Submission by Jess, Alaska Operations.
When I touched down in Talkeetna this year, greeted by sunny skies and perfect weather, I couldn’t help but feel hopeful for a smoother forecast for Denali climbing season compared to the previous year’s relentlessly poor weather. Julia was clearly on the same wavelength because just a few weeks before, she’d rescued a spirited puppy named Loki. It was with this same bright enthusiasm that we welcomed our new team member Jack. On one of Jack’s first training days, he joked that while we’d gotten a lot done, not a single thing had actually been a part of my original to-do list for the day. Welcome to the Alpine Ascents Denali season, Jack – here, we make plans, but we pivot, a lot! A theme that perfectly encapsulated this year’s 2024 Denali climbing season.
This year’s climbing season brought extreme cold and big storms, but with some breaks in between. We’re excited to report that all 12 teams reached the summit of North America’s highest peak! Weather conditions varied for each team. Three teams took the full 21 days on the Denali itinerary, two teams used an extra day, and one team wrapped up on day 20. The remaining six teams completed their climbs in 15 to 18 days. (And as an ops team we consumed 5 buckets of Grillo’s Pickles.)
The season started with our Alaska 8-Day Mountaineering Courses, catering to both beginners and intermediate climbers. These courses fly into the Alaska Range, though not always to base camp. While many climbers become inspired to tackle Denali during the course, it also sparks interest in climbing other, less-known peaks in the Alaska Range, which is brimming with possibilities! This season, we had four courses—a mix of both beginner and intermediate—and these are some of the ops staff favorites. We often see climbers return for more advanced courses or to tackle Denali themselves. It’s always a joy to see familiar faces and reconnect with those who have set such ambitious challenges and goals for themselves.
Lead Guide Michael Hutchins and Team Gracias Denali! officially kicked off the 2024 Denali climbing season, and also had the first two hiccups of the season—an overnight delay in Talkeetna, and all the expedition gear being weighed in jin (a Chinese unit of measurement). So while the rest of the crew enjoyed another night in town and maybe a final beer, the guides and logistics team were busy unloading the trailer and reweighing everything. By the next morning, the team was off to the Kahiltna Glacier, ready to tackle the climb.
Later that same day, our second team, Zen and the Art of Whisperlite Maintenance, led by Evan Miller, flew on to the glacier too. Both teams would meet up at the 11k camp and then make their way up the mountain side by side.
Our third team went through a series of name changes—Team 3, Subarctic Alpine Cow Girls, Alpine Cow Girls, Tenacious RCGs—before finally settling on the Notorious RCGs. While the name may be a bit of a mystery (RCGs is apparently top secret), the team kept a steady pace throughout their entire Denali adventure.
All three of our first teams into the field successfully summited on May 26. Reports were that the sun was out, but temps were well below zero. Once back at 17k camp, the guides reported spending the night in an exhausted, giggly state with gummy bears using peachie-o’s for life rafts as climbers ate a celebratory meal of chicken soup and quesadillas.
Next up, we had A Little Frosty On the Way—a play on words and a tribute to lead guide Adam Frost, who, along with his fiancée, will be welcoming a new baby in the next few months! A Little Frosty On the Way linked up with Team 5, aka Are We There Yeti, led by Kristie Kayl, and both teams spent most of their expedition paralleling each other. They went for the summit on June 6 and, again, despite the extremely cold conditions, successfully made it to stand on the top of Denali.
It was around this time that the operations team was settling into both the thrilling energy and deep exhaustion that comes with ramping up the Denali season. Thankfully, we had Julia’s puppy, Loki, who had by then volunteered as the emotional support animal for both the guides and the ops team. The usual craziness wasn’t enough for me, so I managed to get bit by a dog (not the same dog, we add) and became one-handed for the next three weeks. Around then, our next lead guide, Stephen Williams, arrived in town. The ops staff quickly recruited him to be my hands, and he got to experience one of our legendary 12-hour Costco shopping marathons. Special shoutout to him for surviving that!
Stephen’s team went with a fun play on words, dubbing themselves the Clean Mountain Crew (CMC’s). For those not in the know, CMC’s or Clean Mountain Cans are the green poop cans that climbers must carry for their entire Denali climb – a must for keeping the mountain pristine.
Our next team wins my personal favorite name of the season – Keep Calm and Crampon, led by Ari Todd. The CMC’s and Keep Calm and Crampon climbed together, and reached the summit on June 12. The teamwork they showed was exemplary.
In the whirlwind that is mid-Alaska-climbing-season, we welcomed the aptly named Talkeetna Tornadoes to the scene. Led by Don Nguyen, the Tornadoes started their expedition a few days early in Anchorage when a teammate’s luggage didn’t make it to the airport. Exemplifying true community and team spirit, the rest of the team banded together, scouring Anchorage gear stores for all the essentials they needed to keep the expedition on track. Thankfully, the airline hustled and the luggage arrived just in the nick of time; crisis averted.
This season taught us all an important lesson: always, always fly with your climbing boots as carry-on. These are the hardest items to replace and break in before tackling Denali’s many weeks on your feet!
Our next team, led by Hannah McGowan, named themselves Team Can Doo—another playful nod to those essential green poop cans. (They become a very important part of life on the mountain!) Team Can Doo linked up with the Talkeetna Tornadoes, climbing side by side. Both teams reached the summit on June 14.
During this period of the season we saw an example of how deeply weather can impact a Denali expedition. Team CMC’s and Keep Calm and Crampon started a full week before the Tornadoes and Team Can Doo, but the latter teams summited just two days after them. It shows that serendipitous weather alignment, and patience, in the face of unsettled weather are both vital to success on an expedition climb. A nod to our guides and climbers who understand that success is not defined exclusively by reaching the summit.
Our next team, led by Jangbu Sherpa, was named HBM in honor of Hari Budha Magar. Hari, a veteran Gurkha, made history on June 28 by becoming the first double above-knee amputee to reach the summit of Denali. A huge congratulations to Hari and this team from the entire AAI community! Hari with fellow climbers Mingma and Nanda quickly became staff favorites while celebrating the 4th of July with us in Talkeetna, making traditional Nepalese BBQ for the ops staff. It was delicious.
Our next and second-to-last team of the season named themselves Hasta La Vista Vaqueros Arandanos, led by Stuart Robertson. The pilot offered to fly me in with the team which is an offer I didn’t hesitate to accept. (It’s an important distinction that if someone offers you a ride in their van, you say no, but if someone tells you to get in their plane, you say yes.) Wearing Stuart’s jacket and flip flops, it was a pleasure to say hasta la vista and best of luck to the team from the Kahiltna.
Our final team of the season called themselves Climb and Punishment (a close-second favorite) and was led by Don Wargowsky. Little did they know just how right they would be with that name.
Climb and Punishment soon joined the Hasta La Vista Vaqueros Arandanos, and together, both teams worked their way up the mountain. They summited on July 2 and began what is usually a much quicker journey down the mountain and back to Talkeetna. Unfortunately, they reached base camp just as the weather took a turn for the worse, and a large storm hit the area. Despite numerous attempts by TAT to sneak in and bring them home, the teams got stuck at base camp for the next four days. With nothing to do but sit and eat from our large base camp food cache, the guides kept the ops team highly entertained with their many messages, begging us to change the weather and get them out of there.
Finally, on the morning of the fourth day, legendary pilot Paul was able to thread the needle and pick up both teams, thus concluding the 2024 Denali climbing season with all trips safely out of the field. It was a whirlwind of a season, with everything ultimately going the way it needed to, but nothing going to plan.
We want to pay a special tribute to Beaver the Cat, a TAT fixture in the climbing community, who crossed the rainbow bridge on July 5. We’ll always remember the many snuggles Beaver bestowed upon us, especially during the long hours of weather delays. Beaver never failed to bring smiles to operations staff, our guides, and our climbers. Beaver will be dearly missed.
