A very last-minute decision brought me to Denali. One should really not sign up for these with less than a month’s notice. Circumstances of the desk worker really. Thankfully, I have a lot of experience under my belt as well as a winter of skiing. Going independent/unguided wasn’t really an option, as none of my climbing/skiing partners were ready with only a month’s notice. I decided to try my luck with one of the guided trips to see what the crack is.
Summiting North America: My Denali Expedition Diary
Itinerary:
Date | Expedition Day | Core Activity & Milestone | Details & Notes |
May 26 | Day 0 | Meeting the Team | Team introductions, group dinner, and initial bonding over food and drinks. |
May 27 | Day 1 | Hangar Prep & Flight Out | Final gear prep at the Talkeetna Air Taxi (TAT) hangar, Talkeetna town visit, 5:00 PM TAT flight into Kahiltna Glacier Basecamp. |
May 28 | Day 2 | Carry to Camp 1 | 7.5-hour sunny, heavy slog pulling sleds and packs to 7,800′ Camp. |
May 29 | Day 3 | Rest / Camp Routine | Pacing delay for teammate; establishing downtime routine & snow melting skills. |
May 30 | Day 4 | Evacuation & Gear Drying | Guides assisting teammate down to airstrip; drying gear in full sun on tents. |
May 31 | Day 5 | Carry to 11k Camp (Camp 3) | Single carry to 11,000, snowstorm hit at 7:00 PM. |
Jun 1 | Day 6 | Snowed In | Storm rest day; visiting tents, guitar jam sessions indoors. |
Jun 2 | Day 7 | Windy Back Carry | Descending to 9,000′ for back carry in foggy and windy(later) conditions. |
Jun 3 | Day 8 | Caching at 13,384′ | Climbing past Squirrel Hill & Windy Corner (surprisingly calm weather); 1.5-hour return to 11k. |
Jun 4 | Day 9 | Moving Day to 14k Camp | Long and heavy day; sled carry up to 14k camp. Again very luck with the weather |
Jun 5 | Day 10 | Cache Retrieval & Camp Building | Dropped down 1,000′ to retrieve Day 8 cache; built heavy snow block walls around tents. |
Jun 6 | Day 11 | Cache to 16k Ridge | Climbed fixed line up the headwall to 16k for caching before weather hits. |
Jun 7 | Day 12 | Weather Prep & Rescues | Rest day; built snow bathroom & storm walls for 60 mph winds; couple turned back from cold fingers/frostbite risk; 10+ rescues happening on peak. |
Jun 8 | Day 13 | Storm Rest Day | Weather hold inside tents; conserving energy and fortifying our snow walls. |
Jun 9 | Day 14 | Storm Rest Day | Continued storm wait at 14k Camp; preparing for high push. |
Jun 10 | Day 15 | Move to High Camp (17,200′) | Moving to 17k camp. Dug up our cache on the way. |
Jun 11 | Day 16 | SUMMIT DAY! | 13-hour round trip; heavy congestion & cold on the Autobahn; reached the 20,310′ summit! |
Jun 12 | Day 17 | Descent to 14k Camp | Packing High Camp, carefully descending fixed lines with heavy packs back to 14k. |
Jun 13 | Day 18 | Packing Out to Basecamp | Breaking 14k Camp, unearthing cache, night march down lower glacier. |
Jun 14 | Day 19 | Return to Talkeetna | Arrived at airstrip 5:30 AM (Millet boots toes sore!); met Bastian & Nancy; TAT flight back at 9:00 AM; awake 37 hours straight for dinner/drinks! |
Day-by-day breakdown of my trip:
Route: West Buttress
Dates: May 26 – June 14, 2026
Logistics & Air Service: American Alpine Institute (AAI) / Talkeetna Air Taxi (TAT)
Day 0 (May 26): Team Assembly & Gear Checks in Talkeetna
The journey officially began in the eccentric, dusty wilderness town of Talkeetna. We gathered with our American Alpine Institute (AAI) guides and fellow team members for our initial orientation and gear inspection. Most of the day was spent setting group expectations and sorting our group gear. That evening, we headed into town for a hearty team dinner and drinks. Over burgers and beers, nervous energy dissolved into camaraderie as we got to know the people who would become our ropemates, tent partners, and lifelines on the glacier.
Day 1 (May 27): The TAT Hangar & Flying into Kahiltna Base Camp
Flight departure: 5:00 PM
We spent the morning finishing final logistics at the Talkeetna Air Taxi (TAT) hangar to get ready to fly, if we were flying that is. The flight here is famously known as the “Talkeetna hang.” You hang around for a long time, sometimes days and weeks, to fly out to the glacier. Sometimes one takes off just for the plane to turn around and come back. Flying here is all done by sight; if the pilot couldn’t see, they couldn’t land.
So of course, it was customary that our flight was delayed. We made a quick run to Nagley’s Store to visit the famous town cat and grab last-minute snacks. After hours of anxiously pacing the tarmac and watching the cloud deck hover over the Alaska Range, TAT gave us the green light. We loaded our heavy duffels and plastic expedition sleds into the ski plane. Flying over the braided, silt-filled glacial rivers and towering granite gorges of the range was a breathtaking experience. Touching down smoothly on the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier at 7,200 feet, we stepped off the plane into a quiet, sub-zero world of blue ice and colossal peaks. We spent the late afternoon anchoring tents with snow pickets and establishing Base Camp.
Day 2 (May 28): The Radiant Heat & Heavy Slog to Camp 1 (7,800′)
7.5-hour carry
Our first full day on the ice was a grueling introduction to expedition load-hauling. Rigged with heavy backpacks and tethered to a heavy plastic sled dragging behind us, we set off down “Heartbreak Hill” and onto the main Kahiltna Glacier trunk. The weather was cloudless and brilliantly sunny, but on the open glacier, high-altitude solar radiation reflects off the snow like a giant parabolic mirror. The 7.5-hour double-carry push to Camp 1 (7,800′) quickly became a hot, sweat-drenched slog. Managing body temperature was a constant battle as we stripped down to base layers, while the heavy sleds repeatedly jerked backward against our hip belts with every single stride over the soft snow. Due to the heat, one of my less prepared teammates even started cramping. Be sure to prepare for the heat as well as the cold folks!
Day 3 (May 29): Pacing & Building Glacier Survival Routines
My rope team made the tactical decision to stay put at Camp 1 today to give a teammate experiencing severe physical exhaustion time to adapt to the altitude and workload. Ropemate Tyson and I took some time to connect and chat. Tyson is quite the impressive fellow himself, with the best snacks and great work ethic. Despite serious personal setbacks, Tyson still built out a great life for himself and his family. Very much the outdoorsman, Denali has been Tyson’s goal for a while. Tyson had been a very steady presence throughout this trip.
Day 4 (May 30): Teammate Evacuation & Sun-Drying Gear
Unfortunately, our teammate’s condition did not improve, and we decided to assist them in returning to the lower airstrip for an early evacuation flight back to Talkeetna. While seeing a team member depart early was disheartening, safety on Denali is non-negotiable. With intense alpine sun beating down from a clear sky, I took full advantage of the heat with some snow showers and laundry, taking the chance to spread every piece of damp equipment—sweat-soaked boot liners, wool socks, thermal base layers, shell jackets, and my heavy Millet double boots—across the bright red and yellow tent flies to bake dry in the intense sun.
Day 5 (May 31): The Single-Carry Heavy Push to 11k Camp
9:30 AM – 4:00 PM
We broke Camp 1 at 9:30 AM to begin the long, sustained ascent up Ski Hill toward the 11,200-foot basin (Camp 3). Due to the turnaround on day 3, Tyson and I couldn’t successfully cache our kit up higher. While most other expeditions opted to double-carry and cache gear halfway up, my teammate Tyson and I put our heads down and single-carried our entire kit in one massive push.
We ground out thousands of vertical feet under brutal packs and stubborn sleds. We reached the 11k Basin at 4:00 PM and pitched our tents just in time—around 7:00 PM, a whiteout snowstorm slammed into the basin. Crawling into our sleeping bags as heavy snow pelted the nylon tent walls felt like absolute luxury after six or seven heavy lumps of relentless effort.
Day 6 (June 1): Snowed In & Tent day
We awoke to heavy snow accumulation and a total whiteout across the 11k basin. Trapped inside by the storm, expedition progress came to a halt. We spent the day digging out tent vestibules, visiting neighboring expedition shelters, sharing hot tea and cider, and swapping climbing st5ries. In our tent, spirits stayed high when one of our campmates pulled out an acoustic guitar. We sat huddled in our heavy down parkas, singing along and enjoying an impromptu jam session while snow continued to dump relentlessly outside.
Day 7 (June 2): Biting Wind on the 9,000-Foot Back-Carry
With the snowfall easing, we geared up, clipped into our harnesses, and headed back down the trail toward 9,000 feet to retrieve the cache of supplies our other teammates had buried during our initial push. The way down was quick and painless, but the weather had other ideas on the way back up. Half an hour outside of the camp, winds started to pick up. It served as a stark reminder of how rapidly conditions shift on Denali, requiring constant vigilance to protect exposed skin from frostbite.
Day 8 (June 3): Caching Around Windy Corner (13,384′)
From 11k to 14k Camp was one of the longer days with many tricky routes. We split up our loads into two and carried the first load on our backs to cache. This was we could get a taste of the Squirl Hill without needing to worry about the sleds.
We loaded heavy supplies onto our backs and began the long ascent up the steep snow slopes past the sheer drop-offs of Squirrel Hill, navigating the exposed traverse around the infamous Windy Corner. This section is infamous for a crevasse-laden approach and nasty weather. The winds from the Kahiltna Glacier pipe up and squeeze past Denali through this narrow passage on the mountain, chilling down everything around it. As for the crevasse, my guide lost footing into one of them. Truly hazardous! As for the wind, Windy Corner lived up to its fearsome reputation in name only today—the weather was shockingly calm, warm, and pleasant, allowing us to focus entirely on the physical rhythm of climbing without fighting ferocious gales.
Just about an hour’s trek past Windy Corner at 13,384 feet, we buried our cache deep in the snowpack, marking it securely with tall picket wands and GPS coordinates. The guide also brought a cactus cocktail ware to mark the wands. Oh well, it’s 5 o’clock somewhere! After setting the cache, we made a rapid 1.5-hour downhill descent back to our tents at 11k Camp. We retired soon after getting back to the camp. The weather window stayed open, so we decided to continue to push onto 14k Camp.
