To The Top of Denali

Bill Sherwonit

Description

In this revised and updated third edition, Bill Sherwonit brings to life the adventure, heroism, triumph, and tragedy of climbing North America's highest peak, Denali. He offers great insight and tales of daring adventure for both experienced climbers and armchair explorers who wonder why people climb mountains. The book contains stores about some of the best known personalities associated with the mountain from Bradford Washburn to Vern Tejas. Sherwonit has added new records and climbing data along with some stories of new faces who have attempted the climb. He also updated the Park Service rules regarding climbing Denali.
I’d been planning the climb for more than a year. For months it had been a distant fantasy—something to dream about and work toward. To build up strength, I lifted weights. To improve my endurance and aerobic capacity, I ran several times each week, went on long hikes, and climbed nearby hills while wearing a heavy pack. Now, suddenly, the adventure had begun. Inside the tent, I wondered if I was prepared to take on the challenge.
Outside, the Kahilta Glacier broiled in the summertime heat. Temperatures in the shade reached 50° F. In direct sunlight, the heat was almost unbearable. As Petr said, it was “like being in a frying pan.” Members of the team quickly stripped down to their polypropylene underwear. We coated our faces with number 15 sunscreen, added nose-guards to sunglasses, and put on baseball caps with bandannas attached to protect head and neck. At 7,200 feet, in May, under clear blue skies, the chief dangers were heatstroke and sunburn rather than hypothermia and frostbite.
Foreword by Art Davidson — ix, Preface — xi, Acknowledgements — xvi, Chapter One: The Mountain — 1, Chapter Two: The Pioneers — 7, Chapter Three: The Sourdough Expedition 1910 — 25, Chapter Four: Hudson Stuck and the First Ascent 1913 — 41, Chapter Five: The 1932 Expeditions; Carpe and Lindley Like — 61, Chapter Six: Bradford Washburn and the West Buttress — 81, Chapter Seven: Cassin’s Conquest of the South Face, 1961 — 125, Chapter Eight: The First Winter Ascent, 1967 — 137, Chapter Nine: The Wilcox Expedition Disaster, 1967 — 173, Chapter Ten: Winter Solo Ascents: Waterman, Uemura, and Johnston — 207, Chapter Eleven: Winter Solo Ascents: Tejas and Staeheli — 233, Chapter Twelve: The Deadliest Season, 1992 — 273, Chapter Thirteen: Climber Self Sufficiency and Rescues — 289,
Chapter Fourteen: Mountain of Trash — 313, Chapter Fifteen: Guiding on McKinley — 327, Notes — 348, Glossary — 356, Mount McKinley Firsts — 360, Winter Ascents of Mt. McKinley Through 2012 — 361, Denali National Park and Preserve Climbing Services — 362, Bibliography — 364, Index — 368

Sujets

• Sport
• Autour du sport
• Histoire du sport
• Autres sports
• Sports de plein air
• Sports
• Monte McKinley
• Sportsbook
• Mount McKinley
• Recreation
• Mountaineering
• Bradford Washburn
• Parc national et réserve de Denali
• Alaska

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 01 avril 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780882409184
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Praise for To the Top of Denali :
To the Top of Denali is a fascinating account of historic, tragic, and contemporary climbs on the mountain.
- Juneau Empire
Sherwonit has produced Denali in a Nutshell. . . . The author has [created] an incredibly accurate portrait of the mountain and the climbers. . . . To the Top of Denali is fat with information . . . and some seldom seen photos. . . . So read this book before you go. Better yet, take it with you (or it will take you) to the top of Denali, where you ll salute Bill Sherwonit for the world that opens up at your feet.
-Jonathan Waterman
Here in one book are the great moments of mountaineering on Denali. . . . [It] offers insight and tales of great adventure for both advanced climbers and all the armchair explorers who wonder why people climb mountains.
-Excerpt from the Foreword by Art Davidson
Bill Sherwonit tells the story of McKinley through the high and cold experience of those who were there. These tales will keep you up long evenings and perhaps make you shiver in your warm living room. They are as timeless as the mountain itself. . . . I haven t read anything about McKinley that tells the history of the mountain so easily and naturally.
-Galen Rowell
Sherwonit describes some of the best-known personalities and eccentrics associated with the mountain-Bradford Washburn, Ray Genet, John Waterman, Vern Tejas, and Naomi Uemura, a Japanese climber who disappeared in 1984 after becoming the first person to climb McKinley alone during the winter. . . . You don t need to be a climber to appreciate the stories.
- Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
Books like [ To the Top of Denali ] should be assigned reading for anybody contemplating the climb.
-Bradford Washburn

A CLIMBER ASCENDS MOUNT MCKINLEY S CASSIN RIDGE, A STEEP ICE AND ROCK SPINE THAT S CONSIDERED ONE OF NORTH AMERICA S GREAT MOUNTAINEERING CHALLENGES.
THIRD EDITION
TO THE TOP OF
DENALI

CLIMBING ADVENTURES ON NORTH AMERICA S HIGHEST PEAK
BILL SHERWONIT
WITH A FOREWORD BY ART DAVIDSON
ALASKA NORTHWEST BOOKS
Text 1990, 2000, 2012 by Bill Sherwonit
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission of Alaska Northwest Books .
Third edition 2012
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Sherwonit, Bill, 1950-
To the top of Denali : climbing adventures on North America s
highest peak/Bill Sherwonit; with a foreword by Art Davidson. - 3rd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-88240-894-1 (pbk.)
1. Mountaineering-Alaska--McKinley, Mount-History. 2. McKinley,
Mount (Alaska)-Description and travel. I. Title.
GV199.42.A42M3256 2012
796.52 2 097983-dc23
2012034427
Book design and maps by Cameron Mason
Cover design by Elizabeth Watson
Cover photos: Front cover-Mount McKinley, photo by Fred Hirschmann. Back cover-Author Bill Sherwonit explores Anchorage s backyard wilderness, Chugach State Park, in 2011 with his beloved hiking companion, Coya. Photo by Tom Englehart.
With the permission of the Anchorage Times , nine articles by the author are reprinted here, whole or in part: McKinley Rangers Fight Battle with Trash on Mountain (May 19, 1985); Mountain Doctors Set Up Shop on McKinley (March 29, 1987); Writer Begins His Assault on Denali (May 30, 1987); Climbing McKinley, three-part series (July 19 and 26 and August 2, 1987); Following in Uemura s Footsteps (April 10, 1988); Anguished Tejas Couldn t Have Known Climber s Trouble (May 29, 1988); Determination to Succeed Killed Climber (May 29, 1988); McKinley Mountaineering, 1988 (January 22, 1989); and McKinley Masterpiece (March 19, 1989). The Deadliest Season: 1992 first appeared in the Anchorage Daily News (July 12, 1992), in slightly different form.
Alaska Northwest Books
An imprint of Graphic Arts Books
P.O. Box 56118
Portland, OR 97238-6118
[phone]
www.graphicartsbooks.com
For Helene and Mom,
and in memory of Dad

DENALI NATIONAL PARK AND PRESERVE (SEE INSET FOR LOCATION IN ALASKA)
C ONTENTS
__________
F OREWORD BY A RT D AVIDSON
P REFACE
A CKNOWLEDGMENTS
C HAPTER O NE
THE MOUNTAIN
C HAPTER T WO
THE PIONEERS
C HAPTER T HREE
THE SOURDOUGH EXPEDITION, 1910
C HAPTER F OUR
HUDSON STUCK AND THE FIRST ASCENT, 1913
C HAPTER F IVE
THE 1932 EXPEDITIONS: CARP AND LINDLEY-LIEK
C HAPTER S IX
BRADFORD WASHBURN AND THE WEST BUTTRESS
C HAPTER S EVEN
CASSIN S CONQUEST OF THE SOUTH FACE, 1961
C HAPTER E IGHT
THE FIRST WINTER ASCENT, 1967
C HAPTER N INE
THE WILCOX EXPEDITION DISASTER, 1967
C HAPTER T EN
WINTER SOLO ASCENTS: WATERMAN, UEMURA, AND JOHNSTON
C HAPTER E LEVEN
WINTER SOLO ASCENTS: TEJAS AND STAEHELI
C HAPTER T WELVE
THE DEADLIEST SEASON, 1992
C HAPTER T HIRTEEN
CLIMBER SELF-SUFFICIENCY AND RESCUES
C HAPTER F OURTEEN
MOUNTAIN OF TRASH
C HAPTER F IFTEEN
GUIDING ON MCKINLEY
N OTES
G LOSSARY
M OUNT M CKINLEY F IRSTS
W INTER A SCENTS OF M OUNT M CKINLEY THROUGH 2012
D ENALI N ATIONAL P ARK AND P RESERVE C LIMBING S ERVICES
B IBLIOGRAPHY
I NDEX
F OREWORD
__________
Like other mountaineers, I am often asked, Why do you climb?
The question is posed as if going out into the mountains is one of the most bizarre and inexplicable things men or women might do.
I think there are mountains in all of our lives. Whether we climb the earth s highest peaks, hike in gentle hills, or explore the metaphorical ranges of the psyche, most of us are drawn by the archetypal power, beauty, and exquisite wildness of mountains. In the mountains of the world, we can venture into wilderness, connect with nature, seek ultimate challenges, or simply have a good time with friends in the outdoors.
Of the earth s wild places, Denali, towering over all the glaciers and high ridges of the Alaska Range, is one of the wildest and most intriguing. In my five expeditions to Denali, once making the first winter ascent, I have found myself drawn into its tremendous presence. It is not only the highest peak in North America, but it is one of the highest mountains in the world, from its base. It spawns more than a dozen glacial rivers. Enormous avalanches rake its exposed slopes. Storm winds reach hurricane force-more than 150 miles per hour. And the unpredictable weather and ever-changing mountain light envelop Denali in a mysterious, awesome beauty.
Few of us will ever have the opportunity to climb Denali, but writer Bill Sherwonit can take all of us to the mountain s highest reaches. An Alaskan, Sherwonit lives close to the mountain s presence. A climber himself, he has scaled Denali. As a writer, Sherwonit transports us not only to the mountain, but into the drama of the great expeditions. In an informative, fast-paced narrative, he brings alive the heroics of the pioneers who tried to make the first ascent and of those who followed, putting up ever more harrowing routes on the mountain s steep ridges and walls.
Here in one book are the great moments of mountaineering on Denali. Sherwonit allows us to share the adventures of those who have risked their lives trying to reach its summit. He lets us share the excitement of their success, and unflinchingly lays bare the tragic accidents that have claimed the lives of climbers. It is a pleasure to welcome this book, which offers insight and tales of great adventure for both advanced climbers and all the armchair explorers who wonder why people climb mountains.
A RT D AVIDSON
Author of numerous books including Minus 148 : The First Winter Ascent of Mt. McKinley, Alakshak: The Great Country , and In the Wake of the Exxon Valdez.
P REFACE
__________
The roots of this book can probably be traced back to high school, when I was captivated by Maurice Herzog s classic, Annapurna. But more directly, the book is tied to a couple of events in my life in 1985.
First, I changed jobs at the Anchorage Times , switching from sportswriter to outdoors writer. Instead of covering athletic events like basketball or baseball, I was reporting on such activities as fishing, hunting, camping-and mountain climbing. Though not a mountaineer, I d always loved the mountains and been intrigued by the people who climb them. Now, suddenly, it was my job to write about climbing activities in our country s Last Frontier. In a way, it was a dream come true.
About two months after changing jobs, I met Mike Howerton, an experienced Alaskan climber who was organizing a benefit expedition to Mount McKinley to raise money for a cancer-care unit in an Anchorage hospital. In preparing a feature on that expedition, I spent three days in the Alaska Range with Howerton s four-member party. Although I didn t ascend higher than about 7,500 feet that visit (two years later I did climb to the summit), my firsthand introduction to McKinley s Kahiltna Glacier Base Camp and its cast of characters whetted my enthusiasm for both the 20,320-foot mountain and the mountaineers drawn to it. Over the next five years, McKinley became one of my favorite newspaper beats. And that journalistic interest led to this project.
Originally, I was asked to write a mountaineering adventure book that included all of Alaska s major ranges. But in talking to climbers and researching the state s mountaineering literature, I found myself pulled more and more toward Denali, The High One, as North America s highest peak has traditionally been known to Alaska s Natives, and to its wealth of history. There are so many compelling stories about the mountain, most of them unknown except within the narrow confines of the climbing community. Stories of struggle and achievement, of triumph and tragedy, of climbing controversies and issues unique to this special high place. I discovered enough information to fill several volumes, and in doing so, narrowed the scope o