Hey All ,

I'm 8 weeks out from a west buttress attempt , I don't know anyone who
Has climbed it . So Im asking you guys, for any tips , on gear and equipment , advice on what to really focus on training wise for the last few weeks....

Cheers

Archm-
Here's my TR of our Denali WB trip (no summit) last year:
http://www.splattski.com/2009/denali/index.html

Gear suggestions:
I didn't believe the advice to carry a steel shovel. Believe it. Also, LifeLink snow saw is too wimpy. You need an ICE saw. Unless you are lucky, you'll spend about 2 hours at each camp building a snow wall, so these are useful tools.

Make sure your boots are broken in and fit properly.

Ummm... feel free to email me with any questions. Happy to help. My direct email is on the linked webpage.

Going with a guide service or private?

Little different trip either way... good luck and feel free to ask specific questions. There will sure to be plenty of responses!

bring good food.

Best piece of advice we received prior to departure was the following:

"If you wait for good weather to climb Denali you never will"

Agree on the Life-link snow saw. Opt for the Voile shovel/saw instead.

Be sure to hit the Roadhouse for a standard breakfast.

Hope you have a great trip and the weather cooperates.

i agree on the roadhouse standard breakfast, also take time to just enjoy it all

Hey ,

Thanks for the input guys , cool trip report splattski esp the photos of the route, the best I've seen .

One big question is the pack weight , I'm currently training with 22KG ( 48lbs. ) , and trying to push it up to 30kg ( 66 ) , but l tried 27kg this week and suffered.
I don't plan on bringing 30 kg but I'm trying to get it up to that here at sea level. Any thoughts ?

What gear can you get away without , helmet ? Two poles or will one do ?

Cheers

Anything you don't want to freeze needs to go into your sleeping bag at night; batteries, snacks, gloves, boot liners, socks, water bottle, etc. (It'll get pretty crowded in there.)

Walkie talkies are helpful for the daily weather forecast.

Stay hydrated and use a lot of sun screen.

The walk to the "Edge of the World" was worth it at 14K.

Have fun and good luck!

I trained with a huge pack. I only carried that much on the mountain on one afternoon, when one of the fellas was feeling poorly. But being fit is a good thing in any event. On the mountain, I think you're better off doing multiple carries and not wearing yourself out.
As someone said, enjoy the mountain. It might take a few extra days, but what the heck, eh?

We had lousy luck with cell phones and radios. If I go back, I'm going to spring for a sat phone. The folks back home want to hear from you- let them enjoy vicariously. Or at least a SPOT, although from recent experience that raises as many questions as it answers: "They're not moving! Did they fall in a crevasse?"

We took more clothing than we needed. And skis were not the ideal solution. But it all depends on the conditions you encounter- we had rock-hard snow, almost no precip (always dry), and it never got that cold (-25° min). YMMV

And as someone else pointed out- lots of things are different if you are with guides vs. on your own.

No helmet. Two poles. And here's a real snow saw:
http://snowsaw.com/

I worked my way up to a 70# pack. On the mountain, my pack was almost always less than that. I didn't bother training with a sled, and my hips were talking to me a bit. But I was fit enough to deal with it.
Part of my TR includes our plan, our training, etc.:
http://www.splattski.com/2009/denali/plan.html

Of course, plans are, well, plans.

Slow and steady wins the race. Don't overachieve on the lower glacier and poop out up high (saw lots of people do this). Keep steady.

Eat and drink your way to the top. As usual, hydration is key. You will lose your appetite as you ascend, so remember to keep eating. I ate 5,000 - 7,000 calories a day up there and lost 20 lbs after the three weeks (course, I went up there 240 and came home 220, so its relative).

Train hard, and train with as much weight as you can stand but don't kill yourself. I would not do anything the week before, just rest and get mentally tough. Try and stay healthy, cause a sniffle in Anchorage means a helicopter ride at 17k feet.

And most importantly, have fun and stay positive. Good luck, wish I was going back!

100-120# of gear per person is certainly not unusual to start out with (split between pack and sled) given food, fuel, CMC, kit, etc. for up to 3 weeks on mountain. Granted you won't be hauling it all at once (except to Camp one or two) because you'll be caching gear on carry days and retrieving it on back-carry days. You could certainly get by with less # but be certain that your gear is culled carefully.... no sense taking chances, it's a serious mountain as you know.
john

Archm wrote:Hey ,

Thanks for the input guys , cool trip report splattski esp the photos of the route, the best I've seen .

One big question is the pack weight , I'm currently training with 22KG ( 48lbs. ) , and trying to push it up to 30kg ( 66 ) , but l tried 27kg this week and suffered.
I don't plan on bringing 30 kg but I'm trying to get it up to that here at sea level. Any thoughts ?

What gear can you get away without , helmet ? Two poles or will one do ?

Cheers

Two poles. Definitely get strong, try to up the pack weight for training (water is good as you can dump it at the top of a hill to not strain you knees going down). For the carry up to the high camp it will all be on your back. Good to practice with sleds to get a feel for how they handle (bungie cords make good easily removable brakes), but not that necessary to train with them regularly. Try to get your back strong (think snow shoveling motion with a short shovel - hard). Most people don't take helmets although guide services may be starting to recommend/require them. Take some sort of music player that uses batteries or is rechargable - invaluable for a break from your partners.

Splattski, that is a very enjoyable Denali trip report you've got there. Thanks for sharing your experience with us.

Glad you enjoyed it Tigerlilly. It was an awesome trip.