Denali season is upon us!  2015 marks the 40th year that Mountain Trip has been guiding on Denali.  No other guide service has guided continuously for so long on North America’s tallest peak.

Overview of the West Buttress route on Denali.

We are looking at another busy season on the mountain, with 19 teams preparing to attempt what is arguably the most challenging of the world’s Seven Summits.  Of those teams, seven are private groups on custom climbs.  Including a couple of apprentice guides and a handful of liaison guides joining teams of international climbers to help translate and ease any cultural differences between US guides and those climbers, we will have 53 guides on the mountain this season.

Additionally, we are planning to work with a team of surveyors to use the latest mapping techniques to determine the real height of Denali.  The traditionally accepted 20,320′ elevation is based on antiquated techniques.  A couple of years ago, a team of surveyors used a laser mapping technology to determine the height and announced that the true height of the mountain is actually 20,237′.  Discussion of the efficacy of the techniques they used has reached a degree of fervor amongst the mapping intelligentsia and we were approached to assist with a more appropriate mapping effort, in an attempt to determine the true height of the summit.

Our guides completed a pre-season training last week, and we are meeting our first team of the season this morning!  We encourage you to follow the progress of our teams as they call in reports from the field and describe their experiences in their own words.  Please check back regularly and feel free to contact our office staff if you have any questions about what’s happening up in Alaska!