...At 4:30 p.m. on 24 May 1986, Dudley, Jerry and I (Wayne) reached the Basin Camp at 14,200' on Mt. McKinley. The following day we got up at 10:30 a.m. Clouds had formed at the lower elevations overnight, and then started moving up in elevation. By 2:30 p.m. we were in whiteout conditions. Hence, we took a rest day. On May 26th we got ready to go, but we talked to someone who came down the headwall, and they said there were not any tent platforms at 16,200 ft. Hence, we took another rest day. On May 27th, we descended to Windy Corner and picked up the cache we had left there. It was a nice day, and didn't feel all that cold. However, an icicle formed on Dudley's chin. It took 2 and 1/2 hours round trip. The overnight low temperature last night was (-22) deg. F.
On the 28th, we got up at 8:00 a.m. It must have been (-10) deg out. I was glad to have my down jacket! We had breakfast. And took the tent down. We left a cache there. After picking up camp, we started our ascent toward "The Headwall". It took us a couple hours to reach the crevasse near the start of the fixed line; we took a nice break there. We were carrying 50 lb packs. We then continued up, and each of us clipped into the fixed rope using an "ascender". It took an hour to go up "The Headwall". When we reached the ridge crest, it was 20 deg. w/ a 20 mph wind. We found a tent platform, that was too small for our tent; so we had to enlarge it. After pitching the tent, Dudley told me to climb into the tent first, when he noticed my hands were likely getting cold, since I only had wool gloves on and a light poly liner. He was correct (my hands were cold); it was nice to be first inside the tent that evening. We had hot soup for dinner. The wind blew hard during the night.
On May 29th, we got up at 10:30. We had breakfast, picked up camp, and continued up the ridge. There were three sections going up the ridge that were kind of steep. It took 2 and 3/4 hours to reach the camp at 17,200 ft. We used our ice saw to cut snow blocks for a wall around the tent. On May 30th it was snowing, so we took a rest day. We passed the time telling "minute mysteries"; and playing Trivial Pursuit Silver Screen Edition. As I recall, Dudley won the Trivia game. A Climbing Ranger knocked on our tent door, and told us a front was heading our way. Hence, on May 31st, Jerry and I decided to make a summit bid. We left camp at 3:00 p.m. It took us 2 hours to climb to 18,400 ft. elevation (just above Denali Pass). Denali Pass is the saddle between the South and North summit of McKinley. I consider it to be similar to a barn roof that is sagging in the middle. We looked at the view down the glacier the opposite direction from which we came. Another climbing team turned around at the pass a little before we got there. We were the only other team making a summit bid on the W. Buttress Route that day. It was a cold day, and a 20 mph wind made it even colder. My feet got cold; and my hands were cold too. After taking some pictures, we decided to turn around. We reached our high camp at 6:00 p.m. Dudley had the stove going, and gave us something hot to drink soon after we walked into camp.
The next morning (June 1st), we had breakfast, then picked up our camp. At 12:15 p.m. we were heading down. We reached the 16,200 ft ridgecrest above "The Headwall" at 1:30 p.m. There we talked to Rodger (the Climbing Ranger), and he said the front was getting closer, and could dump a lot of snow on McKinley. We were glad to be heading down. We had spent nearly 4 days at 16,200' or higher. We descended "The Headwall" and reached the 14,200' camp at 3:15 p.m. It was snowing by now, so we set up camp and had dinner.
On June 2nd, we had breakfast, picked up camp, loaded 2 sleds w/ 40 lb of gear. We were hiking out at 12:15 p.m. The visibility was good to Windy Corner. However, when we got to 12,500' the weather had deteriated. When we got to the pass at the top of Motorcycle Hill, we had to stop to put ski goggles on to improve our vision [ice and snow buildup made it difficult to see using glacier glasses]. At this point, I took over the lead position. And used a ski pole to probe for crevasses. We reached the 11,000' camp at 3:15 p.m. We set up camp. And fixed dinner. The following day, due to fresh snow, we took a rest day. In the afternoon, we used and ice saw and "The Red Handled Shovel" (see note 2) to build a snow cave and wall for cooking.
On June 4th we retrieved our cache, picked up camp, and were hiking out at 2:30 p.m. We got to the Basecamp at 8:00 p.m. We had to wait until 7:15 a.m. on June 6th for our pilot Doug to fly us back to Talkeetna. We had a pleasant flight out. It was nice to shower (we each had 2 showers, which totalled $4.50 per person) there. And we had an excellent breakfast at the "Roadside Inn". The cheese topped hashbrowns w/ hot sauce were excellent! The Overland Taxi took us, and 5 people from Colorado to the Anchorage Airport. We caught a 4:00 p.m. flight to Seattle; we arrived in Seattle at 8:00 p.m. I think we were all pleased with how our trip turned out.
Note 1: Part 1 of this set of slides can be found at Sitemap->States(US)->Alaska->Mt. McKinley (W. Buttress) - '86 (Part 1)
Note 2: A related (trip preparation) set of slides can be found at Sitemap->States(US)->Washington->Preparing for McKinley Part 2.
