Climbing Denali: Trip Report, May 2009

"I've wanted to climb this mountain since I was 14..."

As soon as I put the helmet on, my claustrophobia set in. I couldn't breathe...

19 days to get to the top, 2 days to get down, and another 2 waiting for the weather to clear so we could fly off - 23 days on the mountain in total. Add on another couple days for travel to and from Talkeetna, and it's close to a month to climb Mount McKinley - and well worth every dollar and minute it takes to plan, prepare, and make it happen. I've wanted to climb this mountain since I was 14 and making it happen was a dream and goal come true for me. It did not come without a great deal of effort, a fare amount of pain, questioning, logistical reasoning, and trial and error. What food to take, if it tasted great or turned my stomach, what gear became my favorite, what music I listened to, books read, routines followed, and special concerns a 5'3", 114 lb. woman has on a big mountain were all issues I had to deal with - and some I was better prepared for than others.

On Food
I love to eat and I'm lucky to maintain an appetite most of the time when climbing. It did not seem possible for me to get full, in part because of the energy spent to move and also because of the energy required to keep warm. It felt as if every bite I consumed was immediately taken by my body and distributed for use. I don't generally eat Raman Noodles or Dinty Moore dinners, but I certainly do on McKinley and if there are seconds to have, sign me up.

Every morning for breakfast, in addition to the cereal or bagels, we'd also have some sort of granola bar - I'd usually walk away from breakfast with the bar in my pocket and snack on it as we were packing up camp. On a couple mornings we had some sort of disgusting egg product, but I ate it anyway. Higher on the mountain I'd supplement my oatmeal with some butter from my personal stash and add some crumbled ginger cookies or put some Velveta cheese in my grits. The only way I was watching calories was where I could get more next.

The snacks and lunches I brought worked well for me. Once I got in the habit of thinking about what I wanted to snack on the next day, I'd thaw it out in my sleeping bag the night before. I made a point of taking the time in the afternoon to enjoy a happy hour snack - perhaps a little mushroom pâté spread on a nice piece of pumpernickel bread with a dollop of mustard on top, or on one particularly lovely day I had a can of anchovy stuffed olives to share. The spicy brown mustard I had never froze (it didn't go with me above 14) and the black olive paste in a tube was a newly discovered luxury. A can of salmon mixed with mustard and cream cheese and spread on a cracker or bagel - pure heaven.

Dinner was an event to look forward to every day. Although we had several dinners when the wind was blowing brutally and it took the group's effort just to keep the cook tent standing, it was still an enjoyable communal time. Chili night was one of my favorite dinners. And the turkey Dinty Moore with stuffing was to die for. I usually ate my dessert first while waiting for the hots to get hot, but I never skipped dessert. And if there was the opportunity to have soup as well, I was in. Moral of this story - clean your plate and then some.

On Clothes and Gear
I'll credit my boots first because I didn't have to think about them much - they just worked. The Scarpa Invernos I borrowed from a friend and they served me well. They're a bit heavy and the walk down left me with a heavily bruised big toe, but all in all I really liked these boots..

I used the Osprey Xenon backpack - it worked, but a zipper broke and I suffered from hip bang. I don't think my boney hips could have avoided the bang with any pack and it passed after 4 or 5 days, but the zipper breaking would have been an issue had one of the guides not managed a fix for it.

My favorite articles of clothing were the new First Ascent Igniter Jacket and Igniter Pant. I looked like a Ninja walking around camp in my black boots, pants, jacket, and bala-clava, but I was a cozy Ninja in well-tailored puffy clothes. I had the OR Gorilla bala-clava which I only used from 17 camp and higher and it saved my face. Any skin exposed at that point in that wind froze instantly, and I saw several people who paid the price with patches of frost bite on their cheeks. I was glad to have the OR Gorilla, not happy about having to pull it away from my face to eat and drink, and less happy about having to put the then frozen hard material back over my face, but it was 100% necessary.

On Music, Books, and Routines
I scrambled the night before flying on to get some music loaded on my battery operated MP3 player. Having music to listen to on casual walking days and on downtime tent days was a motivating force. My MP3 player, coupled with a journal, a deck of cards, and one book completed my entertainment package. What more could a person want other than an endless supply of snow for sculptures and igloos, the ability to listen to the Beach Boys at 17,000 feet while talking about food fantasies and snacking on Pringles and chocolate candy bars?

A little yoga and some breathing exercises made up a part of my daily routine and helped encourage me out of rotting in my sleeping bag. When the weather allowed, I'd take my sleeping pad outside and get the blood and oxygen flowing with some stretching, and in inclement weather I'd make do in the tent.

The Hard Days and Being a Woman
Day 6 was one of the hardest days for me. We carried around Windy Corner up to 13.5 - an altitude I felt I should be plenty comfortable with. But as soon as I put the helmet on, my claustrophobia set in. I couldn't breathe; I started questioning all my ability, and to make matters worse I started bleeding and was not prepared. By the time we got back to camp I was super emotional and laid down in the tent crying - one of those cries that just happens and if someone were to ask why I was crying I would have replied, "I don't know" and cried even harder. It was a hard day for me but I knew it would pass - which is what I kept telling myself, and it did.

The other hard day I had was Day 17 - the move to 17,000. I felt strong the whole time we were moving, but when we rolled into camp the altitude came crashing in and I was worthless. A lot of pacing, a lot of sitting with my head down, a lot of concentrated breathing, and eventually vomiting on the wall right outside the tent proved how fallibly human I was. I forced myself to have a couple bites of dinner, drink some water, and participate in some conversation - reminding myself that this too would pass. Luckily, it did, and I woke up the next morning feeling fine.

The next day we made the summit and started our walk back down. That's also the day I realized I had a UTI coming on. My pee bottle went from being filled with nearly clear urine to a small amount of painfully produced cloudy pee. I got the tip to pound 4 packs of Emergen-C before trying the antibiotics I had with me, and sure enough, the Emergen-C worked. Don't leave home without it!

The one other issue I had I did not recognize until we were off the mountain - and that was the Denali Dread-lock which I allowed to grow in my hair. I thought it would just wash out. I did not realize the matted mess in the back of my head would necessitate a soccer-mom haircut. Now I know. So the next big climb I do, I'll be sure to bring along extra panty-liners, drink my Emergen-C, and maintain my hair!

On Re-Entry
It's taken me a bit to get back into the swing of things and life at sea-level. I've had to wean myself off using my pee-bottle and getting up to eat candy bars in the middle of the night. It's not easy to come back to a world where there's more to talk about than how your boots smell or what happened during your most recent bathroom experience, but the visions and inspiration I have now will last a life-time.

- Andrea Edmondson