Denali: Base Camp to Camp 1

We arrived to base camp around noon on the 17th of May.  The plan was to set up camp, hydrate, bury our  cache for when we return, and start acclimatizing.

Andrew burying the snow anchors.  We normally buried about 9 or 10.  Three on each side of the tent, two on the main vestibule, and one on the back vestibule.

Woooo hoooo!  Base camp!

The cloudless summit is directly behind our tent.  But when you looked closely at it you could see ribbons of wind-blown snow coming off the ridges and summit.  It was not a summit day.  Also, if you look inside the vestibule of our tent, you can see how we dug a hole into the snow so you can have someplace to put your feet and legs when you are getting out of or into the tent.  You can make all kinds of things with the snow...tables, kitchens, bathroom pits, etc.

The south side of base camp with Mt. Hunter looming over it.

The east-west running airstrip and base camp sit at 7,200 ft. off  the southeast fork of the Kahiltna Glacier.  The sled and pole sticking up out of the snow in the bottom left of the picture is one of the bathroom pits.

Looking at the north side of base camp with Mt. Foraker dominating the backdrop.

Hanging out and enjoying the sunshine and the new scene.

Here's our175 pounds of food plus four and a half gallons of fuel we are going to carry up the mountain.

Avalanche coming down Mt. Foraker (in the photo above and a close-up below).

Found a heart-shaped snowball! :)

The next day....we're off.  To all the camps except camp 1 we did double carries (carried half our supplies up one day then the rest of our supplies and gear got carried up the next day), but the move to camp 1 was a single carry.  It was heavy!!!  I was carrying my body weight and Andrew and Arnaud were carrying more than their body weight.  When we got to the mountain the weather had been pretty cold (-35F inside the tent at camp 2/11,000 ft.), but when we arrived it started to warm up a bit.  Although the mornings were cold, -5 at base and camp 1, the day temps were warm for glacier travel, 10-15 F.  So we got moving when the sun hit camp. 

Here we go!  During this entire trip we were roped together for safety purposes on the glaciers.  That means that you only go fast as the slowest person (me) and when one person needs to stop, everybody stops.  There was no talking while traveling, so we all had a lot of alone time to think.  Also, you have to really trust the people you are roped together with.  If one person falls in a crevasse, you are trusting the other people to stop the fall asap, set up an anchor and get you out asap (because its cold in there).  Surprising to me, I actually led (in the front of the rope team) almost the entire way, up and down the mountain (because I'm the slow one).  Andrew led one day going back to camp after a carry, but the rest was me.  I was nervous about that at first but got real comfortable with it fast (because the travel conditions were so good).  The route was well traveled and highly visible. 

Just out of base camp you descend 500 ft. known as Heartbreak Hill to the main Kahiltna Glacier and head up glacier for 4+ miles gaining about 1,000 ft.

A mile a from camp 1 we decided the load and the heat were too much.  We made a cache and came back for it later that day.  The four bamboo wands (we brought 75 of them on the mountain) behind me mark the cache site.  We have read stories of ravens digging up food caches up to three feet down, so you have to bury them quite deep. 

Andrew digging up the cache.  This was so easy at 7,600 ft.....so hard at 14K and 17K.

Camp 1 with Ski Hill behind it.

Panoramic of camp 1 and Ski Hill