Denali Climb IV

[Jim Dockery]

Orient Final 1

• Jim Dockery
• Feb 13, 2018

Pat climbing into The Orient Express couloir on our last attempt. We only make it half way up the rib to the right (avoiding dangerous wind slab snow). Note the spindrift blowing off the top.

Jim Descent 1

• Jim Dockery
• Feb 13, 2018

Me heading down. Some steep spots it was easier to carry the skis. This was one of the harder days for me, loosing 7,000 ft. of elevation with heavy loads.

Denali (257)

• Jim Dockery
• Feb 15, 2018

It was raining when we reached the landing strip area and we thought we might have to wait a few days for a clearing to fly, but our pilot found an opening and got in. Flying out was a bit scary, but also beautiful when he had to take a different route out just above the glacier.

Denali (259)

• Jim Dockery
• Feb 13, 2018

Kahiltna Glacier

Denali (262)

• Jim Dockery
• Feb 13, 2018

Pat about to chow down on our first meal in Talketna - pizza of course!

Denali (270)

• Jim Dockery
• Feb 16, 2018

We had a few days to wait for our ride to Anchorage since we'd come down early. A visit to the cemetery filled with climbers memorials was mandatory. I was kind of glad we hadn't gone before the climb.

Denali (271)

• Jim Dockery
• Feb 16, 2018

An friend of mine.

Denali (287)

• Jim Dockery
• Feb 16, 2018

When we got to Anchorage we still had a couple days before Pat flew out so our friend Troy put us up at his place where we worked for our room and board on his new shed.

Of course when I got home I had a lot of fun work to do with the pictures, with the goal of making a slide show to show the kids at school with the themes: have a dream, work toward it with baby steps (in my case years of easier climbs), research the specific steps to realize it (equipment, transportation, permits, etc.), train hard, then go for it and take advantage of serendipity.

Denali (118) Copy

• Jim Dockery
• Feb 16, 2018

Storm Clouds over Foraker

Denali (125)

• Jim Dockery
• Feb 16, 2018

Climbers at 12,000 ft.

Denali (183)

• Jim Dockery
• Feb 16, 2018

Skiing from 16,000

View E

• Jim Dockery
• Feb 16, 2018

View down from the summit.

I'll end with one of my favorite quotes, taken from Mt. Analogue by Rene Daumal.

“You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place? Just this: What is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up. When one can no longer see, one can at least still know.”

Part III

 

[Ben Egbert]

This is a fantastic series for this forum, great work putting it together and I am in awe of your accomplishments.

 

[AlanLichty]

Great story and image sequence in this whole set. Thanks for putting all this together and sharing it! I have a much different point of view for such an undertaking now.

 

[JimFox]

This is super cool Jim! Interesting reading and great shots again. The one where you are skiing from 16,000 feet at first glance it looks like there is an explosion going off in the background.

 

[Jim Dockery]

Thanks guys. Story telling slide shows are a long tradition in climbing that I was raised with in my dad's climbing club. This is why I initially got into photography back in the 60s with an Argus C3. I still work hard to put shows together on my Mac computer (which is hard wired to my big screen TV) using Fotomagico software.

 

[Jim Sanderson]

Dang, quite a trip. The ski down from 16,000’ looks like a blast.

 

[Rafael]

Wow Jim! This was a great series! I love how you also showed this to your students as an inspirational lesson!

That's a great quote you shared from Rene Daumal, too!

applause as I find this inspirational! Thanks for sharing this!

 

[Jim Dockery]

Thanks for all your comments Rafael, welcome to Focal World!