Climbing season is underway! After climbing season was canceled last year due to COVID-19, mountaineers have returned and so has the Denali Report.
After a year with nobody setting foot on the highest point in North America, hundreds of mountaineers are once again coming to the Alaska Range to attempt Denali. As of this week, there are 786 climbers registered to climb Denali, and thirty are registered to attempt Mt. Foraker. There are ten climbers currently on Denali.
While climbing season has returned to something resembling normal, some things are different. Denali National Park and Preserve South District Ranger Tucker Chenoweth says registrations for this year are lagging a bit behind numbers from the same time in 2018, and he anticipates the overall numbers to be around 900 as opposed to the usual figure of 1200 to 1300.
One difference this year that affects those overall numbers is canceled climbs. Chenoweth says this year’s numbers in that category are much higher than usual.
“We’ve had fifty-two canceled climbs, and then in 2018 we had three. So generally we don’t see a lot of canceled climbs. People forfeit that money once they’ve canceled, so people generally don’t.”
In addition to the permit fee, there is a lot of expense that goes into climbing Denali. Chenoweth says a lot of cancelations are coming from international climbers whose countries have imposed travel restrictions.
For those who are coming, there may be more elbow room during their attempt. In addition to fewer overall climbers, Tucker Chenoweth says there is a higher than usual proportion of climbers attempting routes that will keep them spread out from the crowds on the mountain.
“The behavior has changed a little bit, and we’re seeing climber’s looking to get away from the crowds. And so the West Buttress has become–it’s definitely always going to be popular, but we’re also seeing people push out into other places in the [Alaska] Range that we haven’t seen as much.”
One of the better known alternate routes is via the Muldrow Glacier. In fact, the first confirmed ascent in 1913 took that route. This year, though, the glacier is surging, meaning conditions and the route itself look different than normal. Chenoweth says that’s keeping climbers away.
“It’s basically taken it off the table for right now. The majority of the surge is downstream of where the route begins at MacGonagall Pass, but we’re seeing now it’s pulling up into the upper reaches. So that route is not where it’s been, and it’s been in the same place since the last surge about fifty years ago.”
The spreading of groups in different places also means the potential for spreading out search and rescue operations throughout the season. Already, one search and rescue has taken place on the East Buttress of Denali along a completely new route.
Chenoweth says all of the rangers and staff at the Walter Harper Talkeetna Ranger Station have been vaccinated against COVID-19 as have a majority of climbers coming through. He says vaccine rollout timing is also having an effect on the season as more potential climbers receive vaccines.
“People are getting vaccinated as of now. It looks like the climbing season, as a result of that, has migrated a little further back into July. We’re starting to see people push their start dates back.”
While the start dates may move back, it’s not necessarily timing related to the pandemic that will determine when Denali season ends. If the season does run later than usual, there will be many eyes on the glacier conditions that are critical to travel to and from the Alaska Range as well as during attempts of Denali.
