Denali Prep. T-Minus 6 Weeks

For the benefit of my team on Denali, and anyone that might have a cool spring expedition in the works, I’m going to share my general thoughts as the weeks tick by. The aim is to post every week, but it might not work out that cleanly.

This week I am working on my airline tickets to Alaska. I personally buy a one-way ticket to Alaska, and then purchase my return ticket once the trip is complete. That doesn’t work for international travelers that might need to show return travel arrangements for their entry to the US. At the very least, make your return travel as flexible as possible.

Next, I am fine tuning my plan for the week before leaving for Alaska. The days and weeks immediately prior to extended wilderness time can be very hectic. That time is also very, very important to social and family life. I personally prioritize family time before major expeditions. My wife, baby, and I will road trip through the sunny, warm desert Southwest US for almost a week just prior to this Denali trip. In this case, this includes Rosie’s second Mothers Day celebration. The vacation, though, doesn’t butt right up against the Denali departure. We have learned that the 24-36 hours immediately prior to departure need to be even more free of expectations and plans and obligations. We will be at home, together, with little to nothing planned for those final hours. Expedition life is hard on families. We aren’t the best at it, but we have done it enough to have learned to give lots of “space” for exit and reentry. (Similarly, the end of every expedition, in our family, comes with sacred time together. We make no other plans for the 2-3 days after the contracted end of the trip). All this might sound like a luxury. Labeling family time as a luxury seems a bit fraught…

On physical training. I stay “Denali fit” all the time. That said, I try and go on an important trip like this with more than enough fitness. Work and life in the past has forced me to do expeditions like this from “baseline” fitness, and it always works out just fine. However, I’m always aiming higher. What that means for me right now, 6 weeks out, is that I am transitioning from “general” training to more specific training. All winter long my preferred training mode is ski touring. Any sort of long, steady-state, weight-bearing movement should suffice for general training. In the general phase of training, movement mode doesn’t matter as much as it does in the later specific stage. My specific training now looks like a heavy backpack and more foot-travel and less ski “skinning”. For me, this coincides with the transition from winter powder ski touring to springtime ski mountaineering. The boots are different than I’ll use on Denali, but the mode, pace, and pack weight are more similar.

Today’s loaded backpack carry training session.

Finally, some thoughts on expedition loads and weights and such. We start a Denali expedition with about 125 pounds (55 kg) per person. Some of that is individual gear and some of that is food and group gear. On our guided trip this year the group gear loads will be distributed through the whole team of 9. These loads will be distributed equitably, not equally. Those capable of carrying more will carry more. That capability, and our understanding of the relative capabilities, will be ever shifting. So loads will be ever shifting. These equitable shifts, though, will be relatively minor; everyone’s load is pretty darn heavy to start.

But, we very seldom carry it all at once. How much do we carry at any given moment? I took a stab at visualizing a basic Denali itinerary and what the load might look like at any given moment. Starting, overall load is considered to be “1”. Each day there will be some fraction of that amount. Of course, itinerary and group construction and such is ever changing. Take this as just a rough estimate for helping to align expectations in advance. My numbers and estimates are very rough and attempt to take into account the lightening of loads as we climb and eat food and burn stove fuel.

If you like this sort of thing from me, and want more of it, direct to your inbox, sign up for my email newsletter. I send updates sporadically (so far not more than one a month), will never sell your address, and it will always be me talking to you in there. Link to sign up.