Denali Day 2: Base Camp to Camp 1

We made it onto the glacier but barely.

The timing was almost cinematic. We landed, unloaded, and within minutes the cloud cover rolled in and grounded the planes for over an hour. If we’d been five minutes later, we’d still be in Talkeetna.

Once we were on the glacier, we faced our first real decision of the expedition: set up base camp and rest, or push straight to Camp 1.

We pushed.

Looking back — probably not the best call.

Everyone had been up since 5:30 AM. We’d already traveled from Anchorage to Talkeetna to the glacier. We were running on fumes before we took a single step uphill. And the stretch from base camp to Camp 1 is no joke — it’s a long, heavy slog, and you’re carrying everything. All your gear. All your food. All your weight for the weeks ahead.

I was carrying more than I weigh. Every time I stopped, the sled would try to drag me backwards down the mountain. At some point near the end, I had to hand some of my load to Sandro. I didn’t have anything left to give it. He took it without hesitation and kept moving.

That’s the kind of teammate you want on a mountain.

We set camp at 7,300 feet instead of the planned 7,700. A small adjustment, but an important one. Sometimes the right decision isn’t the one on the itinerary — it’s the one that gives your team the best chance to perform the next day. Ego wants the number. Experience wants the outcome.

Setting up camp after a day like that is its own kind of test. You don’t get to just collapse. You have to punch the snow to check for crevasse safety, pitch the tents, inflate the air mattresses, pull out the sleeping bags, boil water, make food. The mountain doesn’t give you a rest until you’ve earned it.

And then Chris made bagels.

I don’t know how to explain it, but food tastes different up here. Better than anything. Altitude, exhaustion, cold air — whatever it is, that bagel sandwich was extraordinary.

Today, Sandro, Chris, and Tom are heading back up to cache a load higher on the mountain — essentially pre-positioning gear so tomorrow’s carry is lighter for everyone. This is how big mountains work. You don’t just go up. You go up, come back, go up further, come back. Loads and moves. Loads and moves. We’re done with single-push days.

Watching some of the larger teams on the mountain, we were a little envious. More people means the weight of pots, fuel, tents, and all the shared gear gets spread thinner. On a mountain like Denali, the team is the strategy.

The second wave of climbers is arriving now as the first wave comes down. The energy on the mountain is shifting. We’re going up as others are finishing.

Spirits are high. Bodies are tired. No blisters yet — which counts as a win.

Something to think about today:

There’s a moment on every hard thing when the plan meets reality and reality wins. The question isn’t whether you’ll have to adjust — you will. The question is whether you can let go of the number on the itinerary and make the call that actually serves the team.

7,300 isn’t 7,700. But we’re all here, healthy, and ready to climb tomorrow. That’s the only number that matters tonight.

Follow along daily as we work our way up Denali on Project Climb Higher.

— Jenn and team, somewhere on the lower mountain