Bill Dudley. We exchanged some M&M's and continued on to the summit. By now a storm had rolled in and visibility was pretty low. Before I had time to think about it, Josh looked back at me, pointed ahead, and said..."that's it." There was a small marker sticking out of the snow highlighting the highest point of North America. I took my pack off and worked my way towards the marker and kneeled down to wipe it off. I recorded a short video to document the moment only to find out that the battery appeared to die, which had me pretty bummed. Regardless, I was riding an emotional high from all of the preparations, training, and suffering that got me to this moment.
Josh reminded me that we were only halfway complete and needed to get back to camp. We've already been out for almost 10 hours and gained about 4000ft. Now we had to navigate back through the storm. I was a little unstable from the altitude, but overall felt relatively strong. Our food and water supply was running low, so I knew I'd be running on fumes by the time we reached camp. We had a couple snacks at the 19,000 ft where the team split up. We then down-climbed the snow slope. We received about 1 foot of new snow, and my hands were getting cold from plunging the ice tool in each step, so I had to shake my hands out at each piece of protection. By the time we reached the final rock band, we could barely see 50ft. Josh disappeared in front of me and I continued once the rope was tight, zig-zagging through the maze of rocks. It was frustraiting travel because the snow was light and fluffy and covered all of the rocks below. I lost count of the number of times I twisted my ankles on the edge of rocks buried under the soft powder. Around 0140 I noticed an orange tent in front of us, and I never felt so relieved. We probably got about 12-15 in. of new snow. I rolled into camp and gave Josh a hug and thanked him for getting us back safely. I then cleaned off the tent and collapsed into my bag. Zach and Marcus were up and congratulated me on the summit. I fell asleep feeling like a million bucks.
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