And Then There Was One....

Sifl Denali's occupation of Alaska is now down to Ben. It's been a hectic last couple days as we departed the mountain and started the process of re-adjusting to society, but here are some highlights of the last couple days as I wait for my final flight home to Philly...

• The team made it to 17k camp late at night on the 29th.
• Heavy loads, -20F temps, and winds made for a rough night at high camp.
• Chris' right pinky remembers the conditions particularly well as it now recovers from frostbite.
• The team made the decision to move back to 14k camp the following day due to extended forecasts of high winds and low temps.
• After returning to 14k, the team then decided to depart the following night with the hopes of reaching Kahiltna Base Camp early Friday morning.
• The hike out provided the unique Denali experience of being 'inside a ping pong ball' as we made our way down through white-out conditions.
• Wands are good and nice.
• Ben, Jason, and Chris experienced the joys of punching through a crevase on Squirrel and Motorcycle Hill.
• Snow was heaviest when the team reached 11k camp to grab our cache, falling at a rate of several inches an hour as Ben broke trail in over a foot of snow.
• Conditions cleared up below 7800 camp as we finished our slog to Kahiltna Base ending an 11 hr journey from the mountain.
• After returning, the team might have exhausted all known food supplies between Talkeetna and Anchorage.
• Napoleon Dynamite is funny. Niki deciphered Farmer Lile and we're all still humming 'The Promise' and ' Forever Young'.
• If you have the chance to drive from Anchorage to Seward, do it (and rent motorcycles from MotoQuest)
• If you make it to Seward stay at the Nauti Otter Hostel and drink adult beverages at the Yukon Bar.
• Faucets make getting water easy.

Stay tuned for the trip report, photos and video

Stuffph Goes into Things...

So I put 167 lbs of some stuffph into a couple things.  For a full list of stuffph see here.

Conshy Base Camp Receives a Surprise Visit

During my final preparations for the expedition late Tuesday night, I received an unexpected visit from the rare Alaskan Glacier Gorilla.  The existence of this rare breed of gorilla has been in question since first being reported in the wild in 1955.  Only a handful or sightings have been documented and I have no clue how it managed to stray so far away from it's natural habitat.  After providing the hungry guest with some Australian red licorice it expressed it's gratitude by noting a secret warp zone in one of the crevasses on the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier.

Cheerios

4 Days and 162 Degrees to go...

Ah, here in Topanga, California, it is a sweat inducing 81 degrees, where Niki and I (Jason), are doing the final gear packing.  On the summit of Denali at the moment, it is a bit chillier, about 162 degrees chillier than it is here- that's right, NEGATIVE 81 degrees.  No big deal.  We've got seven flocks worth of goose down feathers we're bringing with us.

Here's me out on our deck, testing my maximum cold weather regalia:

"Who am I wearing?"   Here you go:

• Feet
•  Smartwool liner socks
•  Smartwool expedition weight socks
•  Scarpa altitude boot liners
•  Scarpa Inverno double plastic boots
•  Outdoor Research Expedition Crocodile gaiters
•  40 Below K2 Superlight neoprene overboots
• Bottom
•  Ex Officio undies 
•  Patagonia Capilene long underwear
•  Outdoor Research Saturn Suit fleece bibs
•  REI expedition weight fleece long underwear
•  Patagonia Guide pants, softshell
•  Arcteryx Alpha SV hardshell bibs
•  Marmot 8000m down pants
• Top
•  Icebreaker wool t-shirt
•  Patagonia Capilene featherweight long sleeve t-shirt
•  Smartwool long sleeve zip top
•  Patagonia down sweater
•  REI softshell jacket
•  Marmot 8000m down parka
•  Arcteryx Alpha SV hardshell jacket (not wearing)
• Head
•  Smith Optics Spherical goggles
•  Turtle Fur micro balaclava
•  Coolmax neoprene balaclava w/ face mask
•  Mountain Hardwear Gore Windstopper hat
•  Black Diamond Half Dome helmet
• Hands
•  Outdoor Research glove liners
•  Black Diamond fleece gloves
•  Outdoor Research Alti gloves with down insert (not wearing)
•  Outdoor Research Alti mitts with down insert

Yeah, about 25 pounds worth of clothes, but that's only for the worst conditions.

Here's all the rest of the stuff Niki and I are packing.  Somwhere around 140 pounds total- and this doesn't even include the food!!

We've got -25 degree sleeping bags with liners, closed cell and inflatable sleeping pads, giant backpacks (mine is 105 liter), water bottles, pee bottles, thermos, titanium cook wear, white gas stoves, fuel bottles, glacier travel and crevasse rescue climbing gear, crazy first aid supplies and hardcore medicines, down botties, toiletries, rags, duct tape, reading material, oodles of stuff sacks, polar tents and cook tent, snow shoes, crampons, ice axes, lots of cordelette for rigging the sleds, trek poles, snow shovels, cameras, solar charging equipment... all that plus around 50 pounds of food each that we'll be dragging up the frigid West Buttress of Denali starting next week.

Now back to packing...

Paradise

Blue Mountain has been my home away from home on Saturdays from late March through April.  It provides the highest altitude gain (~1000 ft) within a reasonable driving distance from Conshy base camp.  The big bonus is that there's no traffic, unlike I encounter on the hills of Gladwyne and Conshy.  Days at Blue were typically spent mixing it up on Paradise, Dreamweaver & Nightmare, Razor's Edge, Challenge, & Sidewinder.  I planned yesterday to be my last day and busted out the full package (pack weight, weighted sled, double plastics).

As soon as I stepped on the slopes it became quite apparent that my entire day would be spent on Paradise unless I compromised on my gear.  Sooooo, I decided to stay on Paradise and endure the absolute snail's pace zombie slog up the rocky dirt road.  The 80+ temps and high humidity were great simulation of the subzero temps encountered on Denali.  I knew today would be tough physically, but it turned mental rather quickly.  It's a good to get broken down every once in a while.

10 days till departure.

Looking back on the middle sector...

 Looking ahead on the middle sector.

 I have a pretty good argument against the message on this sign.

Turns out I wasn't the only one taking advantage of Blue Mountain's Vertical.  A group of Paragliders at the top of Razor's Edge.

You can see on paraglider that just took off in the distance...a much better way to the base.

Blue Mountain.  If all goes well, we'll cover approximately 13 of these in altitude gain from the Kahiltna Glacier to the summit.

One pink sled and three bicycle tires will be laid to rest after full dedication to the cause.

Conshohocken Base Camp Update

Less than 3 weeks until departure and final preparations from Conshohocken Base Camp are proceeding according to plans.  The major task remaining is locking down the food and menu.  Lots of calories to pack for a 6'4" Pollock on a 3 week expedition.

It took a couple tries, but finally nailed down some MSR XGKakes.

Food and gear have taken over Conshohocken Base Camp.

Food stockpile underway.

Gear sorting started...sorta.

Nemo Moki, home away from home for three weeks.

  

Skillz on San Jacinto

This past weekend the team busted out a lil training trip in Cali.  With our crazy schedules, this was the last opportunity to get everyone together, hang from trees, run through the crevasse rescue scenarios, and play in the snow.  We were all a smidge worried when we saw 100+ deg temps in Palm Springs, but San Jacinto Peak provided us with just enough white stuff to have some meet our objectives.  Traffic was totally LA and it took over four hours to get from to Palm Springs.  Ben was also able to make it up from San Diego late Friday night. We missed the last tram on Friday night and ended up crashing just off the road outside the gate for the first tram in the morning.  Below are some highlights from one blast of a weekend.

Just enough room for one Niki in the back seat of the Wrangler.

Seriously?

Slept under the stars in 80 deg weather...perfect training for Denali.

Picture of the trip.

Tram ride on San Jacinto.

Niki's personal touch on wands.

Niki logging some sled hauling time.

Snow kitchen table and benches!

Nemo Moki fortification.

Park Ranger:  "Awesome tent, strong snow walls, cool music.  Did you guys read the permit?"
What goes up must come down.

Ben on our self-rescue setup.

Canadian Drop Loop System.

...and the California Grey Squirrel.

Blog is up...

The official Sifl Denali Expedition Blog is now up.  Stay tuned for blog updates, real time twitter feeds from the satellite phone while on the mountain, live GPS tracking, and weather update links.  Also check out the other pages for background info on the team and the route.

wyrd