For three Japanese climbers, their Alaska dream seemed to end the day they landed in Anchorage. The climbers, known as Subaru, Genya and Tora, had three backpacks full of mountaineering gear stolen outside of their hotel as they were checking in. The team penned a handwritten note and posted it on a local climbing retail store bulletin board, asking anyone with any information about their gear to please contact them. For many teams, the theft could have ended their climbing plans.
But an Alaska outdoorsman saw their note and posted it in on a local Facebook page. Fellow mountaineer, Clint Helander, saw that post and realized the likelihood of the Japanese climbers finding their own gear in time was remote.
“I realized that that’s highly unlikely, given the timeframe of their expedition and finding their own stuff, and I’ve been a climber for 20 years, so I have all these things that I just kind of realized that oh, it’s a good opportunity for us to be able to help these guys, and I’m sure with a community effort we could get them all, more or less, outfitted, enough to at least climb the mountain, maybe not with the perfect gear they would desire but with enough to get it done.”
What happened next is remarkable.
“Once we figured out what they were missing, we actually had them put together a list of stuff that they really needed, things like puffy pants, ice tools, carabiners, harnesses and 850 fill, -40 sleeping bags, just all this stuff, and then anything that I didn’t have, many other people in the community came together and donated for them and they were able to go on their trip.”
The Japanese team hadn’t planned a simple route up Denali. This team intended to climb the Cassin Ridge, which requires more technical gear than the usual West Buttress route. But in addition, they also planned to wrap the West and East Kahilitna Peaks into the climb. The planned route was ambitiously long. Helander explained what that meant in terms of the amount and type of gear the team needed.
“A typical West Buttress climb, really what you need, predominately, other than skis or crampons and ice ax, is the winter survival stuff. But then to climb a technical route on Denali, you need all of that stuff for the West Buttress plus all the stuff for hard rock climbing, hard ice climbing, so you need ice screws and Camalots and nuts, pitons and slings and specialized ropes, stuff like that.”
Within three days, the Alaska climbing community had dropped off everything the expedition needed to attempt their planned route.
One month later, Subaru, Genya and Tora flew back to Talkeetna, having successfully finished their entire planned expedition. Helander had this to say about the team’s accomplishment.
“I think what’s really interesting is that the weather was really bad up there this year; you’ve probably heard the stories of frostbite and whatnot, but what is most amazing, is that in all reality, those guys might have ended up climbing the biggest thing that’s been done yet or potentially this whole season, in the Alaska Range.”
According to Helander, the Japanese team was gracious, kind and very thankful for the gear loan. The team expressed that, without the Alaska climbing community’s help, their climb could not have happened. Helander reported that his gear was returned in full, clean and in great condition. He said he’d be happy to do it all again.
“Climbers are kind of a group of people that stick together you know. I think anywhere you went, climbers would go out of their way to help other climbers, just cause we know how specialized and how much work it is to get up these mountains and to be shut down before you even get to the mountains by something so terrible is just, every climber can feel that pain.”
