Image Description
I took this photo in 1986 during my first attempt to climb
Denali (Mt. McKinley, 20,320 feet, 6194 m) in Alaska. This spectacular
section of the climb ascends a knife-edged ridge from 16,200 to 17,200
feet. The distant tundra in the upper right of the photo is
only 1,500 feet in elevation. We did not reach the summit (because
I got too cold on our summit day—it was 25 deg F below zero the night
before), but we had a great time and got to experience going three weeks
without a bath.
I'm not the sort of person who does passive, touristy sorts of things, but I do recommend that you
take a tourist flight in a small plane around Denali if you're ever in the area. Denali
and the Alaska range are spectacular beyond description and dwarf anything you may have seen
in the Alps or the Rockies or Kansas. Climbers fly in from Talkeetna, a couple of hours drive north
of Anchorage, and you can find many flight services there. I've flown with K2 Aviation several
times on climbing trips, and they really give you a great deal. Tell them you want to fly up
the Kahiltna Glacier and down the Ruth Gorge. You'll get a closeup view of a breathtakingly beautiful world visited only
by climbers.
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