Inaugural Post

In this the first post of this blog, the origin of the concept of climbing Denali will be the focus as well as how it came to be a reality to this point--about 11 months from departure for the High One.

I have thought about climbing Denali since 1998 when I took a 6-day mountaineering course in the Cascades through Apline Ascents International. Our instructor/guide entertained us with tales of Aconcagua and Denali. His stories of bitter cold, hurricane-force winds, steep ice and snow, crevasse falls, and sunburns strangely appealed to me.

A few years later I moved from Northwest Ohio to Denver and began climbing. I have worked my way through nearly half of Colorado's mountains over 14,000 feet as well as climbing a few peaks in Oregon and California.

When I met up with Matt Walsh this past year, a fellow avid alpine climber, we started climbing together and soon started talking about mountains outside Colorado. Matt has experience on Rainier and I have experience from California's Mount Shasta, but neither of us gets much glacier travel experience here in the Centennial state.

So, today, as I begin this web presence, I too begin my preparation for the High One. Matt and I will be selecting a guide service for the trip. It seems most practical to attack the West Buttress route considering neither of us has been above 14,500 feet before and Denali reaches 20,320 feet. I know this is the easiest route, but I do not feel guilty attempting the easiest route on a mountain with the reputation of Denali. All routes must deal with frigid temperatures, wildly unpredictable weather, whiteouts, avalanches, and blizzards.

Our training will begin in earnest this winter here in Colorado as we plan multiple winter ascents and nights out at or near the summits of Colorado's 14ers. I plan to update this blog only when I have germane information for now. As we get closer to the climb (within 6 months or so), I will post more often. I hope to work out a way to post each day of the trip as well. I will be working on the logistics of this in the next month or so as well as carefully considering what gear to purchase and what gear to rent. The obvious first priority for Matt and me is to chose the appropriate guide service. I hope to have that information the next time I post.