Day 10

The Headwall beyond the 14 camp

We got up early in an attempt to beat the crowd up the fixed lines, but we failed. We ended up stuck behind a guided party who had one extremely slow person. The fixed lines extend for about 600 feet up the Headwall. I could see a guy about half way up. He appeared to be at a changeover point. That’s where the rope is anchored into the ice. There are anchors about every 50 feet or so. To pass the anchors, you clip a carabiner uphill of the anchor, remove your ascender, a ratcheting device which is set to slide up the rope, but sticks going down (you can reverse the operation to descend the fixed lines), and re-attach the ascender uphill of the anchor, remove the carabiner if you want, and you’re on your way. This operation usually takes 5 to 30 seconds. The fellow I was watching hadn’t moved in 5 minutes. Didn’t know what was going

Ascending the fixed ropes

The queue at the headwall

on, but came to find out that he sort of had a reputation already. The gossip was that he was just out of college, had never done anything like this before, and seemed to be incredibly accident prone. He had already fallen in a crevasse. I hadn’t heard of anyone else doing that. And he had in general slowed up his team since the beginning of the trip. We sat in the warm sunshine and waited for about 30 minutes while the "greenhorn" and his group struggled upwards.

John Dove, intrepid mountaineer

It was a pleasant wait for me. It turned out that the Edinborough/Freeport connection couple came up behind me. They were debating whether or not Denali was more beautiful than the Himalayas. Opinions differed, but the result was that both places were declared beautiful. They also said that the current record holder for age on Everest was in the 14 camp. He was from Georgia, Russia, 61 and summitted Everest last year. His nickname is "Goldfinger." He is reputed to be one tough cookie.

We finally got underway and gained the tiny shoulder at 16,200.’ It was crowded, of course. The super-slow guided party was there. The Edinborough/Freeport couple headed on up to 17 to cache. People actually camp here, although it’s not very comfortable. Mostly snow caves dug into the side of the ridge. As soon as we crested the Headwall, the wind hit us and it got cold. We were throwing on jackets, hats, and gloves as fast as we could. While I was trying not to shiver, a Korean fellow sporting only a long sleeved cotton shirt with a short sleeved tee shirt over it walked up and sat down next to us. He pulled out a flimsy

Simonsen above the 14 camp

nylon parka and lit up a cigarette. I was shocked. Well, I thought, if he wants to be macho, it’s ok with me. I just want to get warm. We didn’t hang out for long. Quickly burying our caches, we headed back down the Headwall. Before we were half way back to camp, we were ripping our coats and hats off our sweaty bodies. By the time we got back to camp, we were down to just shirts. All this took place in about 30 minutes.

Punches had been leading the pack on the way up the fixed lines, so he got a lot of ribbing about faking his sinus infection. He seemed to be getting stronger as he got higher on the mountain. I was impressed. That certainly wasn’t happening for me, although my body was performing well, if not quickly. I had only slight soreness in my leg muscles and no pain anywhere else. That surprised me, for over the last 15 years I’ve had bad backs, bad knees, stiff shoulders and necks. All this exercise must be good for releasing stress.

Both Ryan and Dove lost their crampons descending the fixed lines. They had them on their overboots. It’s difficult to get the right "system" of crampons and overboots. You want crampons that work well without overboots, because that’s what you’ll be doing most of the time, but you also don’t want them falling off when you’ve got overboots on. It wasn’t so cold that overboots were required, but if you use the overboots, you can leave your gaiters behind. It saves weight. However, they decided to solve their problem by not wearing overboots. They would take them for the summit, but the route from High Camp to summit was not as steep as the Headwall and hopefully they would be alright. It turned out that was the case.

The 14 camp from the top of the Headwall

The chess game

The forecast was for lots of sun and light winds for the next several days, but the winds would eventually return. I was feeling a little goosey. We needed to bag this thing while the getting was good. We decided to move to High Camp and 17,200' the next day, but to not try for an early start. We had been cold enough at 16.2 and wanted to wait for the sun to warm things up.

I think many of the others were like me: Still focused on the summit, but starting to show signs of wear and tear. The pull of hot showers, real food, and the comfort of bed and females was getting stronger. On the other hand, I think we’re spoiled. If it was real Denali weather, 10 or 20 below and strong winds, we wouldn’t be having nearly so much fun. The weather continues to be perfect, and I thank the spirits every day.

David said he was up at midnight last night (he’s still too excited to sleep), and the helicopter evacuated someone from 11,000' with HAPE (high altitude pulmonary edema). When it’s bad you cough up pink froth. So not everyone is having a good time.

Helicopter at the 14 camp

The ‘copters were flying this afternoon. Everyone came out of their tents to watch. Reminded me of what happens when there’s a wreck on the highway. You get a traffic jam just from the watching. And I was right in the middle of the pack with my camera. It turned out they were re-supplying the ranger station. So we all were gawking at boxes of pickles and cheeseburgers.

My spiffy $200 Mountain Hardware windstopper pants smell so bad I can’t stand to wear them. The odor is reminiscent of the awful smell that the old original polypropylene underwear used to have. It’ll gag ya, man. I want to blame the pants, but I have been wearing them for 11 days now!

Ryan, Punches, David, and I hiked over to the Edge of the World. We were conservative and roped up for the hike. It did cross a crevasse field, although the crossing was completely uneventful. The Edge of the World is the edge of the plateau the 14 camp sits on. You stand on the brink of a drop off and look at the Kahiltna glacier 6,000' below. The slopes were shining in the warm and friendly sunshine, and snow covered peaks bobbed up from the haze as far as the eye could see. The view here is so, well, expansive, that it expands the mind, heart, and soul to partake in it. I think you are closer to God high up in the mountains.

Mt. Hunter from the Edge of the World	Mt. Foraker from the Edge of the World

I enjoyed the Edge of the World with my companions, but at the same time, I was wishing I was here alone. I would like to have this all to myself. Just me soaking in the energy of the mountains, without the sympathetic, but still interfering, energy of my companions. Am I sensitive and in tune with the spirit and energy of nature, or am I just antisocial?

Punches in his tent

This afternoon David washed out a shirt and hung it up to dry. We were all walking around in the sun in just shirts and sun hats. The side of David’s shirt that wasn’t facing the sun froze. What an intense environment this is! The sun is so important here. When the sun goes behind the ridge about 8:40 PM, you can watch the camp change from shirts and sweaters to down parkas and ski hats in a matter of minutes. And the outdoor population drops as rapidly as the temperature.

David was so excited he almost vibrated. Tomorrow we would move to 17, and go for the summit the day after that.