Hello everyone,

I am planning a Denali Climb next year. Can anyone recommend a great guide service?

Has anyone hired private guides instead of going with the group?

What is the optimal month to go to have the best chances of summit?

thanks for your help
Igor

Go online and research temperature and snow fall averages per month out there. Lower snow fall and higher temps usually means better chance to summit. Year to year could be different though. Getting on the mountain in the late May with an aim to summit in the beginning of June is a good idea if you go via West Buttress. If you are taking one of more technical routes it would be better to go earlier. There is a great page on SP that covers more than you really need to know before going there via regular route.
I would recommend to be sufficient enough and know what you are doing up there. Going with a guide does not mean you will be safe. Knowing what you are doing and being comfortable on a peak like that is very important.

I've talked to few guide services. Going May/June is pretty much a good time. I've decided to go with AMS.

Any one used Mountain Hardware Sub Zero parka for this climb or it is too cold for this mountain?


Thank you...

Has anyone used AMS before?

ibekker wrote:Has anyone used AMS before?

I've climbed twice with AMS in Alaska including Denali and had a great experience both times. I'd definitely recommend them.

I went early season (late April/early May) for a couple reasons. First I wanted a to go when the ice bridges were still in better shape and secondly the mountain maybe less crowded. I think it was probably colder than if we had gone later but I managed to stay warm enough.

ibekker wrote:Any one used Mountain Hardware Sub Zero parka for this climb or it is too cold for this mountain?
Thank you...

I used the MH Sub-Zero Parka (with hood) that I use here in Colorado during winter trips and found it to be perfect. Although, it was used for summit day, I used it mainly to stay warm and lay around in.
Our coldest temps were at camp 2 at the bottom of ski hill and that was a morning temp of only -14 (-32C). Summit temps were actually warmer!
I had initially bought a one-piece but had second thoughts a few weeks before departure and sold it. Glad I did. My buddy brought his and used it ONLY on
summit day.
The Sub-Zero should be just fine with adequete layering underneath...baring wild temperature extremes of course.
I used an OLD pair of MH gloves with three duct-taped fingers and thin MH 'Butter' liners underneath and was equally, just fine. Fact my alti-mitts lasted all of 30 minutes!
Though to be fair, I typically run VERY warm.

Never used a guiding service.
GO EARLY. Colder temperatures can always be remedied with additional clothing but soft, crappy snow/ice conditions can't be fixed until next season!

Kiefer, yeh I wish I didnt have to use a guided service,but I dont know anyone who likes to climbing/mountaineering

thanks for the advice. I am putting together a training program that I used several times before. I'll post it up when am done.

Check out Mountain Trip. Have done a couple trips with them and they were terrific. Scott

I ended up signing up with AMS (Alaska Mountaineering School) for May 13- June 2 trip.

I've created a training program for anyone who's interested:
http://secure.trendtogo.com/v/denali/denali_training.doc

Very nice. Unless you are totally out of shape, you can start with more cardio. 1 hour without any weight on stairmaster with a pace that will leave you steaming is a good start.
Seems like you focus on diet too, which is really good. If you go by your scheduled diet and training regime you should be a different person in the end! Good luck!

I will be at KIA on or about the 13th of May as well!

I also found it very helpful to have several double days. Days in which I had long cardio workouts on consecutive days. i.e. 5-6 hours on Saturday with 3500' followed by 4-5 hours on Sunday gaining another 2500' or so. All while carrying a loaded pack (50#s) This trains for the back to back carry days you will see on Denali.

On one day I did 8800 ft of gain over 24 miles with a 50lb pack. Which was a nice confidence booster. With all the honesty, best training for climbing mountains IS climbing mountains. I did not find Denali that difficult by West Buttress even with sled etc. None of the days seemed difficult to be honest. The hardest thing to get right is team dynamics and good weather window.

You guys are lucky, I live in NYC. My mountain training consists of incline trainer type of a treadmill. Its 2 hours drive each way to find anything that looks like cliff around here

Is there transportation available to leave Talkeetna early in the morning (4am) and make a 9am flight out of Anchorage?

Vitaliy M. wrote: The hardest thing to get right is team dynamics and good weather window.

True Dat! Wow. Team dynamics can ruin your trip faster than the weather! You can hear about it, read about it, get advice about it but until
you actually go through it, you won't understand the degree it can get to.

ibekker wrote:Is there transportation available to leave Talkeetna early in the morning (4am) and make a 9am flight out of Anchorage?

From my memory, we found no such land travel available that early from Talt. We just planned on staying an extra day in Anchorage to make up for that fact.
Though, our 'end of trip' was anything but ordinary. In short, we built a few extra days into the trip at the end to see some of the sights around Anc and Sweard. Though with that Oprah-sized hangover, God, we needed the extra time to recooperate!

Things might have changed a bit...just don't know. The train won't run that early and I don't think
you'll have much luck with shuttle services. Any later flights out of Anc by chance? Or did you purchase already?

Training
Since I was living in Vail at the time, my buddy and I started off by climbing Vail Mountain 3-4 nights a week when the lifts closed (I lived at the base). It was roughly 2,300ft in about a half mile (distance). We'd ski down by headlamp once at the top (damn, that was fun!). It took us near 2 hours in the beginning then a couple weeks before we left, we had it down to 45 minutes!
Plus, I'd do 2 hours of cardio and light weights (upper body) 3x a week on top of that. So like Vitality, I also didn't think the mountain (West Butt) was all that difficult.

Though I did try to burn and sacrafice my sled back at base camp but no one would have it. I still harbour a lingering hatred about that sled!