Denali "The High One"

  
20,320 ft.


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Mt. McKinley, Alaska, North America

We approach via the West Buttress route.  The mountain is so massive that it creates its own weather.  We build snow and ice walls to protect us from the wind and wear nose guards to protect us in the land of the midnight sun.

Denali journal entry:
May 17, 2006 
Low temp. -10F

"The weather report for the next few days is not too promising.  They are calling for high winds of 50-100 mph above 17,000 ft.  We need to stay put for a while.  Two helicopters have landed nearby to rescue climbers.  One man had 16 frozen digits and another with deadly high altitude pulmonary edema.  Sobering."