1999 DENALI EXPEDITION

4 Man Bobsled

Rob, Stuart, Will, Manny

As you probably know, the summit of Denali (or Mt.McKinley) at 20,320ft/ 6,194m is the highest point in North America. It is also known, amongst other things as one of the coldest mountains on earth but what not many people do know is that from base to summit Denali is actually one of the biggest mountains in the world, even bigger than Everest. In the Summer of 1999, a team of 4 East Coast flatlanders, me included, by the name of "4 Man Bobsled" succesfully attempted and summited this incredible piece of natural beauty. On this page with the help of some pictures, I attempt to describe our trip as best I can.

Slide Show

Our Last day on the mountain was, at least to me, the most challenging of all, or very close to that. A combination of unseasonably warm weather and dry winter made for less than normal snow accumulation. The Kahiltna Glacier was in a terrible condition with huge crevasses opening up everywhere and terribly soft snow bridges. A trip that should have taken less than 8 hours from 14,2 to Base Camp, took 26 hours instead. We helped rescue a fallen climber from a guided team and in turn they helped us when one of our own broke through a snow bridge. Below, you can read the MountainZone dispatch sent by Scott Darsney, the leader of that guided team.

MountainZone Dispatch, by Scott Darsney

Trip Planning Section

On this section you'll get an idea of what we took with us on this trip and how we split the gear and supplies between all the expedition members, as well as other web pages we used for research. All four of us being from different cities up and down the East Coast (Atlanta, Pittsburgh, & Boston), most of the planning was done via e-mail and we used these pages as a checklist of sorts and reference point.
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