Denali Report for May 28th, 2021

This week in the Denali Report, there are over 400 people on the mountain, early summit percentage remains low, and National Park Service staff speak out about concerning trends they’re seeing. 

This is the Denali Report for Friday, May 28^th, 2021.  As of the middle of this week, there are 941 people registered to climb Denali, and more than 400 of those are currently on the mountain.  Thirty-six climbs have been completed, with six people making it to the summit.  Of the twenty-eight climbers registered to attempt Mt. Foraker, ten are on the mountain, and seven climbs have been completed with no summits so far.

A regular source for the Denali Report each week is the Denali Dispatches blog operated by National Park Service rangers and staff.  Typically, posts on the blog include weather trends, status of various patrols, major search and rescues, and trail conditions.  They also often include great pictures from within the Alaska Range.  Monday’s post followed that format, but a second post on Thursday was simply titled “Troubling Trends.”

In the post, mountaineering rangers express concern with QUOTE “a disturbing amount of overconfidence paired with inexperience in the Alaska Range.” END QUOTE  They elaborate by saying that even extensive experience climbing in other parts of the U.S. may not fully prepare a mountaineer to attempt Denali, which towers above any peak in the Lower 48 and is also subject to arctic conditions.

The rangers and staff say they are also concerned about a trend of attempts to summit Denali from a lower initial elevation.  The usual method for climbing the West Buttress is to proceed through camps at higher and higher elevation at a fairly gradual pace, allowing the body to rest and become accustomed to the thinner air.  The highest major camp is at around 17,000 feet and appropriately referred to as “High Camp.”  Now, rangers say more attempts are being made to summit from a lower camp at around 14,000 feet. 

Making the attempt from Fourteen Camp is significantly more difficult and takes longer.  It also opens the door for more to go wrong.  The fall that critically injured a climber on Monday happened as part of an attempt to summit from Fourteen.  Even when it doesn’t end quite as disastrously, rangers say climbers who run into trouble on a long summit attempt put strain on the resources of other groups and put patrols and other rescue personnel at risk when they need to step in.

The post ends by urging climbers to take the West Buttress route on Denali seriously and be adequately prepared.  The final sentence reminds mountaineers that they do not want to be the subject of a search and rescue press release.