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"Because it's there."

Two climbers who recently completed a successful summit of 20,320-foot Mount McKinley died in an avalanche on nearby Mount Frances while attempting a new route on the much smaller mountain, the National Park Service said Wednesday.

Story: Two die on Mr Frances
 
And the numbers keep ratcheting up.

The high-altitude killing fields of the Alaska Range claimed two more climbers Wednesday night, when a four-climber rope team suffered a catastrophic fall just before midnight at Denali Pass on Mount McKinley.

Full Story
 
Five Army Rangers stationed in Washington state have summited North America's highest mountain.

Army officials say the soldiers reached the 20,320-foot summit of Mount McKinley on Friday night, just in time for the Memorial Day weekend.

The Rangers -- assigned to 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment at Joint Base Lewis-McChord -- made the climb in honor of the 11 Rangers from their regiment who have died in the line of duty. At McKinley's summit, the soldiers planted a flag from 2/75 with the names of the 11.

Regiment spokeswoman Tracy Bailey says the climbing team reached the summit in difficult conditions that led to the death Wednesday of two climbers on another team. She says the soldiers helped in the rescue of two other climbers at 17,000 feet.

From the ADN.com.
 
Stewart Green American Climber Abandoned to Die by Sherpas on Kangchenjunga

"Cleo Weidlich reached the summit of 28,169-foot (8,586-meter) Kangchenjunga on the morning of May 20, becoming the first American woman to climb the world's third highest mountain. After summitting, however, Weidlich almost died on the descent, which led to this year's most bizarre mountaineering story.

On her descent, Weidlich began losing her vision and also injured her right knee by rupturing the parallel ligament at 27,890 feet. She was able to descend to her highest camp at 24,600 feet with three Sherpas. Cleo complained the next morning of pressure on her eyes, which coupled with irrational behavior and refusing to use oxygen or take drugs indicated that she suffered from cerebral edema. She started descending with the Sherpas."

more story, see link.....

"And then the circumstances began to get very strange. The pair found a Sherpa with a full bottle of oxygen and asked to use it, offering a full bottle at Camp 2 in exchange. Murphy writes, "Unbelievably, and with a woman's life in danger, he refused to let us have the oxygen unless we paid him $400 (normal price $280). Even more unbelievably, it later transpired that this was not even his oxygen to sell as he claimed, but belonged to his client, who had already descended. With no choice, Ted and I agreed to pay him at basecamp.""

"She had been abandoned by the Sherpas. "If we had not found her, I believe she would have died.""


Rest of story

In Comments"

Reinhold Messner says :

This is only one compelling reason why expedition-style climbing needs to be abolished in favour of light, alpine-style ascents without support by Sherpas.
 
Remember to promise your Sherpas a tip once you’re back to base camp.
 
Climbers use Viagra to rise to Everest challenge

"MEMBERS of an Everest expedition led by a mountaineer from the region are using Viagra tablets to help them get up.

Alan Hinkes, from Northallerton, North Yorkshire, is part of a group of climbers attempting the world's highest peak to raise £1 million for the Alzheimers Society.

The trek, organised by supermarket Iceland, is well underway, with Mr Hinkes and fellow climber Malcolm Walker already meeting the North Col 23,000 ft above sea level.

As well as the usual health precautions, the 13-man team are armed with Viagra to help them absorb more oxygen into their blood.

The expedition doctor, George Rodway, an expert in high-altitude medicine, said: "Some people at extreme altitude run out of juice: they have no energy.

"Viagra can dilate the blood vessels in the lungs in the same way as it does to help erectile dysfunction. It can improve blood flow and expose the body to more oxygen."

The drug is commonly used to tackle erectile disfunction in men but some heart patients are prescribed courses of the pill to help blood circulation.

Viagra expands the capillaries in the small air sacks in the lungs where the walls of the blood vessels are thinnest and most oxygen is absorbed.

Gina Waggott, the only female team member, will not be going to the summit, meaning only men will take part in the final part of the ascent when the drug is most likely to come into use.

Expedition member David Hempleman-Adams said: "We are a lot of alpha males and we are worried about what will happen, but the doctor has assured us that as long as we are not having any sexual thoughts there shouldn't be a problem,"

"And those kind of thoughts won't exactly be top of our list when we are at 28,000ft."

A team chef has also treated the expedition to a variety of ready meals while on the climb, including beouf Bourguignon and organic salmon.

Mr Hinkes was awarded an OBE after becoming the first Briton to climb the 14 mountains in the world which are over 8,000m."

linkage
 
http://www.npr.org/2011/06/16/137231327/ranger-discusses-mount-mckinley-rescue

Ranger Discusses Mount McKinley Rescue
June 16, 2011
Last week on Mount McKinley, ranger Tucker Chenoweth had a day unlike any other. Over the course of one day, he helped rescue three different climbers. That is as many as he often has in one season. Melissa Block speaks with Chenoweth about those rescues.




MELISSA BLOCK, host:

Mountaineering ranger Tucker Chenoweth says in his 11 years working on Mount McKinley in Alaska, he's never seen anything like what he saw last week. On one night in quick succession, he and his patrol team encountered three separate climbers in distress, each suffering from severe altitude sickness, and he arranged three helicopter rescues at high altitude near the summit.

Tucker Chenoweth is now down from Mount McKinley, and he joins me from the Talkeetna Ranger Station outside Denali National Park.

Tucker, it sounds like a pretty busy night you had last Monday.

Mr. TUCKER CHENOWETH (Ranger, National Park Service): Yeah. We were busy. That's for sure.

BLOCK: Well, let's talk about that first rescue that you stumbled upon. All of these rescues weren't called or radioed in. You found these people. Who was the first one?

Mr. CHENOWETH: We found a Serbian guy that was kind of stumbling around. We encountered him kind of off of the summit ridge, down in the big summit plateau we call the football field.

BLOCK: And you knew he was in trouble right away?

Mr. CHENOWETH: Yeah. He was - when people suffer from HACE or high-altitude cerebral edema, they walk around like they're drunk, and that's what this guy was doing.

BLOCK: So you called in the rescue helicopter. What happened?

Mr. CHENOWETH: Yeah. We took that guy. We were originally just going to try to use a rope technique we call short roping and try to get him down on his own power. We started him down the ridge and realized right away he wasn't going to make it, so called in the helicopter, which happened to be doing some work down around the base camp, so we called them in to evacuate this guy.

BLOCK: Using something, I gather, called a screamer suit. What's that?

(Soundbite of laughter)

Mr. CHENOWETH: Yeah. I can only imagine what people think of when they think of the screamer suit, but it's a large diaper, basically, that fits your arms and your legs. It attaches to a 150-foot long line off the bottom of the helicopter, and we put the patient into this thing. And then the helicopter just picks him up and takes him away.

BLOCK: Wow. I guess we can just imagine why it's called the screamer suit. He's getting rescued from 19,300 feet.

Mr. CHENOWETH: Yeah, yeah.

BLOCK: OK. So that's the first rescue. And then, separately, you come across two other climbers. The first one is a Japanese climber who approaches you. Also suffering altitude sickness?

Mr. CHENOWETH: Yes. So before this guy got evacuated, we were just doing a medical check on him. And as this was happening, this Japanese team came through. And when they got, you know, jeez, it was only like 40 yards from us, the lead climber on that rope team just stopped and then he fell over. And so we had our second patient.

BLOCK: Wow.

Mr. CHENOWETH: Yeah.

BLOCK: So you now have two climbers in distress, airlifted off the mountain, and then you find a third climber, also a Japanese climber, unconscious in the snow. Was there at some point in which you just said I can't believe that I'm arranging three helicopter rescues in one night?

Mr. CHENOWETH: Sure, yeah. I told the guys when I radioed down for the third helicopter, I believe, I even said you're not going to believe this. We have a third patient and...

BLOCK: And what did they say?

Mr. CHENOWETH: I kind of paused and let it sink in for those guys and you know? And it was what it was. They said, OK, where is he?

BLOCK: And a pretty amazing performance from the helicopter pilot here.

Mr. CHENOWETH: Yeah. You know, I hate to think of what it would've been like had we not have the use of the helicopter that night. I'd like to think that we'd work it out, but three patients with our team up that high, I just don't think the outcome would have been as big a success if the helicopter couldn't have flown.

BLOCK: Well, Tucker, I hope you've had a chance to rest, and I gather, you're trying - you're down off the mountain. You're trying to get back up there, but weather is keeping you...

(Soundbite of laughter)

BLOCK: ...down there in Talkeetna. Is that right?

Mr. CHENOWETH: Yeah. We're lucky this interview was able to happen. I -we're trying to get back in and do a little personal climbing, my wife and I, so we're waiting for the weather to break, but it gave me a chance to talk to you.

BLOCK: Great. Well, I'm glad I had it. Thank you, Tucker. And have fun up there.

Mr. CHENOWETH: I will.

BLOCK: That's mountaineering ranger Tucker Chenoweth speaking with us from the ranger station in Talkeetna, Alaska.
 
Last edited:
When men were men......

For a week in the spring of 1954, George Argus lay helplessly in a tent at the 11,000-foot level of Mount McKinley. He was too injured to move after an accident that killed the leader of his climbing team, stuck in a sleeping bag as snow slowly piled up around him, and stretching a meager stock of supplies left by two other survivors who left him behind when they went to get help.

Argus had already been to the top of the 20,320-foot mountain and had been on his way back down when trouble struck. He knew that no one else would try that route up North America's tallest peak that season. If his companions perished on their descent or snow buried his shelter or rescue did not arrive in time, he was a goner.

He was -- in the words of mountaineering writer Douglas MacDonald -- "the most isolated human being in North America."
Click to expand...

The idea of climbing McKinley from the south, then descending on the north side came from Elton Thayer, a ranger at Mount McKinley National Park. Thayer recruited three friends including Argus, Morton Wood -- the husband of pilot Ginny Wood and cofounder of Camp Denali -- and Leslie Viereck, a soldier, like Argus, who was assigned to the Army's Arctic Indoctrination School at Big Delta.

With snowshoes, wool clothes and handmade tents, they left the train stop at Curry, traveling on foot, on April 17, 1954. The adventurers bushwhacked overland 40 miles to reach what is now the starting point for many climbers, the Don Sheldon Amphitheater.
Click to expand...

Thayer Cirque at the head of Traleika Glacier bears his name. His body remains in the snow where his friends buried him. His widow, Bernice, wished that no lives be risked to recover it.

"He loved mountains," she said, "and that's where he'd want to stay."
Click to expand...

Full Story

Excellent Photos!
 
Searchers find no sign of Denali climber last seen Monday

"The National Park Service today is searching for an Austrian climber who disappeared this week on Mount McKinley. The man had planned to ski from the mountain's summit, the Park Service says.

Juergen Kanzian, a 41-year-old mountain guide from Koetschach-Mauthen, Austria, was last seen on skis about 8 p.m. Monday. He was climbing toward Denali Pass, at the 18,000-foot level of the mountain, according to the Park Service."

Rest of Story
 
thør said:
"The National Park Service today is searching for an Austrian climber who disappeared this week on Mount McKinley. The man had planned to ski from the mountain's summit, the Park Service says.

Juergen Kanzian, a 41-year-old mountain guide from Koetschach-Mauthen, Austria, was last seen on skis about 8 p.m. Monday. He was climbing toward Denali Pass, at the 18,000-foot level of the mountain, according to the Park Service."

Rest of Story
Click to expand...

Ai yi yi. That would be a helluva run.

Did I ever tell you my friend Misha Kirk was one of the first pair to ski the headwall above the Genet Basin?
 
There's another thread on the GB asking what you would want your tombstone to say if you died. It reminded me of a tombstone I saw many years ago. I thought it'd be more appropriate to post it in this thread.

Many years ago, I spent the summer riding my bicycle around Europe. In the middle of the summer, I rode my bike to Zermat, Switzerland, which as many of you know is at the base of The Matterhorn. (In case you're wondering, it's a 20 mile uphill ride to get from the valley, to Zermat.)

In Zermat, there's a graveyard filled with the graves of climbers who died climbing The Matterhorn. Most of the graves that were in English had inscriptions that were sad and forlorn. There was one that was not. It said,

"Let me go climb those virgin snows,
Leave the dark stain of man behind,
Let me adventure and heaven knows,
Grateful shall be my quiet mind."
 
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