A month ago my father returned from quite a unique journey. Along with a friend, he went to Denali National Park in Alaska to reach the peak of Mt McKinley. With its 6194m (20 320 feet) the highest peak of North Amerika.
I wasn't there so I can't tell you what they experienced. I'm going to try and tell you what they told me. I made a very small selection of some photographs to create a bit of atmosphere. And don't be fooled by the photographs, you only take pictures when the sun is shining...
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Let's start with the route they had to take to get to Denali Basecamp. First of we are in Belgium, so their journey begins in Antwerp were they took the train to Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Next they had to catch a plain to Anchorage, wich is the closest they could get to Denali by plain. They had to change flights twice, in Chicago and Denver.
I believe it took them a day or two to get to Anchorage where they spent two nights in a bed and breakfast before taking a minibus up to Talkeetna. Next step Denali Basecamp. The obvious is to take a plane that lands at basecamp, the other option is to hike three weeks through boggy lands and up the glacier. Once in basecamp the real journey begins.
They were the first this season to take the challenge of the climb. Not even basecamp was yet set up. And before this entry is way too long I will just mention in short that they did not reach the top due to stormy weather. They also lost some of their material (wich has partially been recovered).
Bellow: the plain after landing at basecamp and first camp set up.
My father enjoying his dinner.
The tent out in the open and my father relaxing in the sun.
Some pictures illustrating the storm at the McKinley peak.
In order to secure their tent they had to build a wall of snow. This is what you can see in the first picture. The second picture is just another view.
The first picture shows my father and his friend getting ready to cook, the other two pictures are some more stormy mountain tops.
