Monte Denali

Route:Moscow – Anchorage – Talkeetna – Lake Kahiltna – summit of Mount McKinley (Denali) – descent via the ascent route.

Information:Seven Summits Project. Seven Summits Expeditions and Travel Club. Climb via the classic route (West Buttress). Note: The Seven Summits Club is the only Russian company officially authorized to organize commercial expeditions to Mount McKinley. We work with one of the six licensed US companies and have the exclusive right to offer guiding services on McKinley. Our club representative organizes this program once a year. Climbing Mount McKinley, the highest peak in North America, is sometimes compared to the difficulty of ascending Mount Everest. It’s truly harsh and cold: tents pitched amidst vast expanses of deserted snow, glaciers riddled with crevasses, and temperatures plummeting to -25-35 degrees Celsius. Generally speaking, it’s essential to think carefully before embarking on such an adventure. The proposed route is a classic ascent to the summit of McKinley (or Denali, which in the Aleut language means “high” or “large”), via the West Buttress.

Most of the route traverses a closed glacier (its surface covered in snow with no visible ice crevasses). This route, with its snow and ice, doesn’t present major technical difficulties, although the slope in some sections can reach 40-45 degrees. These sections are equipped with handrails. The route (with a total length of approximately 30 km) passes through the Kahiltna glacial camps, at 2400, 3000, and 3300 meters. It involves about 15 km on snowshoes, pulling a loaded sled. Next, there is a fairly long traverse through the “Windy Corner” at 4330 m. This is the advanced base camp (ranger camp). Then, you reach the assault camp at 5200 m, and from there, via the “Denali Pass,” you ascend to the summit. The route is complicated by the very low temperatures (making even going to the bathroom a problem) and the abundance of large crevasses.