DENALI: WHAT THE MOUNTAIN DECIDES
"The scale up there is crazy. Lines that look like maybe 2,000 feet are actually 6,000, and it's hard to comprehend until you see a person on it looking like an ant." Sienna Petersen
Skimo teammates Landon Jakob and Sienna Petersen had talked about Denali for years before they went. The idea came from Sienna's dad, inspired by a group of friends who had made the climb the year before.
Key figures from the expedition
- 11 days from base camp to summit
- 5 feet of snow in a single storm
- Summit reached June 3
- 5000+ foot descent off the summit via the Messner
The team flew from Salt Lake City to Anchorage on May 22, reaching Talkeetna the next day and landing on the glacier on May 24. Eleven days of storm delays, sick days, and gear carries between camps brought the full group to 14,000 foot camp. Landon and Sienna summited together on June 3, alongside teammates Brad and Ben. From there, the trip split in two.
A health issue on the descent cut Sienna's trip short, ending her season on the mountain earlier than planned. Landon and Ben kept going: off the summit and into the Messner, a couloir over 5,000 feet long, icy and wind scoured up high before opening into soft snow, then powder, the lower they went. Eleven hours round trip and one of the biggest days either of them has skied.
They didn't stop there. A wait at 14,000 foot camp for fresh snow led to Kahiltna Dome, a bailed headwall that wasn't worth the risk in bad conditions, and a final run off the radio tower ridge: a 60 degree face, the steepest either has linked turns on. The two flew off the glacier on June 11.
Landon and Sienna's Denali expedition is a reminder that the summit is rarely the whole story, and that even a trip cut short is still a trip worth telling.
Talk of Sultana Ridge is already underway for next spring.
