As of Monday morning, there are 513 climbers on Mt. McKinley, mainly on the West Buttress route. 97 climbers have completed their trips, and there are 381 climbers left to check-in and begin their climbs. We are at the height of the season.
Ranger Chrissie Oken putting the finishing touches on the radio repeater on top of Mt. Crosson, ~12,800’. This repeater is an important communications piece of high-altitude operations. This year, we were unable to place it until May 30 due to weather. Photo: J. Ramos-Leon.
West Buttress patrol #3 with Jake Kayes will be moving up to High Camp today. Chelsea Bomba and Robin Pendery are in charge at 14,200’ camp. Galen Dossin and Forrest Madsen are starting to progress up the route and are currently at 7,800’.
West Buttress Patrol #5, preparing to fly to Basecamp. From left to right: returning volunteer Patrick Saylor, returning volunteer Brian Kasavana, Jenny Lake Ranger Michelle Altizer, and Denali Ranger Forrest Madsen. Photo: NPS.
The West Buttress route is in quite good shape. Weather through May lent itself to good coverage on the lower glacier. Conditions on Motorcycle Hill, Squirrel Hill, and Windy Corner have been described as good, with ample snow coverage and kicked-in steps. 11,200’ camp saw over two feet of new snow over the weekend.
Out of the 14,200’ Basin, the fixed lines are in good shape, and both the up and down lines have seen repairs and are available for use. Pickets on the 16k’ ridge and Denali Pass Traverse are in place and have good spacing for rope teams.
The North and South summits from a commercial flight above the mountain, May 28. Photo: H. Beatty.
The ranger team has been very busy with high altitude search and rescue operations this week, unfortunately some of them are quite serious. Since May 27, there have been 7 different incidents that have required an emergent response from the climbing rangers. Six successful evacuations have been completed following these incidents.
Our team is acclimatizing and moving into position so that when appropriate weather presents itself, we will be able to perform four recoveries from two separate incidents at higher elevations.
Performing any sort of recovery or evacuation at high altitude, particularly above 16,000’, requires near perfect visibility and wind conditions to occur safely. It is imperative that these operations are conducted with risk management being the primary factor. If our team suffers an accident in one of these missions, not only have we created a bigger incident, but we have also exhausted our already limited resources for high altitude operations. There are no other teams in the state who have the training or equipment to perform rescues at the altitudes on McKinley’s upper reaches.
The National Park Service is unable to release many details during ongoing operations. Please know that no news is good news. Notifying climbers’ loved ones is a priority in these situations, so if you have not heard from us, please assume that the people you care about are still safely enjoying their trip.
Backcountry and Alaska Range Patrols
We currently have 10 backcountry users registered in the greater Alaska Range.On Friday, climbing Ranger Scotty Barrier returned from an expedition on the Moose’s Tooth. He and volunteer/Jenny Lake Ranger Lexie Hunsacker were able to make it to the top of the technical section on Ham and Eggs. They had the route to themselves and found very good climbing conditions. Look for a more detailed report from Scotty soon!
Lexie Hunsacker on the route Ham and Eggs, Moose’s Tooth. Photo: S. Barrier.