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(Photos borrowed from Rick Ott's climbing webpage.)

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Photos from the trip.

Tom belays Robs lead at the start of the crux col, (~11,000').



Tom and Rob follow the col, (~12,000').



A bomber rock pro belay, (~12,400').



Tom leads off on steep snow, final pitch of col, (~12,400').



Rob seconds final pitch of col.



Racing to the top of the col to gain the West Rib at 12,900'.

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Rob's photos from the trip.

Tom and me, ascending the col between 11,000' and 12,900'.



Moving up on the West Rib at ~13,000'.



Mt Foraker from our 14,900' bergschrung camp.



Leading out early on our summit attempt day, (~16,500').



High in the Orient ~19,000'.

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Route Logistics.

Denali Itinerary:

in fairbanks:
May 8 : tom arrives in fairbanks. begin trip preparation at my house.
May 9: pack and shop for denarli.
May 10: pack and shop for denarli.
May 11: drive to Talkeetna, register with park service, find Hudsons air taxi.

Arrival on the Kahiltna glacier:
May 12: fly into the kahiltna glacier (7200')
May 13: slog to 8000' and set up a base camp. (this will put us at the head of the NE fork of the Kahiltna)
May 14: return to 7200', ferry loads to 8000', sort and pack gear for west buttress aclimation trip and high cache.
May 15: pack and rest for west buttress.

West Buttress aclimation trip:
May 16: ski up kahiltna/west butt to camp II (~10500') with gear for high cache.
May 17: ski Kahiltna to Camp III (~12,000')
May 18: west buttress to camp IV (Genet Basin, ~14000'), set up high/light camp.
May 19: Active rest day at altitude. Ski and climb on buttress headwall.
May 20: Active rest day at altitude.
May 21: Active rest day at altitude.
May 22: descend west butt to 8000' base camp.
May 23: rest at base camp. pack for West Rib attempt.
May 24: rest at base camp. pack for West Rib attempt.

West Rib portion of the trip:
May 25: ski up NE fork of Kahiltna to "moderately safe" camp II (10000').
May 26: ski west rib col approach, to 11000' on the NE Kahiltna, send the col to gain the ridge at 12,800', climb lower rib to camp III (13,300'.) (big day, but at this point we are honed)
May 27: climb lower rib to camp IV (~16,000')
May 28: rest at 16,000'
May 29: Summit day! climb upper rib to summit ridge, slog ridge to the top of the continent. descend west Buttress to Genet Basin (14,000').
May 30: Rest day.
May 31: Descend to Base camp (8000').
June 1: Descend to landing strip and pack for departure.
June 2: Fly out to Talkeetna.

comments: This is a pretty ambitious plan, with no down time for weather. It is highly likely that we could spend at least one extra week due to unforseen difficulties...

Denali (Mt. McKinley) topo map with routes indicated.

Additional information on climbing Denali and the West Rib.

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