Since my last trip to Denali in 2012, I've had some time to play outside in the cold and was interested in heading back to attempt a more technical and committed route. The next step up is the the West Rib (Alaska Grade 4). Alaska climbing grades as described here range from grade 1–6, and factor in difficulty, length, and commitment. The hardest, longest routes are Alaskan Grade 6. Previously I had attempted the Washburn/West Buttress Route as shown on the map (Alaska Grade 2). The system was first developed by Boyd N. Everett, Jr. in 1966, and is supposed to be particularly adapted to the special challenges of Alaskan climbing. Here is a summary of Alaska grade descriptors, adapted (and greatly simplified) from Alaska: A Climbing Guide, by Michael Wood and Colby Coombs (The Mountaineers, 2001):
Alaska Grade 1: Climb requires one day only, no technical (fifth-class) climbing.
Alaska Grade 2: Either a moderate fifth-class one-day climb, or a straightforward multiday nontechnical climb.
Alaska Grade 3: Either a serious fifth-class one-day climb, or a multiday climb with some technical elements.
Alaska Grade 4: Multiday, moderately technical climb.
Alaska Grade 5: Multiday, highly technical climb.
Alaska Grade 6: Multiday, extremely technical climb.
A plus (+) may be added to indicate somewhat higher difficulty. For example, the West Buttress Route on Mount McKinley (Denali) is graded 2+ in the above-mentioned guidebook.
I chose Alaska Mountaineering school as a guide company because of their significnant experience on the mountain and their commitment to help educate the climbers during the expedition. I'll be climbing with two other clients and two guides. Alaska Mountaineering School provides a nice summary of the mountain and further details can be found on their website here. I've included some excerpts below for additional background information.
Mt. McKinley, locally known by it's native Alaskan name Denali, is America's highest mountain and unsurpassed in challenge and scenic beauty. At 20,320 feet, it rises out of a sea of glaciers and other peaks that compose the Alaska Range. From our start at base camp, we climb 13,000 vertical feet to the summit — one of the greatest vertical reliefs and prominences of any mountain in the world. Denali, 150 miles north of Anchorage, lays in the heart of Denali National Park and Preserve. The West Rib ascends a direct line up the south face of the mountain to the summit ridge.
The early pioneers in Denali's climbing history were explorers and gold miners who unraveled intricate and formidable approaches to find a northern route to the summit. In 1910, a group of Sourdough miners struck out from Fairbanks to the Muldrow glacier ultimately climbing Denali's slightly lower North Peak (19,470 feet). In 1913, Archdeacon Stuck's team climbed a similar route via Karsten's Ridge, then turning south on the upper Harper glacier, made the first ascent of the true summit, the higher South Peak (20,320 feet). The West Buttress Route of Denali was established by Bradford Washburn's team in 1951 and was dubbed "the safest and easiest route to the summit." The West Rib was first climbed June 19, 1959 by the Jackson Hole climbers: Sinclair, Breitenbach, Corbet, and Buckingham. This was a major milestone in North American mountaineering and the ascent was written up in the 1960 American Alpine Club Journal with their faces published on the cover.
The picture below from "Denali Climbing Guide," R.J. Secor, 1998, is a great summary of the various routes up the West and South Faces of Denali. The crux of the climb is the 1,200 foot couloir (Chicken Couloir) of 40-50 deg snow and ice which leads to the crest of the rib.
I also captured a few images from Google Earth below to provide additional insight into the route. I estimated locations for the camps based on altitudes provided by the AMS itinerary. One of the riskiest sections of the expedition will be navigation through the many crevasses on the Northeast Fork of the Kahiltna glacier as shown below. Slower navigation could increase exposure to avalanche danger and AMS will do their best to get us through this portion safely. If danger is too high, we will proceed up Washburn (West Buttress) Route and regain the West Rib above base camp in the Genet Basin.
Some good pics of the Chicken Couloir can be found below:
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