Welcome to our May 12th West Buttress expedition!
A group of climbers from around the world will gather in Anchorage Alaska tomorrow to finalize their preparations to attempt the West Buttress route of Denali. Also known as Mount McKinley, Denali is one of the famed Seven Summits and has the highest vertical relief of any mountain in the world, rising over 18,000′ above the surrounding terrain. Known for its arctic weather and brutal winds, Denali is also one of the most amazing environments through which a climber can travel, as one is surrounded by ice, snow and rock for the duration of the expedition and the views of the surrounding peaks unfold as climbers get higher…and higher… and higher.
Mountain Trip has been guiding climbers up Denali since 1976 and our reputation for thinking outside the box to provide exceptional service is well known. Several years ago we were challenged by a prospective climber to think of a way in which we could orchestrate a Denali expedition in such a fashion that he might be able to climb the mountain without subjecting his back to the behemoth pack weights that are part of the Denali mythology. We spent two years working on logistics and have offered what we call (with woeful lack of imagination!) our Highly Supported Denali Expedition. On this climb we will staff the team with guides at a 1:1 ratio and help minimize some of the workload associated with climbing the mountain, therefore bringing Denali more in line with the rest of the Seven Summits, all of which can be climbed with much lighter loads than a “traditional” Denali load. Let us be clear- all of our climbers will work very, very hard to ascend the mountain, and each of them will climb the mountain by themselves, but through planning and logistical preparations, we are able to give them a bit more assistance along the way.
Let’s meet the team!
Art Huseonica from Maryland
Bob Baker from Washington
Markus Dietze from Switzerland (pictured separately below group)
Grant Ritchie from Australia
Isaac and Ariel Tyler from Florida
Joe Butler (lead guide) from Alaska
Nick Shepherd (guide) from Alaska
Ian Nicholson (guide) from Washington
Karen Kingsley (guide) from Colorado
Matt Barela (guide) from New Mexico
Ann Piersall (guide) from Alaska
