West Buttress of Denali (20,320')
This is it, the big one. Mt.McKinley (official Federal name), otherwise known as Denali
(as climbers prefer, which is the native name of the mountain, meaning "The High One"), is the highest point in North America.
As such, it is one of the sought-after "Seven Summits." This trip has
been several years in the making, and the decision to climb Denali
was finally reached in December 2004. The climbing team would simply consist of
me and Chuck Booten, my climbing partner of the past five years. Although a
bigger team usually would mean more safety and a greater chance of success, it
is hard to argue against of team of two climbers who know each other well and
who have climbed many mountains together. We were hoping to come up with an
expedition name that would capture our shared roots: MIT, Stanford, and Los
Alamos National Lab. After several iterations, we finally settled on
"Green Chile." After researching the past several years of climbing
history on the mountain, we decided to schedule the climb such that we would be
ready to summit around June 1. This is historically about the most optimal time
to summit. We would arrive in Alaska on May 14, and fly into the mountain on May 15. We would aim to summit between
May 30 and June 3, and fly off the mountain June 8. Our return flights back to New
Mexico and California were scheduled for June 11. More of the details of the climb will be posted
later. For now, here are some of the pictures.
For Ryan's pictures, please click over to the link below.
(Click here for Ryan's Pictures)
These pictures are all taken by Chuck. These are his labels and comments...
Anchorage Int'l Hostel where we stayed in Anchorage
Chugach Mts. from near REI and Alaska Mountaineering in Anchorage
Looking North at clouds going to the Alaska Range from Anchorage. May 14.
Our gear explosion in the hostel.
More gear exploding.
The gear expands after it explodes.
Then it reproduces.
Ryan at the train station just before boarding to go to Talkeetna.
On the way to Talkeetna May 15.
More train.
Talkeetna Mountains.
Talkeetna train station. beautiful weather for flying! or something.
Hudson Air hanger at Talkeetna State Airport. we're not flying anywhere today.
Chuck at airport. The scruffiness has only begun.
Our first real view of Hudson Air, our link to the mountain!
Bumming around Talkeetna. It wasn't tourist season yet so pretty quiet. apparently only a couple weeks before there had been large snow drifts and such around buildings. Things change quick this time of year...
Ryan on Main Street.
Ryan with our pile o' crap just a few minutes before our plane came to put us on the glacier. May 16 ~9:30am.
Our first view of the mountain. The rise above the trees is almost exactly 20,000'. Its 60 miles away and it just blows you away at how enormous it is. You just can't believe it.
Its just out of this world huge, and it looks a hell of a lot steeper than in all the pictures you see!
Texas is nothing. Alaska is huge.
The Tokositna or the Susitna River I think.
Either the Ruth or Tokositna Glacier I think.
Alaska Range as we fly in.
More of the same.
Ryan as we fly through One Shot Pass. Its really steep and you fly between the mountains in the pass. Only a few hundred yards wide. I think the fly low on purpose for effect, you could go a little higher in these planes no problem. Its really quite an experience though.
Chuck going through One Shot Pass.
Just after One Shot Pass after it opens up.
Jumping to high camp. view to the NW at 17,200'. the rock is the father and sons face.
Panning to the N. June 1 i think, after we summited.
Looking toward Denali pass @ 18,200'.
The mountain up to about 19,300' or so with people descending from Denali pass.
View to the East from our tent.
Ryan at our campsite w/ the green/yellow Stevenson. The NF tent belonged to Koreans. They were completely incompetent on EVERYTHING.
Looking at 14,200' camp from the ridge at about 17,100' on June 2, this was our descent day.
Looking NW on the ridge to 16,200'. No wind, beautiful day. perfect.
Ryan in our tent around June 1. it could have been 2am in this picture but i think it was more like 6 or 7. it was so light we couldn't sleep so we'd sit around for hours pretending and then roll over and see the other person doing this and then we'd B.S. for awhile b/c we weren't tired.
I would wake up at 14K and 17K w/ HORRIBLE headaches from not breathing well when "sleeping". I would try and hyperventilate but that didn't help. I was hating life when i woke up, getting dressed was a huge chore even though it consisted of only putting on one pair of socks and a pair of shell pants. Once i got out and about for an hour or so it would go away. I never got a headache while on the trail until we were almost at the summit and then i took 2 aspirin and it got better. You can see my oxygen deprivation here by my blue lips. I'm curious why ryan didn't mention that. Maybe he was hoping i would die so he wouldn't have to listen to me complain incessantly in the mornings?
Boiling water at high camp. it was probably 10-15 below zero, but i was obviously dressed for that. Sitting down also gave me headaches and I have one in this picture. We spent a lot of time boiling water like this.
Beautiful summit day huh? yeah we and a bunch of other people were antsy so we decided to try it. This is looking toward Denali pass by the way.
Suiting up for the summit! This shot was taken by one of our Taiwanese friends. They were super cool.
Ryan on the way to Denali Pass.
Look at the incompetent Koreans. Can you see anything wrong? Like maybe 30' of coiled rope in the idiots hand? the guys ahead of him also had the same thing and they all made a habit of traveling on the glacier like this. I stayed far enough behind usually so that if they fell they wouldn't take me too. luckily it was a traverse so they'd fall to my left and not on me.
More brilliant glacier travel techniques.
Ryan and our 50 closest friends above Denali pass, maybe 18,600'.
Ryan taking a breather and changing out of our warm clothes at about 19,000'. The wind had died way down about the pass.
1/2 way up Pig Hill. I hate this hill. It took almost 2hours and was only ~500 feet tall! This shot is at about 19,800' looking down on Mt. Hunter at 14,573'.
Ryan taking a well earned breather almost at the top of Pig Hill. The North summit is in back at 19,500'.
Ryan on the summit ridge with Dave who is on a rope team w/ Mark Luscher, DJ Luscher's dad.
Ryan on the summit.
More killer pics of Ryan on the summit. I think Mt. Huntington is peaking out at 12,000+ feet.
Mt. Hunter WAY below us. Its almost 6,000 vertical feet below us.
Ryan with Mt. Foraker in back at 17,400'.
Looking back at the summit ridge.
View to the NW.
View to the NNW I think.
View to the N with the North Summit.
View to the NE.
Little more Easterly, Fairbanks is out there in the distance somewhere but I never could see it.
Mt. Hunter and Mt. Foraker.
Back at the Football Field at 19,500'. Pig Hill is in back. I hate that hill.
Looking back down the route, a little to the right (NW) actually at Archdeacons Tower at 19,625'.
This carabiner has a story. Ive taken it climbing in Yosemite a lot, and in the Sierras. I also took it to Mt. Rainier in June 2004. Then on the same trip it made it to the Tetons past the upper saddle on the Grand Teton. I then accidentally left it in Jackson with Mark Peterman who was one of my climbing buddies on Rainier and in the Tetons. He returned it to me on his wedding day and so I wanted to do something special so i carried it with me to the summit. Like an idiot I forgot to take a picture on the summit so this is as close as I can get. But about a 1/2 hour before this it WAS on the summit. I have since mailed him the 'biner and I hope he makes good use of it.
Another shot of me and the biner with the summit being the highest visible point in the background.
About 10,000 on the Kahiltna glacier. Behind Ryan you can see 9800' camp, which we basically started.
Kahiltna Dome is behind Ryan at about 12,500'. We are at about 10,300' or so on our way to 11,000' camp. We single carried this day so we took ALL of our stuff with us. Many people thought this day was the hardest of the trip this far. I actually liked it. Short and steep and before you know it we were there!
Looking up at the imposing West Buttress, 11,000' camp is around the corner, we are around 10,300' to 10,500' or so.
Looking back at Ryan and Kahiltna Dome again.
Serac fall as we pull into 11,000' camp. Not such a safe place as there was avalanche danger on the other side and crevasses in the middle of the camp. We dumped waste into one that was literally 3 feet from someones tent!
Looking West back down the trail from our igloo at 11,000'.
Chuck at 11,000' camp. The hill to the left of the giant rock (aka West Buttress) is Motorcycle hill, about 700' tall, which is where the route goes up.
Chuck in camp with Mt. Foraker and Kahiltna Dome off to the West.
11,000' camp in a storm. we were here for 3 days b/c of conditions like this. So we read books and ate and slept lots. storms are easy to sit out in an igloo, you can't even tell if its good or bad weather out.
More stormy weather at 11,000'. It gets TONS of snow and weather. The cloud tops are usually less than 2,000' above this camp.
Perfect morning after the storm. You can see tracks up Motorcycle hill. we were never the first out of camp which was fine by me, some other hard-charger can break trail!.
Looking NW on this same morning. I think this is Day 9 on the mountain. We are making a carry of extra food and such to 14.2K today and then coming back.
More spectacular views to the west.
Here we are all suited up and ready to go. These packs probably weighed 70-80lbs. They were really heavy.
Ryan with a beautiful backdrop of mountains.
View North from the top of Motorcycle Hill. The glacier is the lower Peters glacier.
View of the Upper Peters Glacier and the Father and Sons wall. This wall is maybe 6,000' tall. It's big!
The whole gang going past Windy Corner. The storm had kept people in 11,000' for days so now everyone was going. I counted 70 people once and I estimate maybe 150 people moved from 11,000' to 14,000' that day.
Scene of a crevasse fall at 13,500'. 2 unroped Spaniards fell in and dragged someone with them. We heard they fell 50' but I can't confirm. Luckily it was the busiest place on the mountain otherwise the arrogant SOB's would have died. In my humble opinion they would have deserved it.
More crevasse rescue. There were several guided parties there to help. Ryan and I were both impressed on this and other occasions by the guides from the American Alpine Institute.
Ryan next to a mega-crevasse just below 14,200' camp.
Ryan and I at the toe of the West Buttress after making a cache at 14,200'.
Looking N from above the top of Motorcycle Hill on our way down from 14,200'.
14,200' camp on May 25. This day was just amazingly perfect.
Ryan with our igloo at 14,200'. On perfect days lots of people move. These are going up to the headwall, the top of which is at 16,200'.
Chuck with our igloo at 14,200' and condensation on the camera lens.
Chuck with more condensation on the camera lens at 14,200'.
Chuck with Mt. Foraker in back at 14,200'.
Closeup of Chuck at camp.
Chuck and Ryan at our camp with some of the best views anywhere!
More Chuck and Ryan with Mt. Foraker in back.
Looking up at 16 ridge from 14,200' camp. The biggest dip in the ridgeline is where the 17,200' high camp is located, hard to believe its 3,000' vertical to that huh?
Chuck's scuzzy face at camp. i was happy to be hanging out in camp on such a great, relaxing day, especially after the 2 heavy carry days we had before this day.
Trail leading to "The edge of the World" which is a cliff about 1/4 mile from 14,200' camp. You can look out and get great views, if the freaking clouds aren't in the way!
Looking back at 14,200' camp on the left and the headwall and the route up which goes up the lowest point in the ridge. The low point is at 16,200'.
The view looking down at the Kahiltna glacier and the NE fork of the Kahiltna Glacier which is basically 7,000' straight below me. What a great view.
Ryan at Washburn's thumb on 6/2/05 at 16,800' or so, we are descending.
Coming down the fixed lines after our summit. 6/2/05, it took us 20 min to get here from high camp.
Looking back up at Ryan on the fixed lines about 16,000'. it took us 45 min to get to the top of the fixed lines from high camp.
Looking down at foraker from 16K ridge. what a perfect day! no wind either. 6/2/05.
16K ridge and Mt. Foraker.
Mt. Foraker and Mt. Hunter and Kahiltna glacier.
Ryan up high on the 16K ridge (aka West Buttress) about 17,000'.
16K ridge looking north, the picture was scanned backwards as were a fair number of these.sorry it was late.
Looking north from the buttress. 6/2/05.
Mt. Foraker, Genet Basin and Kahiltna glacier. 6/2/05.
Denali pass at twilight from 17,200' camp. 6/1/05.
Ryan descending Denali Pass after our summit. 6/1/05 about 10pm. it didn't seem this steep when we were on it, maybe we were too tired to notice.
Ryan screwing w/ gear on Denali pass. 6/1/05 about 9:45pm.
looking down from denali pass, this pic is backward. you can see high camp at the end of the trail.6/1/05.
Ryan at Denali Pass, 18,200' w/ our summit gear on, 6/1/05.
Ryan above Denali pass, ~18,500' on our descent, 6/1/05.
Another backward pic, coming down toward Denali pass. 6/1/05.
Looking toward Denali Pass. 6/1/05.
Another of Ryan above Denali Pass. beautiful day and after losing some altitude and gaining oxygen I got real picture happy.6/1/05.
Looking north from just above Denali Pass ~18,300'.6/1/05.
Ryan on the lower Kahiltna, ~7500'. Denali is in back. This is about 11pm, it gets darker down here b/c the mountains block more sun.
Ryan on our descent to base camp from high camp in one push. Denali is the tallest one in back.
More backwards pics, all the last 24 or so have been. This is looking down at 7800' camp on our descent. 6/2/05.
Looking SE from 7800' camp. when we were camped here a GIANT avalanche broke off the face from maybe a couple thousand feet up the face, which is a bout 1/2 way up b/c everything is so huge. it crossed the entire glacier and hit the mountain on the other side. Thank god not many people go up this glacier. 6/2/05.
looking up at Denali from below 7800' camp. 6/2/05.
Ryan directly below ski hill with Denali rising in back. 6/2/05.
NE fork of the Kahiltna looking at Denali and the West Rib. 6/2/05.
Looking down the Kahiltna from about 9500'. 6/2/05.
Slab avalanche debris at about 9000' on the Kahiltna. This is a couple hundred yards across. its big. 6/2/05.
Just below 9800' camp looking S down the Kahiltna glacier. 6/2/05 ~8pm.
11000' camp with motorcycle hill in back at about 7pm. 6/2/05.
The view downhill from our igloo at 11000'. 6/2/05 about 7pm.
Ryan digging out our cache of sleds, duffels and garbage and snowshoes and such at 11000' camp. we only buried it about 1/2 this deep the rest is snow that fell. 6/2/05.
Ryan at 14,200' camp w/ our ridiculously oversized packs. We had double carried up here but with no sleds, stupid! then we wanted to single carry down so we gave away about 6 days of food for 2 people (~25lbs) plus a gallon of fuel to this large Japanese group setting up next to our igloo. Thank god b/c after that we still had these huge packs that were 80-90lbs. good thing we were going down. Every party we met on the way down commented on how huge our packs were. keep in mind that each person coming up probably carried over 60lbs of gear w/ them when they saw us. 6/2/05.
yes ryan, it is your fault for not telling me how stupid i was for thinking we didn't need a sled to carry to 14200'. 6/2/05.
At the base of the fixed lines we rested and took off some clothes on our way down. i accidentally knocked my helmet off the ledge and it went scooting down about 800' down towards 14,200' camp (it fell at 15,400' or so). it passed dozens of people but was too far away for anyone to do anytihng. it took close to a minute i think. a guy w/ sharp eyes next to us said it went right next to this crevasse and then dissappeared (after passing 3 open crevasses somehow). so on our way down we followed the obvious groove in the snow and it stopped here, at this crevasse. 6/2/05 ~2:30pm.
Here's the track into the crevasse after the rescue. i crawled up on all fours to distribute the load, and had ryan give me a tight belay. i peeked into the crevasse and saw it about 2' down so i snared it w/ my axe and then gingerly backed away and then took this picture. my first crevasse rescue and it went off w/o a hitch! 6/2/05.
Ryan sitting up on "the edge of the world" near 14200' camp. its a 7000' drop off behind him. pretty killer! 5/25/05.
Our first full day at 14,200' camp. this lenticular cloud on Mt. Foraker foretold bad weather to come even though this day was perfect. 5/25/05.
14200' camp and Mt. Foraker with a lenticular on it. 5/25/05.
Looking up the mountain at high winds at about 19000'. glad we're not up there! 5/25/05.
our igloo at 14200' camp.
Ryan on our first rest day at 14200' with tons of people heading up the mountain. 5/25/05.
looking down at windy corner on our carry day. either 5/23/05 or 5/24/05.
At the base of the fixed lines. this ledge is called "the boxcar" this is where i was when i knockedthe helmet off. i think this was the day we turned around b/c of weather. or else it was the day we carried to 16800'.
Ryan and Chuck at the boxcar 15,400'.
Crappy weather coming in from the north behind the west buttress (big rock face) as seen from 14200' camp.
Mt. Hunter (left) and Mt. Foraker from our igloo at 14200'.
looking up at our 13,020,304 best friends ahead of us on the fixed lines at about 15,800' or so.
looking down at ryan and some more of our best friends ascending the fixed lines. somewhere there is a really annoying french canadian who thought it was great to sing off key songs at the top of his lungs. i really wanted to bitch slap that guy, so did his partner, they fought a lot.
Ryan at 16,400' or so on the west buttress itself. we made a cache this day, most people stopped at 16200', we kept going. the "snow" was ice or else loose powder and was pretty sketchy. I don't think Ryan will ever forgive me for assuring him we didn't need any pickets for protection. we totally should have had a couple in addition to the 4-5 that were already fixed by other parties. 5/26/05.
Looking down the west buttress ridge at about 16,600' or so. bad weather and pretty reasonable winds. not fun. 5/26/05.
looking back on the ridge we had just crossed from below Washburn's thumb ~16,700' or so. sketchy, sketchy. 5/26/05.
Ryan above Washburns thumb, here is where it got fun. the last pics might have been on the 2nd time on the ridge which is when we moved to 17200' high camp. if so then the snow was awesome and lots of fun and much safer than the first time we were on it. 5/29/05.
Ryan at 16,900' on the West Buttress. 5/29/05.
Ryan high on the west buttress. 5/29/05.
just below 17200' camp. you can see Denali pass straight ahead at 18200'. about 5:30pm, 5/29/05. it took us 7hours from 14200' camp or so, including waiting at the base of the fixed lines for an hour.
Ryan just below 17200' camp looking back at the west buttress. 5/29/05.
High winds up at 19000'+ on the mountain from high camp at 17200'. 5/29/05.
Looking east as we pull into high camp. 5/29/05.
Ryan and The Bavarian Trio(Lutta, Sabene and Helmut). when we got to camp it was like walking into cheers. all the groups we had got to know on the way up were there. it was great. everyone was so happy to see us, we were the igloos guys, chuck and ryan. it was great to be in such an inhospitable place and have so many friends there. 5/29/05.
our future campsite at 17200'. the orange tent on the left was the taiwanese (james, jay and Yang-Wei) and they offered us the site in the center. The green tent on the right was the brits who were also super cool and we partied with back in talkeetna afterwards.
Chuck out on the ridge by camp. the west buttress looks much steeper from here. the low point in the ridge is where the fixed lines come uo. 5/29/05.
Looking back at high camp, denali pass and the upper mountain up to about 19,300' or so. 5/29/05.
Looking SE towards Mt. Huntington (left, ~12500') and Mt. Hunter (right, 14,573') from high camp. 5/29/05.
Ryan and our green stevenson tent and the trango 3 tent of the taiwanese at high camp. 5/29/05.
Ryan coming up the 16 ridge. 5/29/05.
Looking back at the ridge we came up from high camp. 5/29/05.
Looking NW back at the 16 ridge from high camp. 5/29/05.
Looking at Mt. Foraker from the edge of the plain at 17200'.
High camp and the upper mountain to the east. 5/29/05.
Coming up to high camp about 17000' on the west buttress. 5/29/05.
Ryan above Washburn's Thumb on the ridge of the West Buttress. 5/29/05.
Looking SE past the Kahiltna glacier to "little switzerland" after taking off from base camp. ~10:10am 6/3/05.
Looking at "One shot pass" from the plane heading back to civilization. this pass is really cool to fly through, i think they go low for effect and i like it! 6/3/05.
Our Hudson Air plane arriving in base camp. Jay flew us in and Chuck picked us up. we were the first Hudson people out this day so it was nice not to have to wait for other people, although we did wait for over 1.5hrs for this plane, largely b/c the other taxi services had lots of people flying out. 6/3/05.
K2 plane at base camp with HUGE Mt. Hunter in back. its maybe only a mile away and rises 7300' vertical above base camp. its enormous. The big rock wall is the Moonflower Buttress. 6/3/05.
Watching planes take off at basecamp 7200'. Mt. Foraker rises 10,000' above us in the background. 6/3/05.
Instrument panel in Chuck's plane. He had an ipod and had a cool mix of music to listen to as we left. 6/3/05.
Looking down the lower Kahiltna glacier below base camp. The glacier is 40 miles long, the largest in the Alaska range. 6/3/05.
Looking down the Kahiltna for miles. 6/3/05.
Chuck at base camp waiting for our ride out with Denali in back 13,000' above us. The boxes are fuel to be shipped back with us given to us by the base camp manager Lisa. They say you have to buy your fuel at base camp, you can't bring your own on the plane b/c of FAA regulations. Obviously thats a load of crap b/c they ship the fuel BACK with you! these weren't all empty cans i can tell you that for certain. So really they just want your $ b/c they charge $8.50 per gallon for Coleman fuel. what a racket. maybe it is against FAA regulations but they obviously don't care about that b/c they ship the fuel back with you. garbage, im pretty pissed about that. 6/3/05.
Looking west from base camp 7200' at Mt. Foraker 17,400'. 6/3/05.
our plane landing at base camp. 9:30am 6/3/05.
View at takeoff. Chuck had problems taking off and it took a while. apparently i was too engrossed in pizza and doughnuts to realize he had stalled the plane according to ryan who actually paid attention to the radio. 6/3/05.
Looking back up N up the Kahiltna. you can see ski hill and above it the skyline is at Kahiltna pass which is about 7 miles away or so at 10200' give or take. 6/3/05.
Looking south down the kahiltna just after takeoff 6/3/05.
Ryan with our gear waiting to get picked up at base camp. the wall across the glacier is a few hundred yards away and probably 1000' tall, but its the low spot on the ridge b/c things are so huge. 6/3/05.
Looking across the Kahiltna which is a mile wide here at the base of Mt. Foraker. You can see the plane's shadow down below. 6/3/05.
Flying out nearing One Shot Pass. 6/3/05.
Confluence of the Kahiltna glacier and whatever glacier comes from below One Shot Pass. 6/3/05.
Looking West as we go into One shot pass. 6/3/05.
One Shot Pass. 6/3/05.
Ryan, ever the shutterbug, as we fly through one-shot-pass. 6/3/05.
The downslope side of one-shot pass. heading SE. 6/3/05.
Mountains just after one-shot pass. 6/3/05.
Heading SE towards talkeetna, showers and food!!!!!! 6/3/05.
Im not sure if this is part of the little switzerland range in the Alaska Range but it might as well be. 6/3/05.
Out the plane window on the way back. 6/3/05.
Terminus of one of the major glaciers. Tokositna? Susitna? Ruth? one of those i think. 6/3/05.
Looking South at the foothills of the Alaska Range. 6/3/05.
Ryan as we fly over the lowland tundra/swamp which is what most of alaska consists of. 6/3/05.
Looking south as we fly to talkeena. 6/3/05.
Tokositna river, or Susitna? i can never remember. 6/3/05.
Talkeetna. as you can see the state airport is by far the largest and most important part of the town. 6/3/05.
Random glaciers towards talkeetna from One shot pass. 6/3/05.
Flying through One Shot Pass. these mountains are a couple hundred yards away at most. 6/3/05.
Glaciers after one shot pass. 6/3/05.
More Flying through one shot pass. the mountains feel even closer than they look. its really great, but it passes quickly unfortunately. 6/3/05.
Denali on the way in. 5/16/05.
Just upslope of one shot pass. 5/16/05.
Nearing base camp. 5/16/05.
Denali is just SOOOOOO big. 5/16/05.
Ryan as we go through one shot pass. 5/16/05.
Our igloo at 9800' camp, you can see the trail leading up around the corner going to 11000' camp. 5/19/05.
Chuck in front and Ryan heading up ski hill. I think Todd a guide for Alpine Ascents took this pic. with Mt. Hunter in back. We are at about 9000'. 5/19/05.
Ryan as we ascend ski hill. 5/19/05.
An avalanche coming down from Kahiltna dome. 5/19/05.
Chuck (front) and Ryan going up ski hill again. 5/20/05.
Ryan putting on sunscreen at our camp at 7800' at the base of ski hill. 5/19/05.
Ryan at 7800' camp with Kahiltna dome in back at 12,200' or so. 5/19/05.
Our 7800' camp. This igloo probably took 10hrs b/c the snow was hard and we didn't realize that on Denali you have to build igloos during the day b/c otherwise the snow is just too cold to consolidate. the snow also got better up higher. 5/18/05.
Ryan crawling into our first igloo. 5/17/05.
Looking back down the kahiltna on the way to 7800' camp. 5/16/05.
Leaving Base camp. 2:30pm 5/16/05.
Ryan at base camp with Mt. Hunter in back. 5/16/05.
Flying into base camp. 5/16/05.
Just upslope of one shot pass i think. 5/16/05.
Mt. Hunter from the plane. 5/16/05.
Looking down at base camp and the landing strip as we circled before landing. 5/16/05.
Denali from the plane above base camp. 5/16/05.
Denali and upper Kahiltna and Kahiltna pass from the plane above base camp. 5/16/05.
