Denali National Park & Preserve Annual Mountaineering Summary-2004
A SEASON OF SOARING TEMPERATURES
Raindrops were falling at the Kahiltna Base- events, the massive rockslide and the discov- camp the first week of May as unusually ery of human remains, were precipitated by Inside This Issue: warm temperatures (unpleasantly) surprised the record-breaking temperatures in the early season climbers. Longtime mountain- Alaska Range. Introduction 1 eers can’t recall a season so balmy, with offi- cial temperatures throughout Alaska break- In addition to all of our wonderful mountain- Statistical Year in 2 ing state records. As summer temperatures eering volunteers, this year we were particu- Review soared, most of the glaciers inside Denali larly fortunate to have a patrol of seasoned First Ascents and 3 National Park experienced considerable Grand Teton National Park climbing rangers Interesting Statistics melt-out. Previous landing areas on many who performed several difficult and life sav- glaciers were riddled with crevasses running Clean Mountain Can 4 ing rescues. Renny Jackson, former Denali Update every direction, thereby preventing landings mountaineering ranger, co-led the first patrol after mid-July. of the season along with Denali mountain- Record Breaking 4 Climb eering ranger John Loomis. The experienced Denali’s unpredictable potency once again Teton patrol members saved the life of an Denali Pro Award 5 became evident this climbing season when a incapacitated Korean climber just above Climber Letter 5 massive rockslide at Windy Corner hurled Denali Pass. They performed this rescue in down car-sized boulders. Tragically, this “full weather conditions” along with a strong Rescue Summary 6-7 unusual, colossal event killed climber Clint pair of British climbers, Andy Perkins and West, age 47, and severely injured two oth- Neil McNab, who were chosen for the 2004 South District Staff 8 ers on the same rope team as they descended Denali Pro Award for their contribution to from the 14,200-foot camp. Ironically, this this significant rescue. is one of the few accidents in the history of
Denali mountaineering where human error Revised Mountaineering was not the key factor involved. Booklet now on the web! The grave of deceased mountaineer Gary Cole eroded and was partially exposed at the Climbers can now access our 17,200-foot high camp. Cole died in 1969 newly updated mountaineering from HAPE and was buried in a shallow booklet in .pdf format at grave by a medical research team that was on the mountain at the time of the death. The www.nps.gov/dena. The English Alaska State Medical Examiner, the Alaska revision is complete, and we aim to State Troopers, and the NPS Regional Direc- get the information translated into tor agreed to allow for his reburial after the identification of the climber with helpful in- multiple languages within the next formation from the family. Gary Cole was couple years. Currently, lowered to the 14,200-foot camp and rebur- ied by a National Park Service mountaineer- international climbers can access ing patrol in a deep and undisclosed location. the older version of the booklet in We can only speculate that these two unusual seven languages on our website. Page 2 2004 Mountaineering Summary
2004 STATISTICAL YEAR IN REVIEW
In terms of international makeup, climbers came from 42 nations. The 1,275 climbers attempted Mt. McKinley, with 51% reaching top countries represented include: the summit. 16 attempted Mt. Foraker, four reached the top.