Monday, June 24, 2013

RC leaving Mont-Tremblant and AC heading to Denali! (Denali Post 1)

I'm back at the beach tonight....definitely summer here--hot, humid and windy!

I did the IM Mont-Tremblant70.3 yesterday--very tough and very satisfying....I'll post a race report shortly but it was a great experience.  I high-tailed it back to DE right after the race--which is not so easy at 56 years but there you go....

I was very focused to get back right away so that I could see Anders off on his great adventure to climb Mount McKinley (aka Denali).  Denali is one of the 7 summits as it is the highest mountain in North America.  Anders has already climbed the highest peak in Africa (Kilimanjaro) and in South America (Cerro Aconcagua).

Over the next four weeks, Anders will be attempting to climb Denali, which most accomplished mountaineers feel is the 2nd hardest of the 7 summits,  just behind Everest.  He is climbing with one on the greatest mountaineers that America has ever produced, David Hahn.  I'll detail more on David and the other impressive climbers on his team in the days ahead.

My basic plan is to blog at least once a day--and Judy will probably jump in as well given her outstanding job blogging in support of Anders and my expedition to Acconcagua last January.  We'll do so off of the updates that we get directly from Anders via his Sat phone as well as other sources that we can access.  If you're interested, you can check RMI's blog each day at:

http://www.rmiguides.com/blog/location/12/mount_mckinley

You can also access a site that gives you daily weather updates for Denali at:

http://www.mountain-forecast.com/peaks/Mount-McKinley/forecasts/6194

The easiest thing will be to just check here as I will synthesize all the data I get and publish it here daily.

This is obviously a very big deal--one that Judy and I are very concerned as parents about.  That said, we are excited for Anders and are confident in his fitness and preparation.  The weather may prove to be a challenge as the record heat at Denali over the last couple of weeks has created extraordinary conditions.  There is an increased risk of rock fall and a much greater crevasse exposure that they'll need to deal with on this trip....

Over the next few days, as Anders gets situated in Alaska I'll outline many of the logistical challenges and the overall climbing plan that they have.  As the climb progresses, these blogs will be much more direct about what he and his team is actually facing day-to-day.

We hope that you'll tune in daily and provide us your comments as we follow Anders on this significant vision-quest.  Details will follow tomorrow but here are a couple of pics from his preparation and his departure today:










We look forward to your support during this great adventure!!!!!!

We'll get our first update from Alaska tomorrow as Anders flew from Philly to Pheonix today and will land in Ankorange about 4 am EST tomorrow....

Stay tuned...this will be exciting!






1 comment:

Kara Christofferson said...

why does Anders have a caterpillar above his lip in the first picture? taking the 'mountain man' look a little far.