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Some large storms are headed to the Colorado mount

Some large storms are headed to the Colorado mountains this weekend, please plan accordingly!

Have you ever camped in the rain? I went on a solo backpacking trip and I found myself next to a river right above a water fall. I put up my hammock camping set up, read a book, and listened to the river and waterfall grow all night. Oh and not to mention, the pitter patter on the tarp was very calming. One of the most relaxing trips I’ve ever had. I would have never experienced that night if I let weather hold me back.

Tech Tip Tuesday: Use cheap chairs or a table to s

Tech Tip Tuesday: Use cheap chairs or a table to save your campsite while you leave for the day. We've all seen it when we pull up to a campsite and see several chairs by the fire ring holding the spot down. This is a good move by the campsite's occupants. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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I only own cheap chairs and a cheap table because these are the items I feel comfortable leaving behind at a campsite while I adventure. Sure a tent would work but not everyone has a tent. Some people sleep in their vehicle or have a tent attached to their vehicle. Be sure to think ahead and have a few items you can leave behind and save your spot when you're gone. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Common campsite etiquette is if there are items at the campsite, the campsite is taken. Also, please be sure to take any valuables with you if you leave your site!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Story behind the photo: We left a few chairs behind to make sure we kept this spot with a view. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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#outdooradventurer #outdoororegon #rockclimbingadventure #localguides #tripplanning #outdoortravel #selfguidedtour #tripplan #outdoorutah #outdoorcolorado⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
#outdoorarizona #arizonaoutdoors #oregonoutdoors #washingtonoutdoors #nevadaoutdoors #californiaoutdoors #idahooutdoors #guidegap #newenglandoutdoors #vagabond #outdoorguides #guiding #mountainguide #adventureguide

You did it! The last day on Denali. If you enjoyed

You did it! The last day on Denali. If you enjoyed the story please follow GuideGap’s journey of helping people get outside while supporting outdoor professionals and small businesses.

If you or someone you know is trying to get outside but not sure where to go please tell them to use GuideGap! It is simply the best way to know where to go outside.

Back to Denali!

What took us 8 days to climb, we rode down in about four hours. We arrived at basecamp around 2am and just threw our sleeping bags on the ground and went to sleep with no tents.

Yup, just like that, the journey is over and you’re heading back to your normal life. But after an experience life this, it leaves you feeling different. You don’t take things for granted, you love harder, and you live smarter. I guess that’s just how mountaineering works and why we all love it so much!

Denali Summit Day! I wrote about this on the 1st p

Denali Summit Day! I wrote about this on the 1st post.

Since I have a free post, let me tell you a few stories of this amazing group of people.

Evan – He is simply the most reliable and trustworthy mountaineering partner. The guy is laser focused and has the mental and physical stamina to go for days. Evan led us all the way to 14 camp breaking trail, navigating and all that jazz. This is typical for him, he usually runs on 100% efficiency. However, for the most difficult mountain he has ever climbed he was not 100%. The day before a 21 hour summit push he could barely move. To watch him preserver and rise to the occasion and deal with huge adversity and see how he responded was truly a sight to see. Of course he responded in true Evan fashion. On summit day we did not hear a word about his back and he was doing everything he could to make sure the TEAM successful.

Joel – He was a rock of reliability. On summit day he lead the most dangerous section called the Autobahn. The Autobahn has been the scene of more fatalities on Denali than any other part of the mountain. He was spent after 2 hours of leading the Autobahn. The rest of the summit trip up, he kept his head down encouraging team members and pushing through. It was nice to know if something would have happened Joel was there ready to help out.

Nicole – Nicole was the planner and got us on the mountain as prepared as possible. Here’s a story that highlights how strong she is. Nicole got altitude sickness – she claims it was indigestion but she was dry heaving up at 17 camp when we were caching our gear the day before our summit push. When we got back down to 14 camp our body’s needed food however she could not eat because her stomach wouldn’t hold anything down. I’ll never forget the look in her eyes as she told me this. It was pure defeat. However, she woke up the next day at 5am packed her backpack, never said a word about it, and summited Denali the next day on a 21 hour summit push. I cannot imagine the mental effort it took to go from that place to get to the summit but she did it and it was truly a sight to see.

Enjoy the summit everyone

Welcome to 14 camp! This camp is coveted for bette

Welcome to 14 camp! This camp is coveted for better weather and being an arm’s reach away from a summit attempt. We made it to 14 camp in seven days – this means we were two days ahead of schedule! Good thing too because we had found out our weather window was closing on Tuesday and a 7-10 day storm was following it.

We had just arrived at 14 camp Saturday evening. We had two days to pull off a summit attempt which, traditionally, should take four days. We had already shaved off two days and been having consistently large move days, but we trained and were in shape, so we made the call to push for that Tuesday summit.

14 camp is when things ramped up on the difficulty scale, not just because we hadn’t rested in several days but because a team member got hurt in a skiing accident. We went from feeling strong and optimistic, to having a shortened timeframe and a hurt team member. This is how quickly your fortunes can change on Denali and this is why Denali’s success rate is around 50%.

Monday, three members of the team hauled not only our gear but our other team members gear to 17 camp. Our packs were around 40lb’s each. We hauled these packs up around 2000ft of near vertical ice to get to a ridge at 16 thousand feet. Then proceeded another two hours climbing the ridge to 17 camp. We buried all of the gear we could spare and headed down as quickly as possible. We got down around 8-9PM and our team member said his back was feeling much better and he had dinner prepared. The three of us who went up to 17 camp that day were spent. Literally spent, and could have used a rest day or two right there, but we scarfed our food down and went to bed because we were waking up at 5am the next day for our summit push.

#denali #denalinationalpark #mountaineering #mountaineeringlife #climbing #summit #nature #teamsuccess #success #type2fun #alaska #coloradomountainclub #colorado #northamerica #americanalpineclub

Traveling from camp 1 to camp 2 the weather stayed

Traveling from camp 1 to camp 2 the weather stayed the same. No that’s not true, it was the worst white out traveling we have ever done. A guided group of 20+ people were in front of us and their trail was gone within 5 minutes. Evan led the way on this and got us to camp 2 at 11,000ft. We single carried which means we picked up the 100+lb’s of gear and carried it up to camp 2. It was not fun.
We took a rest day here at camp 2 after this single carry day. Nothing too exciting happened - we hauled half our gear closer to 14k camp and then skied down. O, but the riding! The ride back down was amazing. We were on a high until we had to put our sleds back on the following day and haul everything up to 14k camp. To sum up camp 2 - the riding was great, it was great to finally be above the clouds, and it was great to finally see the sun. We’ll see you tomorrow at the coveted 14k camp!

#denali #denalinationalpark #mountaineering #mountaineeringlife #climbing #summit #nature #teamsuccess #success #type2fun #alaska #coloradomountainclub #colorado #northamerica #americanalpineclub

Camp 1: Congrats you made it! You just hauled arou

Camp 1: Congrats you made it! You just hauled around 120lbs of gear for several miles and the best part is your team did not fall into a bottomless crevasse which is the main risk during this stretch of the climb.
Here at camp one it was white out 95% of the time and it seemed like it never stopped snowing. In the photo’s you’ll see an orange teepee looking tent. That’s our cook tent/hang out tent. We had some amazing meals at camp 1, played games, and just focused on staying dry and warm while doing our gear hauling. O, and we battled blisters. We didn’t feel it yet, but this is just the beginning of Denali starting to wear you down from the cold and extreme conditions.

Denali Gear Hauling – how it works:
It usually takes three days to move to the next camp.
Day 1: You move half your gear, mostly food, close to your next camp and bury it in the snow and head back to your camp.
Day 2: You pack up camp and climb to the next camp.
Day 3: You backtrack to retrieve the gear you buried in the snow from day 1 and bring that to the camp you established the day before.
This is the traditional way to haul gear up Denali. Sometimes if you’re feeling strong you can skip a day in this process and just opt to carry all 100+lb’s of your gear to the next camp. We did this a few times.

What is a crevasse? Crevasses are cracks in the snow that can be hidden under a thin layer of snow. Sometimes the snow will give out and you’ll fall into the crevasse. This is why we travel with a rope and are trained in advanced crevasse rescue.

Today’s Tech Tip is all about having the right c

Today’s Tech Tip is all about having the right climbing partners. Our Denali team had the luxury of climbing with each other for years and we knew everyone worked well together - our skills complimented our weaknesses. We were the right mix of personality, skills, endurance, etc. Here’s your chance to meet the team – Evan, Joel, Nicole, and Rob.

Spend time evaluating the people you climb with! A lot of disasters start by people climbing with strangers they don’t evaluate.

Here’s a few questions I ask before climbing with someone:

1) When was the last time you turned around from a climb and why?
a. This shows you their risk tolerance and thinking ability. If someone says they have never turned around, you too should turn around and walk away.

2) How many climbing partners have you had?
a. If they run through climbing partners, it is not a good sign.

3) How did you learn to climb?
a. There are a lot of people with formal training and onsite training and either is fine, but look out for those who refuse to learn new methods of belaying.
b. If you’re climbing with a stranger, always use a GriGri (Belay Device), if possible. I typically ask new climbing partners to use a GriGri instead of a regular belay device because it makes me feel better and if they are insulted, I shouldn’t climb with them anyway.

4) How many avalanches have you been in?
a. If they say more than zero – double think here.

5) This is not a question but if they show up with only new, shiny, unused gear….double think.

Ultimately, people climb with strangers all the time and everything goes well, but make sure you evaluate people and only push yourself with the people you trust.

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