Summit Turtle

The Challenge Before The Challenge

A plea to my family, friends, and readers.

In June I take off for Alaska and the second biggest adventure of my life – after raising my three kids =). My goal is the top of Mount McKinley, the 20,320-foot king of North America and third-highest of the Seven Summits behind only Everest and Aconcagua in South America. The climb will take me from three weeks to a month in order to properly acclimatize and drag sleds full of gear to higher camps. McKinley is often considered the hardest of the Seven Summits because of the lack of porters (everyone caries their own gear) and due to the extreme cold (temperatures down to -30F, -40F with wind-chill are common in June). Even with all that staring me in the face, I expect to have an amazing time. I will be in good company with a strong group of climbers I’m happy to call friends.

While the summit is going to be my challenge in June, my challenge now is getting there. It’s going to take me two plane rides: one from Seattle to Anchorage and one from Anchorage to the glacier on a small prop plane equipped with skis. On top of that I need permits to climb the mountain, some rental gear to handle the extreme cold, a month’s worth of dehydrated food and cooking fuel, taxi money, hotel fair for two nights in Anchorage, … you can see how this starts to get expensive quickly.

With Christmas around the corner, I understand everyone already has their fair share of obligations. My ask is for anyone who was planning on getting me a present (is it too early to call in birthday presents from July?) to instead chip into my climbing fund to help make this dream possible. Money, airline miles, and words of encouragement are all welcome. With any luck, I’ll be reporting back to you all in July with tales of adventure and an amazing photo or 20!

Begrudgingly I’m including my hard-sell. Please donate if you can. Every dollar counts. Words of encouragement in the comments section are also wonderfully welcome. I’m going to need a lot of motivation between now and June to get out there every day and train. We are all only as good as the quality of the people who love us. I am fortunate and honored to be loved by people like you.

Love to all,
-Jeff (the Summit Turtle)

Black Peak July 3-4 2011

Tim and I started this a little later in the day. First day was just for approach and it didn’t look too difficult from the maps and TR I had read. The several extra feet of snow on the ground, however, decided to teach us some humility and we dragged ourselves with what little life we had left in us to camp a half hour after sunset. Tuna Raman. Bed.

On the way up we ran into some snow boarders on their way out and could see the marks from some nice looking runs they got to enjoy in the bowl above camp. The bowl is steep but short-lived and we were soon on the ridge heading skyward to our not-quite-9000’ summit. When we attempted it, the ridge was a mix of class 2 rock and class 2/3 snow. Nothing terribly scary, but we were happy to have ice-axes in hand.

The top of the ridge hits a cliff-face and this is where the fun begins. After looking for a decent route, I decided to go up a class-4 face on the left over several thousand feet of exposure. Knowing Tim wasn’t as comfortable on rock as I am, I started promoting the route to encourage his presence with me on the summit: “It’s not as bad as it looks.”, “The first move looks scary but once you’re on it, it won’t seem so hard.”, “The rock is really solid.” Upon reaching the top of the cliff, I noticed a cairn 10 meters away marking the entrance to an easy class-3 gully. I immediately call out, “Tim, I lied to you. That way was a nightmare. There’s an easy gully over here.”

A few minutes later we stood under a small class 3/4 scramble to a sub-summit and a fun exposed walk across a narrow ledge to the summit. Peak #20 on the 400p list, check.

Tim was still gassed from the approach and I was back down to the top of the bowl much quicker and had time for a nice afternoon nap. Funny how those with the energy get to nap, and those who need it get to play catch-up. The bowl was perfect for an out-of-control glissade being both steep and with a large run-out. On our way back to the pass above Ann Lake we were trailed for a mile or so by a quite smelly mountain goat. This being just a few weeks after a hiker was killed by a goat in the Olympics, I kept my distance.

Pictures!