First pics

A few pics from Denali, no editing yet.

 My favorite plane

 

Pile of gear and team mates, Alex, Dan, Franca and Nick

 Beaver, coolest hangar cat.

 About to land at BC, in Cessna 185.

 

BC brew, Foraker in the background. 

 Unleash the sleds of hell.

Looking back down the Kahiltna on the way to 7800 camp.

Off the mountain and now back in Anchorage

After several days sat at 14200 Camp watching the never ending cycle of the weather, snow, high winds, with the occasional clear spell with high winds and watching multiple avalanches and some climbers play lotto with said avalanches.  A few in the camp decided to retreat of the mountain.  Alex and I would do so with Ty and Aaron a couple of Americans we met on the mountain and they are great and very funny guys.

We left in ok weather leaving Will, Nick and Dan to see if they could get much higher (they made 17000, but are now off the mountain now too). We descended into the murk below and into a horrible wet snow storm, with visibility being reduce to nothing at points and the occasional small crevasse fall, a couple with legs pedaling in thin air above the cavern below.  We made 7800 and bunkered down after our 8.5hrs of storm fighting.

In the morning Alex, Ty, Aaron and I all roped together and skinned out of 7800 and towards Base Camp and the air strip.  After some initial crevasse avoidance and Alex digging out of one we made good time and cruised to BC and even Heartbreak Hill didn't dampen our spirits.

We checked in with Lisa and had to wait until the morning to get off the mountain with Paul from TAT flying the long way home, video to come, we landed in Talkeetna again.  Ty and Aaron would need to wait until evening as TAT produced their magic and took advantage of a small window and flew a bunch of climbers off the mountain Ty and Aaron being the first.

Alex and I had already started on the beer and food and Ty and Aaron getting of the mountain would lead to 2 days of eating and drinking in Talkeetna and entertaining Tanya the bar manager of the Fairview with our out of town antics (as I am sure many do every session).

After a big night Thursday it was a slow start to Friday and then a sleepy return to Anchorage.  The last few days have been spent milling about and investigating Anchorage and I am currently trying to get on a flight to see the bears in a natural environment feeding on salmon, fingers crossed I can get out there Sunday or Monday.

I will write more and post vids and photos of the trip soon and certainly write a trip report.

One thing I can say, Denali showed us some tough weather, without getting cold even and hauling your own gear is certainly one way to make things hard for yourself.  I am very glad we went unguided and that even in some terrible weather we did very well.

A bit more planning of team, objectives and food would be ideal, but we made out pretty damn good.

Thanks to Peglers for the support with gear.

Thanks to Alpkit for tents and cooking pots, mugs, utensils and lots of stuff sacks.

Thanks to PowerTraveller from Will.

And to cycleworks for sorting the replacement GoPro in a couple of days at the 11th hour.

I am now off to chase bears hopefully and see more of anchorage and maybe take in a crag of two.

Scott

Take 2

...and they're off again! Fingers crossed the weather is favourable second time around.
Nik

Still waiting

We got off the ground briefly and took in the objective. But the mountain is marching to its own tune as they do. We are still waiting.

Nearly flight time

28th and just waiting for final clearance to fly. There is a bit of a buzz in the team now and some little nerves. Wish us luck and we will be safe and smart. Thanks for all the support everyone.

Below team ready to roll.

Talkeetna

And ready to fly, after we have NPS briefing. Talkeetna is a kinda cool little place. Hope to have some comms.

Arrived in Anchorage

We have all arrived in Anchorage, time for some sleep. Food shopping later and trans to Talkeetna.

Denali starts here

Team ready to fly at T1, LHR.

3 Days to flight

With 3 days nefore we fly out to Alaska, the team is excited. Me I'm trying to get work finished and some final training and rest.

Also, testing mobile blogging tool, just incase we find a service. :)

Brecon Beacons Trip

On the 21st/22nd, the bulk of the Denali Team Cold Cheeks (Nick, Franca, Dan and myself, Will joined us later) descended on the Brecon Beacons, with the aim to spend some time in the hills, test a few bits of kit and the Alpkit tents.  Fortunately the weather would play ball and be a bit wild and wet and let the tents get a good test.

Keeping this short, we got to test the Heksa on the Friday night and when Franca joined us in the morning we headed off into the hills.  First heading cross country to a Wellington Bomber memorial and then we walked onto the northern barrier of the Brecons and contoured around the Fan y Big, then down onto the head of the saddle below this and Cribin and set up our Alpkit Kangri and Zhota adversely to the elements to give them a real test (Sssh! Don't tel Col).

With the tents sorted, it was brew time, followed by more brew time and chatting about the tents, gear and what Alaska would have in store for us (I suspect a lot), mentally I think we are all a little reserved yet very conscious of what we are about to embark on.  Soon Will arrived as he had headed down from Uni for the rest of the weekend.

As the sun started to go down we cooked dinner and soon retired to the tents, as the wind started pick-up. With some idle chat we all soon were asleep.  Come the morning no-one was in a hurry and as I drifted in and out of sleep I only snored once and only got elbowed by Dan once.  My new SOL sleeping mat had been awesome, toasty warm.



Soon we where chatting about the tent and making a brew in the vestibule which when opening this to cook we saw what the wind was really like.  We finished breakfast hiding from the elements as the others started to stir in the Zhota. We could hear the wind and rain, but didn't really think much of this until we finally scrambled out the tent to break camp.  The weather was foul and we had been fooled into thinking it wasn't bad.


Soon we were off and heading for Pen Y Fan and hiding behind Cribin for much of the way.  By the time we reached the summit, there was snow and hail falling but not settling.  The team paced itself quite well and seems to have bonded really well and share a common sense of humor.  This is a huge relief as we all only knew 1-2 others in the team initially, but now seem to have already formed a great bond.


We all know there will be trying times and we have devised a couple of strategies to get around this, such as sharing tents on a rota and trying to rotate duties if movement on the mountain allows.


I think there are some nerves and I am glad of this as it will keep our minds keen.. There have been some little concerns about elements of the expedition, but this has served to show that we are all very happy to communicate our feelings with each other either directly, this makes for strong team in anyone's book.


With only a few weeks left the panic of have I got this, do I really need that and where is my passport starts.


I am looking forward to the 25th May, but also feeling a bit sad about the looming date.  I need to get lots of cuddles in before I go, a month is a long time away from my Nik.

Franca, Dan and Nick, top of Fan Y Big

Some Denali Kit testing

All but two members of the team are off to what promises to be a wet and windy Brecon Beacons (South Wales) to test our the awesome tents and bits and pieces from Alpkit and some of the great stuff Peglers have got together for us.  What this space for an update and pics, once we have dried out.

Bringing power to the expedition.....

will be powertraveller.  It is very nice as non-sponsored climbers to get support from English based and/or owned companies and it is really nice to have some support from powertraveller that will help us keep that all important safety equipment and camera kit powered for the trip. :)

Click on their image to the right to take a look at their great range of products.

Injury

Recently I messed my back up and thought the worse.  Although with an excellent osteo Richard Williams of Osteovelo and sticking to my recovery plan, things are going well and training starts again today in fact, a painful session on the turbo train is lined up.

I am excited and motivated about this trip, but the change in focus over the past few weeks has been important to the recovery.

Will, is also recovering from a finger injury, but has been doing some cycling to keep himself fit and I thin has some walking and scrambling in mind, once his Uni workload subsides a bit.

Looking forward to getting some more kit also and will lodge an entry in the gear section.

S

Exciting times in the Exped Office revealed.

We have obviously had fantastic support from Peglers and hence why they have a nice little link to the right.

However, we can't just rely on Dave and Rich, so we thought we would share the love with what is becoming another UK Outdoor institution Alpkit.  I contacted to Alpkit to see if they could help the team in anyway and they have been super responsive and we are all grateful and look forward to working with them.

Once bits and pieces start arriving I will get some reviews and photo's up and will provide some feedback once we are back from our big adventure.

As the team at Alpkit say, "Go nice places, do good things"  we fully intend to with Alpkit and Peglers support.

Note the Alpkit link to the right. :)

Exciting times.....

in the Denali expedition office today.

Can't say much just yet, but it could be very good news and UK grown.

Quick Post.....

Just a quick post on my own page about what Alex K and I got up to this weekend testing some gear for our big adventure. www.sasmojo-dontfalloff.blogspot.com

Enjoy!

Some New Gear...

With the Denali Exhibition being less than 4 months away the bank balance has been taking a little battering, I have had some help with sponsorship but equipment doesn't come cheap, Although I already own lots of equipment this is the first real exhibition Ive been on so new items such has High altitude boots, Ski boots, Mitts and a really warm sleeping bag are all essential. Anyway some of these items have started to arrive.

I popped on down to Peglers in Arundel to check out some gear and place an order, First up was the boots, Ive always been a big fan of La sportiva especially getting on really well with the Batura boot, So i tried on the Olympus Mons, these seemed to work pretty well and I found them very comfortable, I did try on a few other brands such has the Scarpa phantom but these didn't seem has comfortable as the La sportiva, next up I ordered my down salopettes, these are branded by Rab. I also ordered some new mitts from Mountain Hardwear and some warm booty's to where in the tent, these items are all essential due to the how cold this mountain can get. Next up was a new sleeping bag, I already have a good bag from Marmot thats done me well in the alps but with tempatures reaching has low has -50 I decided to look for a better option, In the end I decided on the new Tundra -40, this is a high altidude bag that should keep me warm in the coldest environment.
While on The peglers Ice fest trip last I managed to get hold a good deal on some new Black diamond Quadrant Ski boots, I'm planning on getting to the indoor snow dome to wear these in and get used to them.  Just a few days ago I also ordered my Avalanche receiver rescue kit, This has also been supplied from Peglers at a really good price, Ive decided to go with the Ortovox model has this seems to be one of the best on the market at the moment.

A good team meeting last night has highlighted another few small objects that I need but apart from that I'm pretty close to having all my personal kit sorted now.

Remember to keep checking the blog for up to date info on the planning, training and progress of this exhibition.

New Black Diamond Quadrants

La Sportiva Olypus Mons

Tundra -40 Sleeping Bag

New High altitude mitts from Mountain Hardwear.

Ice Fest 2012

Will, Dan, Tommy and myself have headed out to Le Ecrins on Ice Fest 2012.  So far the team is having a good and successful trip.  Also, we are experiencing a few new things such as skining in to routes and today (Wednesday) I will be using my Denali's on an ice route to see how they are for technical climbing.

Dan and Will, have been getting to know each others climbing ability and on Tuesday, the 3 of us climb a couple of routes together and found ourselves to be very slick in the belay change overs.

Tommy, has been having a good trip, but did get a little beaten up yesterday when was hit by some ice and had to retreat. I hope he has a better day today.

No right Turn...

In an earlier post relating to this years McKinley trip I stated that "We have a strong team with climbers having different strengths". Come May when on the mountain we are planning to use skis on the lower slopes rather than Snow shoes, this should be allot quicker, easier and safer with the amount of snow bridges and hidden crevasses. The only problem with this is the fact that my strength isnt Skiing, Ive never even put skis on my feet before, This could be a problem but I am determined to put this right.
I browsed the Internet looking for all my local ski slopes and lessons available, then I remembered the Snowdome in Milton Keynes where they use a real ski slope with real snow, I looked through and managed to get myself booked onto a full days lesson where they informed me they could turn me into an intermediate skier within the 8hrs.
Anyway I arrived at the Snowdome a little anxious as to how I was going to perform, there seemed to be lots of these young snowboarder dudes walking around in there fancy clothing, woolly hats and multi coloured boards which i knew were going to be flying past me on the slopes. I booked myself in, collected my boots, skis and helmet and waited for my instructor for the day. he arrived and after a quick briefing we were on the slopes, i picked it up pretty quickly and wondered what all the fuss was about, and it wasn't long before i was going from the steeper top section. going down, fast and stopping seemed pretty easy, it was the turning that I was having difficulty with, I couldn't seem to turn properly, Run after run I would get a good one then think Ive nailed it then on the next one end up nearly taking someone else out. After 8hrs of solid skiing and tramping back up the slope i was a little tired.
Overall I think it was a good day and I feel confident that a little more practise when out on Ice fest next week should see me getting those turns right.

I was unable to get any pictures as they didn't allow cameras into the slopes but this has a similarity to how I would Have looked.

Tommy

Ice fest is looming

So in a weeks time I will be packing to head off to the Ecrins with Scott, Nick, Dan, Tommy and Paul; hopefully the ice will be fat and we can all get a load of good route in, whatever happens I'm sure It'll be better than the lectures I'm meant to be in that week.

Training for this (well as close to training as I do) has been interesting involving two dingy quarries, White Goods and Never Never Land in Dinorwig, both are very different but both have got me super pumped which can only be a good thing!

 

 

 

Ramon Marin on White Goods at White Goods

Tom Livingstone on The Deerhunter in Never Never Land

Between now and then I'm off to the Peak for a few days and will hopefully be getting down to the chalk with Tommy the day before we leave for a bit of last minute training!.

More on my blog

Oops!

Sorry need to correct one thing, Denali is native for "The High One", not "The Big One" as I have used before. :-S

Denali Logistics and Training

This is getting there, slowly but surely, whilst all the flights and transfers are pretty much taken care of, against appropriate dates.  We are now turning our focus to the group gear, the transfer of this and how to haul, pulks (sleds) are the choice, but we need to work out schedules weights and so forth.  Things aren't going to all run to plan, but at least a good plan can be altered more easily.

We are also getting in training mode, everyone is trying there best to walk, climb and strike and break camp with other members of the group, whilst also undertaking their own fitness regimes (get fit everyone, then eat loads in the last two weeks).

We will also be working on skiing, technical climbing for if things look good for the Upper West Rib and the Cassin.  Refreshing all facets of navigation and will be working on rescue and I believe Franca is going check our medic skills.

With not much time left, we need to get on with things so we don't have to condense things too much.

Gear....

check out the PAGE page to see the sorts of things we are using for the expedition.

:)

Wet Scotland

Over the last couple of days Will, Alex, Rob G and myself went to Scotland in the hope of winter climbing, however we were met with mild temps and poor conditions. The plan being for Will, Alex and I to get the chance to do some climbing with each other, not to mentioned do something interesting with Rob.

All I managed was a bit of sleep, and a good mountain day with Alex on the Friday, a day of swimming up a snow gully and tip toeing down a snowed over scree slope.

Not the best trip, but the day in the mountains and suffering the snow gully gave Alex and I a good chance to get to know each other on the mountain, as I suspect Will and Alex had done the day before.

Lets hope there are plenty more to come.