Denali Report for April 26th, 2019: Weather stations survive Alaska Range Winter

As of earlier this week, there are 841 climbers registered to attempt Denali.  Six climbers are currently on the mountain, and two winter trips have been completed.  There have not been any summits yet for 2019.  Eight climbers are registered to attempt Mount Foraker.

As climbing season begins, there is some excitement around weather monitoring stations that survived the harsh winter conditions on Denali.  Ranger Dave Weber says the equipment making it through the winter for the first time will provide unprecedented scientific data.

“On the science side of things, it’s allowing high-elevation and Arctic monitoring that hasn’t been done at this elevation in Alaska, before. It allows us to really get a picture of what’s happening in the winter when no one’s on the mountain, or during some of these storm events.”

The enhanced monitoring capability will give scientists and park officials insights into the health of the Kahiltna Glacier going forward. Weber says this data will be very valuable to efforts to maintain the glacier for future generations. In addition, Weber says more data coming from Denali will aid the National Weather Service in predicting conditions in the Alaska Range.

“It also is allowing for the recreational forecast that we have throughout the climbing season to hopefully be a bit more accurate and ground-truthed based on what we’re actually seeing at those locations in real time.  So, the National Weather Service in Fairbanks is able to monitor those units and hopefully tailor the forecasts even more than they already do, based on the models.”

Dave Weber says, despite a warm spring in the Northern Susitna Valley, that he is optimistic about current conditions on Denali after spending time on the Pika Glacier for training.

“I know when we showed up here in mid-March it was unseasonably warm, so I think a bunch of us were pretty nervous about what we might find in the [Alaska] Range.  It seems, though, even with those unseasonably warm temperatures in March in town, it doesn’t seem to have affected, negatively, the amount of snowfall and winter conditions in the [Alaska] Range right now.”

Weber says he and the rest of the mountaineering staff are hoping for a safe, successful climbing season.  The first mountaineering ranger patrol is scheduled to head into the Alaska Range early next week.

More information on the weather stations can be found at the National Park Service’s Denali Dispatches blog.