Commit. Set big goals and fully commit. The payoff is supposed to be a wonderful journey, maybe an epic, but certainly achievement of the goal. Perhaps the Weather Gods will deny you, but the struggle will be valiant. The family motto - God hates a coward. Of course, we generally blast that message while playing a cut throat game of cards after a big holiday dinner. That motto can be applied to climbing as long as the corollary - God gave you a brain - is also applied.

Time is ticking, sufficient number and skilled partners weren't breaking down my doors demanding we go forth and climb Denali. I really don't like climbing with strangers or letting someone else make big decisions for me. Pick a poison - sign up with a concessionaire and go to Alaska. 8 middle aged men, 1 "mature woman". This is a recipe for heaven or hell. I'm dreaming of heaven.

The second that the baby bird flew off to college, the commitment began. Months of rock climbing were sacrificed to intense snow slogging. The aerobic workout thread has a few snippets of the insane schedule. Vacation days were squirreled away for a couple of years. In the best shape of my life, I arrived in Alaska, along with a few extra pounds of insulation.

The mountain's defenses were deployed immediately. Four long days, we sat in the hangar at Talkeetna waiting for the clouds to lift enough to fly onto the glacier.
So if you would like a run down of the eateries in Talkeetna, I can give you a complete report of best breakfast, best burger, best wine list,....

Finally the word came to go. We had lots of practice loading and unloading the plane, and I think we now hold the record for fastest load by non-professionals. The airstrip was chaotic with the teams desperate to get off or get onto the glacier.
We traveled on the night schedule since the crevasses were opening up. Of course there is great wisdom in doing so, but I longed for later starts and the warmth of the sun. We were on an accelerated schedule to make up time. Three big days, carrying and dragging 100 pounds per person, were required to get to 11,200' Camp. I was amazed that I could actually do this at only 125 pounds.
At this elevation, we began the tried and true method of cache, move up, retrieve cache over three days. Conditions were fabulous, with fairly firm snow on Motorcycle Hill, Squirrel Hill, and no wind on Windy Corner. 14,200' Camp was sunny and inviting, at least initially.
A two day blizzard wreaked havoc with the snow walls. In 40 mph winds with 60 mph gusts, we reinforced and built more snow walls. We are quite confident that this structure could be seen from the international space station.
The cache above the fixed lines was my highpoint. While that segment of the climb looks boring from camp, the views on it are superb.

The descent was an endurance fest. We left 14 Camp at 6 PM and arrived at 11,200' Camp about 9:30. One of my rope-mates was a little freaked out by the styrofoam snow around Windy Corner and Squirrel Hill. At 11,200', another team greeted us with water and helped stamp out a platform for our tents. Before we knew it, we were horizontal with warm food. The rest stop was short, 1 1/2 hours in our tents, before we resumed our downhill trudge laden with even more group gear - aka trash. The glacier was much more broken up, and five men took the plunge to their shoulders in front of me. For once, being small was an advantage, and I glided across the man-eater. We arrived at the airstrip at 10:30 in the morning. As we weighed our loads for the plane, I was shocked to see I had dragged 110 pounds down the hill.

The planes arrived at 1:30, bouncing on the softening snow. Even with snowshoes, we were post-holing as we loaded the planes. I snagged the copilot seat on the flight out and was treated to great views of the glacier.

No summit. I returned with 10 fingers, ten toes, 9 toenails, and four pounds less than I started. The pink underwear buried on the mountain is mine.

Did summit fever cured? No. I am staring at the phone, waiting for it to ring with folks who want to climb. I am thinking about buying a lottery ticket so I can quit work and take all the time I need to climb what I want. Failure is when you quit before you succeed. I haven't quit yet.