DIARY FROM

THE "WORK SUCKS DENALI TOUR '97" EXPEDITION

(ABRIDGED)

               At this point, the 4 of us (Bruce Kittredge, Eric Willhite, River Joiner, and Cortland Shafer) were just starting the trip!

5/14 (WED) Talkeetna: 2p.m., drove to Talkeetna from Anchorage to drop off all equipment.  Many climbers waiting here due to bad weather on the mountain.  Much gear in airplane hangar. Music was playing (Bob Marley), people playing cards, etc.  11:20 pm, picked up 3 other teammates in Anchorage at the airport.  All in good mood! Excited! Had a pizza before leaving civilization!

5/15 (THU) Talkeetna: 4 a.m. arrived in Talkeetna, the 3 others slept in the hangar while I stayed in the van with all their gear. Up at 8 a.m., registered at NPS ranger station. Saw a 12 minute video about regulations while climbing. Bought post cards, packed and consolidated gear.  About 10:30'ish, the planes were flying due to clearing weather, so we took off with most of our gear and 3 of us in one single engine cessna from Doug Geeting Aviation.  Flew onto south fork of the Kahiltna glacier.  The 4th team member flew on another plane. 

               Beautiful weather, some high clouds.  Cleared out later that day. Many people from all over the world-Germany, Japan, Russia.  We heard that a team of 15 Russians were trying for summit, but too windy up there!  Gentle winds, if any, at Kahiltna base.  Made camp there (7,200') using 2 North Face VE-25 tents.  River cooked up spaghetti so we could carbo load.  Tired due to lack of sleep.  I finally got organized......somewhat!  10 p.m.: carried first of 2 loads to 7,800'...5 miles...low elevation gain...3 hours!  An AAI (American Alpine Institute) guide hooked up with us.  He needed to join up with a sick climber who was being shuttled down from a higher altitude.  Good pace, the sleds we were hauling worked out great!  Hands and wrists got cold, light breeze coming down the glacier.  Put on O.R. pro gloves. Lightweight patagonia glove liners not enough to stay warm at this particular time.  Covered head with medium weight balaclava.  Perfect, it covered mouth, and nose if needed.

5/16 (FRI) 7,200':  Cached load at 7,800', packed empty sleds on our backpacks, and headed down (2:15 - 4:15 a.m.).  Water in water bottle parka outside of pack froze.  Bottle inside of pack with parka froze only a little. Beautiful views of summit from Kahiltna base and along route to 7,800' camp.  Very tired! 2 hour hike down.  Warm due to wind at back.  At Kahiltna base, bone tired, not exhausted though, just tired. Slept till 1030 a.m. my lower back still hurting a little bit.  (My back was injured on Mt. Rainier earlier in the season.  I took a fall and suffered a compression fracture of the L-4 bone in the lower left back.  The pain stayed with me until a few days after starting up Denali, then, for some unknown reason, it disappeared!) 

             Ate, packed, headed out to 7,800' camp.  Nice weather until we hit camp, then got socked in with clouds and light, dry blowing snow. Set up tents on flat glacier.  Many other climbers spread out all over.  No planes here though. No engine sounds, just the hum of the 2 MSR-XGK stoves.  River opened the fuel valve full instead of closing it and caught it all on fire.  He threw it on the snow and I threw snow on it to put it out!  He's a great cook, but needed a bit more experience on the MSR stoves.  Asleep by 4 a.m.

5/17(SAT) 7,200':  Slept till about noonish.  I tossed and turned due to my back hurting.  Very little sleep! Found my back pain drugs and took some.  Up for breakfast at 2'ish.  Warm, overcast, 2 different cloud systems moved up the glacier, passed us, then went over the Kahiltna Pass above us.  Korean group nearby.  Dried off equipment inside and outside of the tent.  I used our latrine first.  It's a small rectangular plastic pail with white 2 mil compactor plastic bag inside.  It smelled like Camp Muir all over again!  Ate curry for dinner at about 7:30 p.m. (we rated it as a 1 out of possible 10 for palatability...lesson learned....don't eat curry at higher elevations.....yuk!!!!!!!).  Listened to Jeff from Kahiltna base on C.B. channel 19, got the weather report and various status reports of various climbers at higher elevations.  A team at 17,200' camp will try for the summit tomorrow.  (As of today, no one has summitted this year yet!)  In bed at 9:30 p.m.

5/18(SUN) 7,900':  Up at 7-ish, did a double carry to 9,700' camp today, but first had breakfast--oatmeal and hot cider!  Clear day-cold in a.m.--we're in shade most of the morning.  Saw a German group heading out of camp going up.  Right then, we saw a dude on x-c skis (an NPS park ranger) headed for where those guys were camped.  The skier then skied uphill to the ascending Germans to tell them that they had to clean up their camp site…they weren't using plastic bags for their toilet, and left excrement in their camp area.  So they returned and cleaned it up.  As they were leaving, we asked them what was up!!!  They told us that the park ranger on skis fined them $150.00 each for not disposing their waste properly.  The Germans didn't seem to mind this too much, and mentioned that the corporation which was sponsoring them would pay for it.  Then, as they were leaving, one of them said "boy, it sure costs a lot to take a shit up here"!  Incidentally, we had noticed that this particular group had about 40 or so rolls of toilet paper, way too many for number of climbers in the group.

               Packed up for 1st carry.  Lots of gear.  Warmed up in a few minutes after getting into the sun hidden behind the mountains.  Shedded major amounts of clothing.  Cortland leading this time.  Used 1 165 foot, 9mm rope.  Passed several small crevasses almost entirely covered.  Passed the Koreans.  They're doing 1 load-only trips!  Very heavy way to go!  Met 4 British dudes coming down from dropping a cache.  One dropped into a crevasse waist deep!  The same one we just crossed over! 

               Climbed up Ski Hill! 3 hrs to 9,700' camp.  Sunny, warm, found a bomb shelter of a camp area left by another party! Could fit 3 to 4 tents in it if needed! Major walls all around the camp!  Kitchen area is a work of ingenuity!  River was pleased with it, seeing that he is the cook!  Bathroom is also well made and protected!  Dropped load, headed down, only 1 hr back to 7,800' camp.  Had dinner, River is quite the cook--rice and veggie mix! Better than that curry--got too much gas from it!  Broke down tents, loaded up, took off at 5:15 p.m. 

               2 Brazilians coming down, said they made the summit!  The first 2 this year!  Hot this evening till 6:30-ish, then cooler.  Dressed up!  I lead this time!  Into camp at 8 p.m., just in time for "Base camp Annie" to give her weather report on C.B. channel 19 from Kahiltna Base Camp!  She said the next 2 days of bad weather coming up from the S.W. from the ocean.  Had 2 cups of soup, b.s.'d a bit, crashed at 11:30 p.m. snowed overnight, about 6", drifts to 1 foot.

5/19(MON) 9,700':  Cortland and Eric dug out the tents and area.  Eric renovated the bathroom--made it "handicapped accessible" as he puts it...which included arm rests!  We stayed in our tents otherwise.  I built a new arm for Cortlands glasses, but he found the missing arm later, so there's an extra one!  Built it with wire, shrink tubing, duct tape, a tie wrap, and lots of time and "trial and error" ingenuity!  I've been designated as the expedition mechanic!  Stopped snowing at 5 pm-ish!  Ate and drank all day in the tents, logan bread, oreos, dried meat, dried fruit, gorp, cheese-its, etc....!  Partial clearing this evening.  Had "alaskan glop" for dinner!  River did it again!  Excellent meal! 

               Found wind chill chart in first aid book.  Rewrote it and hung it on a line around my neck along with a wind speed indicator, & thermometer!  A walking weather station!!!  At 9:30p.m.---21 degree ambient + 10 mph winds=+5 wind chill at 9,700' camp.  Brrrrrrrrr!  I started using vapor barrier socks and a vbl for the sleeping bag.  Tomorrow will probably use overboots to 11,000' camp.  Wrote 2nd post card earlier today for Walt and Irene in Tacoma.  Brian Okonek (Alaska Denali Guiding) @ 17,200' awaiting summit attempt with clients.  George Dunn and Phil Ershler from IMG (RMI) are due into Kahiltna Base on 21st.

5/20(TUE) 9,700':   Up at 8:45.  In the sleeping bag was: 2 C.B. radios, camera, cellular phone,  (2 water bottles, 1  2-qt p-bottle, boot liners, boot foam foot pads---all inside vbl), film, walkman, lip balm, sunscreen, ear plugs, and eye covers....ooops.....also wool and polypro socks laid over my chest to dry out!  Had breakfast ...oatmeal ...borrrriiinng! Made 2 carries today to 11,000'.  Many teams making just a single carry with all their gear!  We passed them up with only 1/2 our weight!  We need sleds only to 11,000' camp and cache them there! (We actually took 2  sleds to 14,300' camp later on!)   2 1/4 hours up, about 1 hour down.  Packed tents and sleeping gear, had dinner, linguine and pesto w/parmesan & chicken! Another excellent meal!!!!  Packed, got to 11k by 8pm, 2 1/2 hours.  Listened to Annie's weather report!  Bad till Friday.  Lots of people here.  Built a latrine, also a snow cave for cooking and b.s.'ing!  To bed at 1 a.m.  Heard an avalanche at 4 a.m. like a freight train.  A serac let loose and landed about 100 yards south of us. 

5/21(WED) 11,000':   Our camp here at 11,000' sits on a glacier which is surrounded by 3 steep, mountain walls of snow, ice, and rock.  Very beautiful!  There were approximately 100-150 other climbers here.  Lazy day!  Snowing till mid a.m.  Breakfast in snow cave, beautiful weather by then!  Lots of people heading up to 14,200' to cache gear there, or at Windy Corner.  Decided to take a load up today.  Packed and got first use of the crampons (overboots too)!  They worked fine!  I duct taped the bottom of the crampons so that they wouldn't ball up!  Hot going up Motorcycle Hill. Packs only.  Beautiful scenery from 12,000'.  Steep on other side of ridge.  Made a right hand turn, climbed the ridge, then it flattened out.  1 dude coming down stepped into a hidden crevasse just a few feet below from where I was!  "Walk light and carry a big stick" I've always said!

       Windier and colder up here headed toward Windy Corner!  Cached gear at about 12,500'.  Could see Windy Corner from there.  Lots of people going up (IMG), and down!   Headed down.  Lots of blue ice all around.  Crampons held good!  On overboots too!  Got down to camp and had dinner--rice and "who knows what"---but it was delicious!!!!  Another terrific meal!  River does it again!  Had hot chocolate, soup, and cider to keep hydrated.  Snowing a little bit.  In bed at 11 pm.  Still light outside!

5/22(THU) 11,000':   Up at 9, snowing, whiteout.  Wrote 4 post cards.  52 degrees in tent.  Was 98 degrees in tent yesterday at one time.  Got beautiful by mid morning.  Today was a lazy day--procrastination time!  Many made hauls, but we stayed in camp & got fattened up for the next days haul up to 14,300'. Ate, drank, talked to other groups.  When it started to be like work, we stopped...hence the "Work Sucks" name!!!  Saw helicopter, listened to a rescue on N.W. Buttress on C.B. radio.  They hauled a victim off the route w/a 100' rope hanging from the helo.  Saw helo and victim fly down the Kahiltna glacier valley, just hanging there on the rope while flying!  Must have been extremely cold! 

               Annie says decreasing winds.  Maybe some will summit tomorrow.  Met solo climber from the Czech Republic--a young dude, about 22 years old.  Name is Filip!  Others from Finland, they listened to weather on C.B. with us. (The long antenna on my Radio Shack C.B.’s worked better than the NPS rented radios, which had short antennas).  Dug out latrine a bit more today for more privacy--a bit deeper!  Sent out post cards with a group going down.  The U.S. Postal Service at work--any where...anytime!!!!!!  Another great dinner....goldmine dumpling!  To bed at 10:30 p.m.

5/23(FRI) 11,000':   Up at 8:00!  Me only-actually Cortland got up too, but I was assigned to cook this morning!  Just melted snow for hot water and to fill water bottles. Took cache to 14,200' camp (3,200' elevation gain, 2.5 miles).  Beautiful day, took off at about 10:30 a.m.  2nd of 3 loads!  20 mph winds at Windy Corner!  Passed by the S. Koreans camped at 13,500'.  Many crevasses to step over (snow bridges).  Monster crevasses!  Saw Mt. Hunter to the south.  Many people going up and down.  Many bailing off the mountain.  Must have got tired of the high winds at 14,200' and 17,200' camps.  Slow going at 14,000'.  Made 14,200' camp--very windy (approx 30-40mph winds)!  Many bomber walls made to protect tents and camp areas!  Bad winds started at about 300' from the camp!  Cloudy above.  Windy too.  Couldn't see fixed lines above the camp.  Nose got a bit cold.  Sunglasses fogged up.  Cached our stuff and headed down to 11,000'.  I led both up and down today.  Saw Filip the Czech today! He was just going day hiking from 11k to 14,200'---in his gortex hiking shoes!!!!! Had lunch at 13,500' near where the Koreans were camped.  Got back down to 11k.  Had dinner.  Met a German (name is Rutiger).  We found his fuel bottle that he unknowingly dropped on the snow slopes above 11k.  He gave us the fuel in it, and another quart, plus some freeze dried meals. 

               Had Louisiana beans and rice freeze dried meal (very spicy!).  Listened to Annie on the radio---she said clear for Saturday and Sunday at all levels, Saturday= -20 on summit, +10 at 14k, +32 at 7k.  45mph winds at summit, 40 at 14k, lite at 7k.  Sunday= -15 and 35 mph on summit, +15 and 20 mph at 14k, +35 and lite at 7k.  Warm in tent this evening.  Clouds clearing down in "non-snow" land!  In bed by 9:30 p.m.  getting up tomorrow when the sun hits our tent! 

5/24(SAT) 11,000':  Up when the sun hit our tents, just like we planned!  Actually it started getting windy at about 5 a.m. and didn't slow till late a.m.  Eric enlarged the snow cave this morning.  Can fit 10 people in that mansion!  We cook and visit in it when it's bad weather.  Inside the tents in the afternoon was +115 f.  "hot!" Phil Ershler and his group got here in 3 days from base camp.  Visited him a bit.  Large lenticular cloud over the summit the whole day!  Clear from 12k on down.  Can see lakes and rivers down below.  No clouds there!  Ate noodle and chicken freeze-dried dinner!  All the other food is in 2 caches up above!  We'll get them tomorrow when we move up.  We have to move up, or start starving soon!  Just heard a serac fall nearby (9:45 p.m) while we are in our tents. Sun still up, going behind the mountains to the west soon!  Listening to Anchorage radio stations.  Eric built walls around part of the tent.  Weather nice outside now.  People coming in and out of camp.  We are anticipating building monster walls up at 14k tomorrow evening. 

               I heard they can use cell phones up there all right.  It's pretty high up you know?  My Life-link Himalayan shovel is a piece of junk! Voile is the best!  Good angle to scoop snow. Life-link saw is the best in the world, but duct tape foam onto the handle and cover the first blade nearest to your hand with duct tape.  People still bailing off this mountain, lots coming up too!  Phil said "just have patience"!  Annie says clear and cold next few days, 0 and +10 at 14k with winds at 25 mph, much worse at the summit!  Winds decreasing the next few days. 

5/25(SUN) 11,000':  Up at 9:30'ish, had a hot breakfast, broke camp, headed up to 14,200'.  Beautiful day!  Light winds! Lots of steps upward to walk on. Like stair steps in many places.  We're in the crux of the climbing season now.  Maybe 100-150 people at the 14,200' camp.  Brought 2 sleds up, 1 on a pack (River), and 1 being pulled (Eric).  Slow going to 14,2.  Approximately 5 1/2 - 6 hours.  Cortland was leading (he was later diagnosed with bronchitis, but had summitted before this diagnosis).  With him in the lead, I have tons of energy all day!  No sweating!  Stopped for tons of "photo-ops"!  No clouds.  Saw Phil and his team coming down after placing a cache at 14,2.  He said the winds are really screaming up at the 16,200' ridge-would be extremely tough going to the summit due to these extremely high winds! He'll be up at 14,200' camp by tomorrow with the rest of his gear. 

               Arrived at about 5:30-6:00 p.m. lots of energy!  Built a platform in amongst the "snow wall city", actually on its' outskirts on the upper east side!  Built a wall around a portion of it after setting up both tents.  Saw a tent, fully set up, careening down the fixed line slope above us!  No one inside.  Climbers stopped on the fixed lines! Winds blew it west, then east, then into a crevasse, then back out after a minute ( at this point, we were all clapping and yelling, just enjoying the show which had unfolded in front of us)! It then fell down and out of sight, just where we had come up from earlier.  Probably someone setting it up at 16,200' on top of the fixed lines on the ridge and let it go by mistake!  Oooops!!!!!  

               Then (as though that wasn't enough excitement for one day), a helo (the NPS helo called the "Llama") came in at about 10 p.m. and picked up a dude who had HACE (High Altitude Cerebral Edema).  This dude took 10 days to get to here, and spent 3 days at 14k and still got HACE!  It could happen to anyone!  Just the physical makeup of some people won't allow them to get too high up, nothing to do with stamina!  I saw that dude stagger earlier in his camp and I knew something was wrong!  He was with a guided service and they took him down to the NPS tents about 25 yards below us. (We later heard that he was fully recovered and with his family). 

               Another excellent dinner by the River dude!  He made some kind of rice meal with lots of stuff in it--hot and filling! (River was our cook for 14 team meals which required cooking.  We saved our freeze dried meals for up higher where weight was more critical).  Called Walter and Irene Fiedler in Tacoma on the cell phone (hey, this is the '90's)! He said he wanted another post card.  He thought the 1st card I sent them was pretty cool!  (We sent cards down with other climbers who were very helpful with providing this postal service, although I had to entice one dude with a snickers to get him to take some cards down.)  Cell phone battery was low, made a quick call, Eric called his folks, Cortland called a climbing buddy in the Seattle area (an answering machine though, no humans yet!), and River phoned home!  Only brought 1 battery, should have brought 2.  A cell phone is nice to have!  Great for moral! 

               It's 12 midnight and only +20 f. In the tent!  And still light outside!   Filip dropped by for a visit!  He was wearing all he had in his pack and was still cold!  He won't last long up here!  Gore-tex shoes-frozen solid-he'll be helicoptered off soon-maybe!  101.3 fm Anchorage radio station comes in great up here in this high airy place!  Bring your walkman for sanity reasons!  Annie says high winds decreasing tomorrow on the summit!  Annie also plays air traffic controller for the inbound and outbound single engine planes at base camp, plus is the camp director!  I just enjoy listening to a perky, energetic, and enthusiastic female voice which does wonders for team moral!

5/26(MON) 14,200':  Weather is gorgeous!!!  Great summit day, but we're not acclimatized yet!  Ranger today says that 3 days at 14k, 2 at 17,2, then to summit, or 5 days at 14k, 1 at 17,2 would be fine for acclimatizing.  Tomorrow's a rest day, then we gear up the day after and leave a cache at 17,2.  Next step is to camp at 17,2 , then summit the next day!  Today-up at 9:30'ish.  Lots of people hiking up for a summit day tomorrow!  I counted 58 on the fixed lines slope.  About 10 - 15 were on the West Rib and Orient Express routes.  Excellent weather for all routes! 

               Just so we didn't have to go outside of our tents to use the bathroom, we used our personal 2 quart pee bottles inside of the tents, and some of us inside of our sleeping bags if we were pretty careful and good at it!  Just before starting to climb, we would empty them out and attach them to the outside of our packs, and the other climbers were calling us the "pee bottle gang"!  Such is life!

5/27(TUE) 14,200':  Another beautiful day!  No clouds or wind!  Watched rangers and volunteer climbers build another pit toilet.  They dig down about 10 feet and place a seat over it!  That's it!  No privacy with these toilets, but they are the best view from a toilet seat, or any seat for that matter, in the world!  Or the worst seat in a howling blizzard!  Eric took a cache to 16,2 consisting of 1 stove and 1 gallon and a qt of gas.  There's maybe a few camp sights there.  He called me on the C.B. radio, but I could only hear a buzzing sound, and he could hear me talk as clear as a bell. We adapted by me asking him yes and no questions, and he answered with 1 buzz for yes, 2 buzzes for no!  I fixed the radio later on.  It had a little corrosion on the base of the antenna inside the radio!  Didn't sleep too well last night until I drank water and ate a bit, then at 5 or 6 a.m., I slept till 9 a.m.  Eric said the fixed ropes above weren't that bad!  Heard the weather report-good thru the weekend! 

               Talked with George Dunn-he came over from his camp site and, foolin' around, made a wise crack about the Navy!  Cool dude though!  Lots of good info from him! Phil is also up here.  Met 2 dudes who had frostbitten fingers, not too bad though.  Today is a layover day, while Eric was up high and the other 2 were making water and breakfast at 11 a.m., I stayed in the tent organizing-house cleaning-getting ready for the push to 17,2!  Moral high with good weather, sounding good!  Sent out 4 post cards with a group who made the summit.  They gave us food and gas.  We gave some of it to the Czech dude-he walked to the 17,2 camp today, no problems, but thirsty and hungry afterwards! 

5/28(WED) 14,200':  Up at 9 a.m.  Eric took off to place another cache up high.  He picked up the cache he placed yesterday at 16,2 and brought it, along with the cache he had in his pack, to 17,2!  "Beautiful day!"  Cortland caught the flu that was going around camp, especially from the NPS rangers, so he stayed in camp and talked with medical staff up here!  Eric took off up the mountain, River and I took off about 1/2 hour later to place a cache also.  No hot breakfast this time! 

               River and I got to the fixed ropes, he went ahead, I followed, and talked with NPS rangers going to 17,2  to campout!  The fixed rope area has about 750 feet of line, with blue ice the whole way!  Good steps from previous climbers though.  We used our ascender in the left hand, ice ax in the other hand.  Went over a bergschrund, the steepest part-first (and the steepest on the entire route I do believe!), Then just 50-55 degree slopes to the 16k pass, turn right, go up ridge--rocky, snowy, steep, short lengths of fixed ropes here and there.  Then there's a beautiful stretch of exposed ridge line to walk across, which, in Phil Ershler's words, "has the best views of the climb!"  Met Phil coming down with his clients, he seems cordial, and knows me pretty well.  He's a true climbing animal!  He's here with I.M.G.(International Mountain Guides) through R.M.I. at Rainier. 

               Got to 17,2 in 5 hours, 45 min.  Met Eric earlier going down.  River and I placed our cache along with Eric's cache.  Checked out the 17,2 camp, nice area, probably 30 tents there with a good handful of climbers.  River and I were suckin' some serious "o's" (oxygen)!  No wind, temp probably +25, dry weather makes it so it doesn't feel so cold.  No clouds today. Ridge up to 17,2 was not technical, but extremely exposed on either side---1 slip and that's all she wrote!  We went unroped the whole way. 

               On the way down on the fixed ropes we didn't use our ascender .  Just attached a carabiner to a sling to the harness, attached this to the line, and used our hands to steady ourselves and use friction while descending.  If we slipped, we would catch ourselves with our hands, or slide down to the next anchor.  About 10 anchors were used on the ascending ropes, and the same for the descending ropes.  River took some great pictures of me descending.  Got into snow after climbing down the bergschrund and headed into camp.  This was the third time that my TNF bib ass-end unzipped itself on the trip.  So her I am walking into camp-tired-sweating, with my ass end unzipped!  Very embarrassing! 

               Phil said he was going to take a day off tomorrow, just like we decided to do!  Another layover day---yahoooo!!! But then Friday we go to camp at 17,2, then Saturday-for for the summit--camp at 17,2 again, then descend Sunday--this all depends on Cortlands flu condition and the weather!  Wednesday and Thursday--beautiful, then snow Friday--but just a little bit though!  Wow---what a vacation this has turned out to be....moral is high!  Weather is cooperating!  Route looks good!  Pizza's waiting down in Talkeetna, plus a shower and beer! 

               2 1/2 hours back down to 14,2.  River cooked up another great meal!  Along the route, we talked with Cortland on the C.B. radio, channel 14, on the hour at 3, 4, and 6 p.m., then 8 p.m. while River and I were on the fixed ropes, coming over the bergschrund, the steepest part of the ice.   I attached the radio to the pack shoulder straps on the right side.  One-handed operation, just like my camera---15 seconds to take a picture---beginning to end!  5 days of food was cached at 17,2 today along with extreme cold weather gear. 

               This mountain is a psychological challenge--if a 12 year old girl can climb it (the youngest person to do so), and many in their 50's & 60's can do it, then so can I!  Sure there are obstacles, but they are overcome every day, on the fixed rope area, the ridge above this pass, etc.  I constantly think about these younger and older people, and it helps this dude "big time"! 

               Just heard on our 300 watt Bose 601 speakers (actually 2 small plastic minimal watt radio shack speakers) hanging from the overhead of the tent from an Anchorage radio station---what are the top 5 things that anchorage is gearing up for the tourist season?  #3 was that all Korean climbers bring their own coffins!  It's true!  For some reason, of all the people on this mountain, Koreans seem to make the most mistakes and many never live to tell about it!  I saw 1 dude tie his rope partner into the end of the climbing rope in preparation for going down the glacier from the 14,2 camp.  He tied what looked like a variation of the overhand knot into his chest harness!  Now, any semi-beginner should know that one needs to tie into his seat harness with an approved knot like the butterfly or figure-8 rewoven, and then clip the rope through your chest harness!  I couldn't believe it!  But this dude didn't say a word!  They were all geared up, and prepared (at least somewhat) to head on down!  This was one of the parties which brought 4 of my post cards down to mail out!  This isn't to slam the Korean climbing styles, because we all did things up there that were not the smartest things to do at the time, but how he tied in was absolutely a no-no! 

5/29(THU) 14,200':  Up between 9:30-10:00.  People moving their tents to better spots here in camp anticipating bad weather.  Lenticular cloud on summit!  The tents being moved looked like upside down volkswagens says River!  Hung around camp--another lazy rest day!  Played chess with Filip and he won, but not by much though!  Stayed in the tent, wrote many post cards, & sent them down with climbers descending.  At about 10:30 p.m., a climber named Penn came over while we were digging out from high snow accumulation and he needed assistance in finding Chris, who was up above looking for Dave.  Dave was coming down the fixed lines and Chris was going to meet him there and walk back with him.  Chris went the wrong way and went over to the Messner Couloir and heard a yell. The dude yelling was a British climber named Paul who had fallen off the ridge along with his buddy Edward, from about 19,300' after summitting and getting into bad weather on the football field at 19,500'.  They slid down the Orient Express, the route which they had gone up.  Their other 2 buddies turned back earlier and went down to the 17,2 camp via the West Buttress route.  They had found out about their 2 other buddies by radio later on.  After sliding about 50 feet, they stopped themselves and started traversing across to the fixed lines, which would have been almost impossible to do.  They were on loose snow and it gave way under their feet.  Edward had landed on top of Paul, thus keeping Paul warm while he was unconscious.  Paul checked Edwards pulse and found that he had died from the fall.  Chris came over, and found Paul in a stupor, yelling for a helicopter.  They both descended in the snow and wind, and were starting to build a snowcave with Chris's ice ax about 5 minutes from the 14,2 camp, when they heard us coming up to find them.  We saw 2 dark figures coming out of the whiteout, and boy were they glad to see us!  We brought them back to the 14,2 camp where the NPS rangers took care of them. 

               Earlier, we had gone out and yelled and used a whistle, of which Chris and Paul had heard.  Before Chris, Paul thought he was hearing things and thought it was his own voice.  They both started heading toward the whistles at that time.  We wanded from the camp to base of the main route, and on over toward the Messner Couloir, yelled, whistled, and headed back to dress up more and go back out.  Eric, River and I on 1 rope, Penn and 1 other dude on his team.  Comms on C.B. 19 with each other, and Cortland and NPS on their radios in camp.  Less than 2 or 3 minutes, and us 3 heard voices and replies to our yells.  

               I spoke with Paul later the next day and come to find out, he was in the group that was going down Ski Hill just days prior to this, and Paul was in back of his team of 4.  This is when he had stepped into a crevasse waist deep, a crevasse which us 4 had just walked over seconds earlier, and warned Paul and his team about it!  Yep, that was him!  We both couldn't believe it!  What a coincidence! 

5/30(FRI) 14,200':  Up with warm sun--tired!  Filip came over at 4 a.m. or so and sat in the vestibule.-his tent had partially collapsed, and he was looking to camp out in our tents.  We told him the best thing to do was to go to the NPS tent down below and get bunk space there.  He got his sleeping bag (+20), and headed there.  He got to sleep on a chair, but was warm nonetheless!  No sleep for him that night!  He finally got hooked up from a French team.  1/2 of their team was at 17,2, so a tent was empty for Filip for the next night.  His tent was just tore a little, but not a good snow tent!  We slept part day today--very tired from the rescue effort last night!  George Dunn wanted the specifics of the rescue, so I told him about it.  Talked to many climbers today about the rescue!  Spoke with Roger Robinson a bit also.  When Paul finally awoke, I had a chat with that dude too!

               Weather was cloudy, whiteout sometimes.   2 to 3 feet of snow--fluffy--was tiring but fun to walk through!  Phil and George with their teams used today as a rest day.  Supposed to be bad weather through weekend.  Listened to Radio Anchorage all day!  +20 in the tent now (late evening).  I have the radio in the zipped up pocket of the jacket I'm wearing while sitting up in the sleeping bag (this keeps the batteries warm to conserve them).  The speaker wires go up and over a thin cord above me, attached to speakers hanging there for all to hear the music!  Good sleep was had!!!

5/31(SAT) 14,200':  Another layover day due to weather, avalanche danger, high winds on ridge to 17,2.  Up late (10 a.m.)!  Breakfast of 2 oatmeal’s!  Warm morning, cloudy here and there.  Looking out on top of clouds with clouds above, plus clouds coming in and out of camp.  Talked to Roger and Ken, the rangers here.  They had spotted Edwards body with the NPS helo "Llama".  It flew up to Orient Express, blew away snow off of slope where the body was thought to be, and uncovered it! 

               Heard that lots of people at base camp waiting to fly to Talkeetna and at Talkeetna, they're waiting to get up here!  Bad weather is the culprit!  Another few days of good weather and we'll bag the summit and be out of here!  Forecast no good though through Monday!  It snowed 2-3 feet today!  Tons of snow!  Knee deep normally, between knee and waist in some spots!  Waist deep in deserted tent areas!  Got a picture of it with me walking waist deep in one of those areas! 

               Talked with Rutiger a bit at the NPS tent.  He's an interesting dude from Germany.  He's going solo and has been up here since early April I think!  He's planning on doing Foraker, Crosson, and Hunter after doing Denali!  The dude loves it here!  Been here 6 summers and hasn't been to the top yet!  Also saw Adrian Nature...a dude originally from Romania.  Another solo climbing animal!   Other climbers stopped by our tent to say hi!  Got the latest climbing magazine from 2 dudes waiting for the weather just like us!  They had read through it 3 times already!  Offered to let them read the book "crash" brought up here by River!  Many brought the book back after reading the first chapter!  Then Cortland tried to lend out Howard Sterns book!  Now that was a little more interesting.   Think I'll stick with the Rock & Ice climbing magazine!  The whole camp, even 2 IMG teams, are waiting to go up.  Their caches are at 17,2 already.  Group of 6 came down from 17,2.  2 groups of 6 each and 2 each went up to 17,2.  Crazy!!!!!!  We're not going up in this weather! 

               Great dinner by none other than River the cook!   Rice, cheese, etc!  Very tasty!  Wore fleece jacket to bed in my -30 bag last night!  Staying warm at least!  The tents are a haven from the wind and cold!  Visitors would sit in the vestibule, close it's door, and open up the inner door.  Very convenient!  A Scottish dude and I (he was in the vestibule) listened to Annie give a weather report.  The Czech dude, Filip, went down with another group today from the suggestions of us and the rangers!  Hey....climbing magazine says that my Black Prophet ice tool has a recall on it!  The head glued to the shaft has faulty glue on it!  Good to know at this time.......yeah.....right!!!  What a time to find out!  Luckily I wasn't on steep ice and that thing decided to come apart at a critical time!  Won't be using that thing for the rest of the trip! 

               Listening to "Inagadidaveeda" on 100.5 "the fox" Anchorage radio station!  Picture this:  we're in our tents, 2 to a tent, gear surrounding our sleeping bags, ziploc bags filled with stuff like food, maps, garbage, more food, etc.....and there's jackets, bibs, boot liners, boots, O.R. over boots,  and bottle covers under my feet for insulation!  The therm-a-rest and ridge-rest pads are spread out with the latter on bottom, and the therm-a-rest'r seat hooked up, making it easy to sit up!  Listening to the radio--60's & 70's station--Cortland, River and I are groovin' to the tunes!  Eric would just as soon listen to 101.3 (good fast dance music)(that was one of my favorite stations also)! 

               With the wind howling and it being so cold outside (-3 f)!  I hooked up a pulley system between the 2 tents so that we could pass Cortlands Bushnell Irish Whiskey between us! (saved for special occasions, when we knew we weren't going anywhere for a while!)  We passed over books and magazines wrapped in ziplocs, on this "patented" system!  It was -9 earlier!   Hmmmmm.... It must be warming up!  I'm munching on what used to be cheese-its!  Now they have to be eaten with a spoon!  Plus there's frosted mini-wheats gotten from climbers headed downward!  It's been windy then calm all evening!  It's 11:51 p.m.  still light outside!  Windy all of a sudden (about 25 mph)! And that's at -3 Fahrenheit!....= -59 degrees of numbing wind-chill cold!!!!!!!!!!!  Yahoooooooo!!!!  It just don't get any better than this folks!!!!!!! 

               Then....of all things....we called on the cell phone to Tasha  "Z" at 100.5 f.m. classic rock station to request a song  (12:25 a.m., 6/1/97)!  We  told her we needed to request a song to boost our moral up here.  We said we were at 14,200' advanced base camp of Denali, waiting out a storm, wind and tons of snow, with -9 f. Temps!  We requested "Somebody to love" by Jefferson Airplane!  (We probably should have requested "We gotta get outa this place" by the Animals, which would have suited us better)!  She was flabbergasted and appalled and said she was privileged to talk with us!  She mentioned on the radio where we were at, what the temp and weather was, that we were waiting to climb up from the advanced base camp, & said "that's incredible what we're doing!" "good luck on your climb!".  She also mentioned our names too! 

               Pen getting cold!  Warm it up by rubbing between hands!  Wearing patagonia lightweight glove liners to keep hands warm!  Cortland says that "Rainy day woman #12 & 35" by Bob Dylan is the next song request!  Phone batteries running low though (low or dead batteries----that's the story of my life.....right Walt?)!  Snow drifting into the vestibule in a fine mist!  Tent's shakin' all over.....!!!!!!  Yahoooooooo!!!!!!  7 nights, 8 days here already----going stir crazy!!!! Let's get up this thing....down....and outa here!!!!!!  Call 100.5 f.m. from 17,2 first!   Pizza's on my mind!!!!!   Right now!!!!!!  Listening to classic rock--hoping batteries don't go dead before end of trip!!!!!  ".....wild horses couldn't drag me away......!!!!!!!!"  Winds howlin' outside!!!!!!!!  Wow...what a ride!!!!!!!!!!  Wonder  if they deliver pizza up here?????  We're gonna have to pay that d.j. a visit when we get back to Anchorage!!! 

6/1(SUN) 14,200':  Up late again--10 a.m.--no hangover though!--Windy, snowy, blustery, dug out our tents and our area.  +9 on thermometer outside this a.m., digging, breakfast (yukky hot oatmeal again), emptying that 2-quart p-bottle again, walked around & talked with other climbers...just the normal things to do in camp these days!  Talked with Willie & Anna from Switzerland, Miguel and his buddies from Spain, & the Brits getting ready to head down when the weather clears.  Some climbers heading up to the headwall (just for exercise though, I think)!  Some were skiing down! 

               The toilet was a real adventure today!  T.P. was kept in the goretex jacket until ready for use...to keep it dry...and to keep it from falling into the ominous 10 foot deep snow toilet pit!  Wind with blowing snow....cold on my back end!!!!  No goggles this time....couldn't see hardly anything!!!!  On the way back to the tents, following footsteps in 3 feet of snow---almost entirely filled in again!!!  Looked up--couldn't see tent, looked down--walked a few steps--sun started showing for a moment---there was the tents! 

               In tents--all listening to radios, reading, listening to b-ball game, news, sports, weather....=high pressure system to the west...maybe a good thing...!!!!!  Just what the doctor ordered!!!!  In tent, socks (liners & woollies) hanging on line, along with light balaclava, sunglasses, thermometer (+72 f.), "Bose 601-300 watt" speakers, and goggles!  Dinner time!!!!!  No.... Post cards to write first!!!!

6/2(MON) 14,200':  Debate to move camp to 17,2.  We packed up, then at noon, we checked the weather forecast at NPS tent and all clear for the next 3 days!!!!!!  Yes!!!!!  Yes!!!!!!  This is our chance!!!!  Yahooo!!!!!  Let's do it!!!  First River, then Eric,  then Cortland & I.  Slow going!  Saw a dude para-glide from just below the fixed lines down to 14,2 camp.  He took off just as I passed him on the slope.  His wings went over me!!!  On one of his several take-off attempts, he made the most perfect face plant I'd ever seen!  But he just got up and tried it till he was airborne! 

               Heavy packs today!  Fixed lines area had snow layer on the slope instead of blue ice!  Easier steps instead of ice!  Sweated heavily up this area!  Tough going!  At top of fixed ropes, Eric and River took off toward 17,2 to get the cache & set up camp!  I got to 16,500' alternate camp area where walls of snow were already built.  Stayed there until Cortland caught up, and rested.  My hands got extremely cold after the fixed lines.  I was using glove liners only.  So on the way to 16,5, I stopped for a rest on an exposed slope, mainly because I didn't want to go any further with the hands as cold as they were, took them off, & put those cold hands under  my armpits under all those clothes...!!!!!!  Cold at first,.......but instant warmth!  At 16,5 I got behind the snow walls, out of a light breeze, in sun light,  used glove and pocket chemical warmers to warm up the hands.  They work great!!!  Cortland showed up.  Rested a bit.  We both headed up the ridge to 17,2.  Plenty of photo ops! 

               Got to camp.  Already set up but no water cooking!  Eric and River were pretty cold after setting up the tents.  They sweated pretty much before getting into camp, then cooled off pretty fast after arriving.  Cort and I weren't sweating so much, so I cooked up some water while Eric and River were in sleeping bags getting warmed up, and eating to get the warmth back!  Got stove and water going, got into sleeping bag.  River got his full length, extreme cold, down suit on and came out to help with the water.  All pretty tired!!!

6/3(tTUE) 17,200':  Rest day at 17,2 for acclimatization.  George and Phil showed up that afternoon with their clients.  They suggested that we get to summit today.  But we're the "work sucks" gang!   When it gets to be too much work, then we rest!  I looked for a cache left by that one Scottish dude.  We couldn't find it,  but it had food, fuel, and an XGK stove (I was intending to send the stove back to him per our agreement).  It looked like someone might have dug it up already!  Nice day, beautiful views down to 14,2!  Denali pass looks good!  Weather report at 8 p.m. on the C.B.=nice for the next 3 days!  Diamox taken for the first time ever (125 mg---1/2 tablet).  This would help me sleep better, because last night, I would wake up due to my respiratory system not wanting to breathe.  I'd breathe out, but then something in the brain wasn't telling my system to breathe in again!  Didn't sleep well because of this!  I did, however, drink some water at that time, and it seemed to help a bit.  I was able to get some sleep.  But then awoke with the same problem again later on.  The same thing happened down at 14,2, but we spent many days acclimatizing down there, and after a few days, the symptoms went away!  Had dinner early today and got lots of sleep after taking Nuprin due to a  very small headache! 

6/4(WED) 17,200':  Summit day!!!!!  125 mg diamox taken.  River left first, Eric next.  Cortland and I roped up for safety, mainly due to Corts’ bronchitis.  He had taken a hit of 250 mg diamox.  Cort and I---slow, no sweat pace!  13 1/2 hours to summit & back to 17,2.  12 noon to 1:30 a.m..  On the summit at 9:00 p.m., departed summit at 9:20. Nice day, a little breeze all day--nothing to speak of.  Used chemical hand warmers inside O.R. gloves and also inside water bottle parkas!  Really works!  Keeps the water from freezing!  At Football Field, we counted about 20 people going to summit. 

               Psychologically demanding!  Debating on summit or not!  Many things going through my mind!  Go slow--no sweating, not too heavy breathing.  River was on summit for 2 hours, & 1 hour on ridge waiting for us to come down after summitting.  If a 12-year-old young lady could do this mountain, then so could I (she was my inspiration the whole trip)!  Soon, I'll be too old to do it!  Actually it will be tougher to do it later on!  Nice weather!  High stratus clouds.  Only slightly concerned about weather.  At Football Field, we were last in line--next major hurdle---head wall to summit ridge--can see Eric and River on summit ridge going to and from summit.  Both met us at beginning of summit ridge while they were coming down.  Eric continued down to get the water started, River stayed there to wait for us. 

               George and Phil went down earlier after summitting.  George mentioned that River was up there waiting for us.  He also mentioned that he set 3 anchors for a running belay for his clients and anyone else to use on the sharp, exposed summit ridge.  Ridge steepest it's ever been according to Roger and the other NPS rangers.  Instead of cornices, it's just a sharp ridge.  Walkable without belay, but about a 9 k fall if fell!  Cort and I very very slow through running belay part of ridge. 

               Finally, on the summit!!!!!  Yahoooooo!!!!!!!   Took pictures, phenomenal scenery, no wind, not really cold!  We've been extremely lucky with the weather.  Cell phone battery died after trying to use it from summit!  Headed down--slow going!  Weather holding.  Last humans on top for the day!  Denali Pass--no wind!  Ate--drank--slow descent to 17,2 camp.  In at 1:30 a.m..  Tired!!!!  Sleep!!!  Water first though!!!  Stove's on, cooking hot water.  Slow moving--thinking is hard--tasks hard!!!

6/5(THU) 17,200':   Up late--moved camp to 14,2.  People moving down to 14,2 in white-out--even IMG!  Trying to get down before wind comes up!  Little breeze now, if any!  Heavy packs going down.  Cort and I roped only.  Eric down first, to get cache at 14,2, River ahead of us in case too much snow covered route.  Clouds in and out.  At fixed lines, River went down, Cort and I stayed roped.  Down slowly with nobody behind us.  At bergschrund at bottom of fixed lines, I was at end of energy in my body!  Sweating profusely, essentially "at the end of my rope"!  Got over bergschrund--don't know how though!!!  Then rested, ate, walked down slowly to 14,2.  Cache dug up, another camp spot found, food and water made.  Finally ate till almost puking!  Stuffed pig syndrome!  This dude was hungry!  Indigestion set in due to 1 1/2 bars of butter used in dinner pot for us 4 dudes.  Plus I think River also put in a block of cheese too!  Felt better after overdosing on 3 Tums antacids!  River did 5 Tums!  Felt much better after that! 

               Weather--on and off clouds.  Gave away a whole sled of food and fuel to various people.  Almost all of this food was acquired during our 8 or so days while we were waiting to ascend from 14,2.  Climbers just don't want to carry all that extra food down with them!  We were given cans of chicken-of-the-sea in water earlier.  Now that tasted pretty scrumptious!!! 

               There was a box of cream-of-wheat hot oatmeal given to us up there.  We gave it away, and it's probably still being handed around camp.  It's not like chocolate, or power bars, you know, the palatable foods!  Hot oatmeal seemed to be pretty boring food after a while, unless I poured gorp into it for taste!  The blue and many other colored M&M's made it a radical work of art!  Plus it made it taste a bit better!  In the tent--f.m. radio station--good for moral!  Food + water = energy level up!  Feel strong!  Got empty sled from Brent Akeeda (IMG).  His group was climbing over the mountain and going out the north side.  He wanted us to carry his garbage down for him.  "No way dude!"   We have too much weight anyways!  Cortland spoke with the doc at the NPS tent!  Doc says he has bronchitis.  He said to eat, sleep, drink, and descend! 

6/6(FRI) 14,200':  Up late.  Packed--Eric and River headed down.  Cortland and I had problems with the sled.  It got distorted & twisted when I tightened cords to tie down the gear.  It kept flipping over.  1 hour of problems.  It was alright when I loosened the cords on the load.  Very heavy load though!  Foggy weather, no wind, not cold, snow on ground all the way, unlike earlier when there was ice above Motorcycle Hill above 11k.  Slow going down hill to 11k!  Eric and River waiting there with this Russian dude who had hooked up with them at 14,2.  This Russian had enough common sense to rope up on crevasses!  Many people taking many chances up here, not roping up when they should, ascending too fast, not drinking enough fluids, etc.  Ate, drank, and headed down to 9,6 to camp.  Beautiful evening--past 8 p.m. Sun coming through cumulus clouds.  Beautiful!  At 9,6, both tents already set up!  To bed---tired!  A bit cold!

6/7(SAT) 9,600':  Up at 8 a.m.  Many people going up at night, early morning, mainly due to crevasse danger later in the climbing season.  Hot sun during the day melts out the snow bridges, but at night, they freeze over--much safer to travel on!  We got a cold start this morning.  Eric and River first on 1 rope.  Cort and I next.  Took off about 9:30 a.m.  On Ski Hill, we shed some outer clothing due to heat!  Not a death march to Kahiltna Base, but exhausting!  Took many breaks!  Flat, then up Heart Break Hill to base camp---no plane noises the whole distance.  Just lightning behind us up the Kahiltna glacier valley, and avalanches in the distance. 

               Hot day today!  Some crevasses opened up since 3 weeks ago, but still easily passable!  Dinner at base camp & water!  Not so many people here.  Almost all waiting to get out to Talkeetna.  I heard it's foggy and rainy there!  Annie stuck in Talkeetna trying to fly in here.  A Swiss climber dude has taken her place.  Waiting for plane noises!  Think we hear planes all the time!  Sunny and hot this evening.  Bare backs all over!  Up till midnight! 

6/8(SUN)7,200':  Foggy--no wind--warm!  Snowed a little overnight.  Got caught up on diary all morning.  Now 1:38 p.m. and still in tent!  "We gotta get outa this place, if it's the last thing we ever do!"  Played cards with a bunch of other people in Annies big walk-in tent!  Libby Riddles, the '85 Iditarod Dog Sled Race winner, was there!  I was absolutely clueless who she was until we were down in Talkeetna having a beer at the Fairview Inn (famous road house I think) and she gave me her card!  I was astonished that we were playing cards for about 2 days at 7,2 and I had no clue about this!  She invited me to see her 52 dogs in her kennel in Wasilla just north of Anchorage. 

               Then, to top it all off.......their was this young lady there, playing cards with us too, and come to find out, she was the youngest person ever to summit Denali 2 years ago, when she was 12 years old!  Her names Merrick Johnston, and boy is she an inspiration for all of us!  But boy is she a card shark too!!!!!!  Gotta watch out for this gal!!!  She likes to look at everybody's cards and cheat just a little bit, but we would just laugh it off!!!  She beat me at rummy, probably her favorite card game, and after she played checkers with me twice, the first time she ever played checkers, she beat me the 2nd game!  Pretty smart kid!!!  We all played a card game called "monarchy".  It's a game that you can be the king, then the scum of the earth in the next hand!  We played till 1or so that night!  Lots of fun had by all!  We started out with 3 or 4 players and 1 deck of cards---it grew to 12-13 players with 3 decks!!!  My 3 other climbing buddies stayed in their tents, cooked, etc.  Somewhat anxious to get home!  I was very well content, and so was Merrick for that matter. She wanted me to stay on the glacier a bit longer, but I needed to drive my buddies to Anchorage airport!  Still cloudy...no planes yet!!!!

6/9(MON)7,200':  Up late, played cards after having oatmeal for breakfast.  Played cards all day until the afternoon, about 2 or 3 p.m. an English couple played for a while, and boy did they do well at the “monarchy” game!  We figured that being from England helped them out a bit!!!!!  Yeah....right!!!!!!!!

               Then there was a break in the weather.  The Swiss dude radioed this in and we finally heard our first plane in a while.  Annie flew in  first and she orchestrated all the planes in and out, radio in hand...a true Alaskan woman!  After having Jello pudding (chocolate of course), made by Merrick, we got our gear together and waited to get into a plane.  Merrick hauled some of our equipment down to the plane from our camp sight!  Including my back pack!!!!!  All I saw were 2 little legs sticking out from below the pack while she carried it down!  Tough little gal!!!!!!  Smart too!!!!!  Reminds me of my daughter Angelika! 

               We flew on Talkeetna Air Taxi back down to Talkeetna without our gear!  Then it got socked in again on the glacier!  Our equipment was left there laying on the glacier overnight!  In town, we all got pizza, then beer after that at the Fairview Inn.  River got a bit sloshed, Cortland took care of him!   I was with some British climbers talking about England or something, I don't remember 1/2 of what we said!  Havin' too much fun!!!!!!  Eric stayed at Doug Geetings Air Service reading a book. This is where other climbers hung around waiting to fly up or waiting for gear or the rest of their teammates. 

               Cortland and River left the inn and went to Doug Geetings place.  I went to T.A.T. with the Brits and slept there.  Libby and her friend were there overnight also!  They slept outside and braved the mosquitoes!  That Libby sure is quite an Alaskan woman!!!!! 

6/10(TUE)Talkeetna:  Awoke at 8'ish with the Brits.  We were sprawled all over the place there!  The couches, chairs, every inch of floor space!!!  Went & had breakfast with the Brits.  They bought me breakfast because my wallet was in the van!  Libby and her friend were there having breakfast there, also. 

               The Brits and I walked over to the NPS ranger station, & checked-in from climbing (on 3 June, the 10,000th climber made it to Denali's summit!  A dude from New Hampshire!).  Walked back to Doug’s and found Eric there.  It seems that Cortland had checked in to a hotel in town after all that had happened!  He still had his plastic climbing boots on (his other shoes were in the van).

                 With our gear still on the glacier, I got with Cortland and I went on over to the Fairview Inn and paid the bill from last night, $102.00!  We also explained and apologized for everything!

               Talked with Doug Geeting at his place of business for a while.  Took a shower (the first one in about 25 days)!  Emptied out the van, & got it cleaned out. The gear came in from the glacier that afternoon, and got all of it piled into the van.  Quiet evening this time!  Slept in the van.  Beautiful view of all 3 peaks from down by the river...Denali, Hunter, and Foraker!!!