The part from Basin camp to the notch at 16,200 (the top of the Headwall) is the steepest part of the entire climb. Supposedly up to 55 degrees slope. There are fixed lines so bring an ascender if you have one. If not, you can still cliimb the Headwall no problem. During our first carry to 17,200 (High camp), there was a traffic jam on the fixed lines so I just climbed around the people for a good portion of the section - perfectly doable if you are confident with ice ax and crampons and use both your legs and hands...
Once at the notch, there is a ridge (called 16 Ridge) to your right leading to the small basin at 17,200 where the High Camp is located. This is probably most spectacular and technically most dificult part of the entire climb (still not technically demanding). There were fixed lines around Washburn Thumb (approx. in the middle of the ridge). The ridge is almost always at least couple feet wide so you get good footing, although the exposure on both sides is big - couple thousand feet.
At High camp (17,200), you have to use CMS cans to go to bathroom (I believe mandatory from 2004 season) - I praise NPS for enforcing that - when digging campsite we uncovered too many frozen feces from previous seasons. There is no ranger station here, NPS only stores rescue gear in a box at the top of the Rescue Gully here (we have witnessed this gear being used in getting a frostbitten climber down to Basin Camp for evacuation). Finding clean snow for melting water at this campsite was a challenge.
Summit day: From High camp ascend to Denali Pass at approx. 18,200. The route is pretty straightforward, you just traverse the slope. Be ready to self-arrest if you slip, the slope is a long one.
From Denali Pass continue below a ridge (usually marked with wands) to Football Field at approx. 19,500.
Once you cross the Football Field, you ascend the "summit headwall" which feels quite steep at this altitude to gain the summit ridge. Again, be ready to self arrest when ascending this "headwall". I have observed guided trips using running protection on this section.
In decent weather, views from the ridge are awesome. There is quite an exposure to the right of the ridge (direction when ascending). The ridge gains approx. 300 vertical feet and will take an average person 30 - 45 minutes to climb.
Then you are there. The summit is nothing spectacular, just a broad mountain top. No summit register either - :-))) There is a USGS marker - take a picture of it in case you need a proof you have made it to the top...
Roundtrip from High camp takes an average climber between 9 to 14 hours.
I highly recommend Colby Combs "Guide to West Butt" if you are thinking about this route.
chickentikka - May 28, 2013 7:49 am - Hasn't voted
Our party used Sheldon Air Service to fly in to Base Camp this past June, of 2014. For all my future Alaska mountaineering trips, there is no other air taxi service I would use. Besides the flight, Sheldon let our party sleep at their hanger, fed us a meal, lent us bicycles to ride into town, and let us lay all of our gear out in their front yard to dry out upon return. Friendly, oddly the cheapest, and a good business to support. I can't speak highly enough of them.
Wanted to warn everyone that Alaska Mountaineering School (AMS) was a terrible experience and I would not recommend it to anyone!! I am a management consultant and a serious mountaineer (doing 4 mountains/ year with multiple international/ local companies) and have never had a worst experience.
We were 6 participants on an expedition to summit Denali on 23-May 2019 and 5 of us had to return one day before the summit because we did not trust our Lead Guide (Con Severis and Second Guide (Chris Welch) to take us to the top due to safety problems as well as horrible/ inhuman client service. All the trip participants are experienced mountaineers and have hired many international and local guide companies. We are all well-versed with safety, service and professionalism standards. The Denali trip did not meet these standards. Below are some high level examples of what we experienced:
>>Egregious Safety Concerns. There were numerous safety issues that put the participants at risk throughout the expedition. Just a couple of the examples include:
While guiding a roped team under strong wind conditions, the lead guide listened to loud music on his headphones, making him unable to hear his own roped team under strong wind conditions
While ordering an unnecessary and risky pass of another team, the lead guide demanded a client unhook from the fixed line and slide down a steep icy slope with only an ice axe.
>>Denial of Summit For No Reason. We were denied the summit for no reason -- when the weather was good, there were no health or capability concerns, and the guide ratio exceeded Denali’s standard guide ratio of 1:3.
>>Unacceptable Client Treatment. The treatment of the participants was unprofessional and offensive throughout the expedition. The guides frequently screamed at the participants for no reason. The guides insulted us, calling us "spoiled brats".
After this happened, the owner of AMS, Colby Coombs completely ignored our concerns, did not reply for two months to emails sent from everyone in the team and then sent the same email to each one of us saying that he trusts his guide, with no further explanation. Do not go with Alaska Mountaineering School, we missed the summit because of their unprofessionalism and also had the worst customer experience
On June 20, 2019, Karl Egloff hiked/ran the West Buttress r/t in 11 hrs, 44 mins, a tight one minute faster than Kilian Jornet who had used skis. Karl's ascent time was a very quick 7 hrs, 40 mins.
https://fastestknowntime.com/fkt/karl-egloff-denali-ak-2019-06-20
kovarpa - Jun 5, 2004 3:20 pm - Hasn't voted
Route CommentThe part from Basin camp to the notch at 16,200 (the top of the Headwall) is the steepest part of the entire climb. Supposedly up to 55 degrees slope. There are fixed lines so bring an ascender if you have one. If not, you can still cliimb the Headwall no problem. During our first carry to 17,200 (High camp), there was a traffic jam on the fixed lines so I just climbed around the people for a good portion of the section - perfectly doable if you are confident with ice ax and crampons and use both your legs and hands...
Once at the notch, there is a ridge (called 16 Ridge) to your right leading to the small basin at 17,200 where the High Camp is located. This is probably most spectacular and technically most dificult part of the entire climb (still not technically demanding). There were fixed lines around Washburn Thumb (approx. in the middle of the ridge). The ridge is almost always at least couple feet wide so you get good footing, although the exposure on both sides is big - couple thousand feet.
At High camp (17,200), you have to use CMS cans to go to bathroom (I believe mandatory from 2004 season) - I praise NPS for enforcing that - when digging campsite we uncovered too many frozen feces from previous seasons. There is no ranger station here, NPS only stores rescue gear in a box at the top of the Rescue Gully here (we have witnessed this gear being used in getting a frostbitten climber down to Basin Camp for evacuation). Finding clean snow for melting water at this campsite was a challenge.
Summit day: From High camp ascend to Denali Pass at approx. 18,200. The route is pretty straightforward, you just traverse the slope. Be ready to self-arrest if you slip, the slope is a long one.
From Denali Pass continue below a ridge (usually marked with wands) to Football Field at approx. 19,500.
Once you cross the Football Field, you ascend the "summit headwall" which feels quite steep at this altitude to gain the summit ridge. Again, be ready to self arrest when ascending this "headwall". I have observed guided trips using running protection on this section.
In decent weather, views from the ridge are awesome. There is quite an exposure to the right of the ridge (direction when ascending). The ridge gains approx. 300 vertical feet and will take an average person 30 - 45 minutes to climb.
Then you are there. The summit is nothing spectacular, just a broad mountain top. No summit register either - :-))) There is a USGS marker - take a picture of it in case you need a proof you have made it to the top...
Roundtrip from High camp takes an average climber between 9 to 14 hours.
I highly recommend Colby Combs "Guide to West Butt" if you are thinking about this route.
chickentikka - May 28, 2013 7:49 am - Hasn't voted
Re: Route CommentThanks for taking the time to write that!
Kresser - Aug 12, 2014 7:00 pm - Hasn't voted
Air Taxi ServiceOur party used Sheldon Air Service to fly in to Base Camp this past June, of 2014. For all my future Alaska mountaineering trips, there is no other air taxi service I would use. Besides the flight, Sheldon let our party sleep at their hanger, fed us a meal, lent us bicycles to ride into town, and let us lay all of our gear out in their front yard to dry out upon return. Friendly, oddly the cheapest, and a good business to support. I can't speak highly enough of them.
http://www.sheldonairservice.com/
iulia.zanoschi@gmail.com - Aug 15, 2019 9:57 pm - Hasn't voted
Alaska Mountaineering School - DO NOT GOWanted to warn everyone that Alaska Mountaineering School (AMS) was a terrible experience and I would not recommend it to anyone!! I am a management consultant and a serious mountaineer (doing 4 mountains/ year with multiple international/ local companies) and have never had a worst experience.
We were 6 participants on an expedition to summit Denali on 23-May 2019 and 5 of us had to return one day before the summit because we did not trust our Lead Guide (Con Severis and Second Guide (Chris Welch) to take us to the top due to safety problems as well as horrible/ inhuman client service. All the trip participants are experienced mountaineers and have hired many international and local guide companies. We are all well-versed with safety, service and professionalism standards. The Denali trip did not meet these standards. Below are some high level examples of what we experienced:
>>Egregious Safety Concerns. There were numerous safety issues that put the participants at risk throughout the expedition. Just a couple of the examples include:
While guiding a roped team under strong wind conditions, the lead guide listened to loud music on his headphones, making him unable to hear his own roped team under strong wind conditions
While ordering an unnecessary and risky pass of another team, the lead guide demanded a client unhook from the fixed line and slide down a steep icy slope with only an ice axe.
>>Denial of Summit For No Reason. We were denied the summit for no reason -- when the weather was good, there were no health or capability concerns, and the guide ratio exceeded Denali’s standard guide ratio of 1:3.
>>Unacceptable Client Treatment. The treatment of the participants was unprofessional and offensive throughout the expedition. The guides frequently screamed at the participants for no reason. The guides insulted us, calling us "spoiled brats".
After this happened, the owner of AMS, Colby Coombs completely ignored our concerns, did not reply for two months to emails sent from everyone in the team and then sent the same email to each one of us saying that he trusts his guide, with no further explanation. Do not go with Alaska Mountaineering School, we missed the summit because of their unprofessionalism and also had the worst customer experience
bbolder - Dec 30, 2019 11:09 am - Hasn't voted
Update: Speed Record on DenaliOn June 20, 2019, Karl Egloff hiked/ran the West Buttress r/t in 11 hrs, 44 mins, a tight one minute faster than Kilian Jornet who had used skis. Karl's ascent time was a very quick 7 hrs, 40 mins.
https://fastestknowntime.com/fkt/karl-egloff-denali-ak-2019-06-20
noahawaii - Apr 13, 2023 12:07 pm - Hasn't voted
https://noahlangphotography.com/blog/west-buttress-denali-national-parkWish we could add photos to posts, but I have a number of photos of things talked about from the climb.