By Daryl R. Miller Alaska has long been regarded as the last frontier, offering some of the most remote and rugged mountains in the world. The quest for solitude and adventure lures thousands of climbers from around the world into the backcountry each year to test their skills and wilderness experience. Unfortunately, every year numerous…
By Todd Rutledge “I spent a lot of money on this climb, so I should summit!” That’s an interesting, yet not uncommon sentiment that guides occasionally hear after a climber does not reach the summit of Denali. I get it. As consumers, we’re trained to have higher expectations when we pay more for something. Denali…
Preparing for any climb requires a number of steps, some of which can be stressful and some that come at you so quickly that intuition is your only guide. One step along your journey to the summit of Denali will find you at a small airport with a large group of climbers that you hardly know, and an inconceivable amount of gear that needs to find its way to Base Camp. This is a moment when stress can be high as this is your last chance to remember anything you may have forgotten.
As guides, we are tasked with helping you have an enjoyable time on your expedition and hopefully help you achieve your goal of standing on top of your mountain. Some of the the tools we bring to the table are our skills, honed through years of experience and training, our understanding of the region based on many previous expeditions, and our institutional knowledge that is shared among our team. Guiding big mountains is partly based in science (physics, math, meteorology, geology…) and partly art. Our goal is to help facilitate the best possible outcome for whatever situation presents itself.
An expedition begins long before you tighten your boots and begin hiking up the trail. Whether you’ve grasped it or not, you are already in the thick of your Denali expedition and you have already made numerous decisions that will ultimately affect your experience in the Alaska Range.
An expedition is a team effort and teams are strongest when there is clear, candid communication among all team members. Be honest with one another, even about little things. Often, minor situations become crises that otherwise could have been mediated early on, if only someone else knew about them.