GRIT&ROCK Blog

  Epic is the only word I have for the last 48 hours of climbing the Cassin ridge route on Denali. True alpine adventure with no climbing aids like belays or fixed ropes, utter remoteness, extreme exposure and bestial beauty. Wednesday, the first day of the climb … [Read more...]

After 4 days of waiting in a whiteout, last night we used a brief break in weather to move up the Death Valley to our cache. We traded the comfort of two tents, fresh food and avalanche-safe location for a small bivy tent, freeze-dried food and a campsite surrounded by … [Read more...]

    Late Saturday night we used a short-lived break in foul weather to explore the Death Valley and get to the bottom of an icefall below the West Rib ridge to deposit our cache for Cassin. This year no climber has been to this narrow valley filled … [Read more...]

  How much can it possibly snow in 24 hours? Yesterday it was 1 meter of fresh snow. Today it's forecasted to be 1.5 meters. Day two of a whiteout. It's Friday and the weather outlook looks the same until ... next Wednesday. This is when the forecast ends :). Good … [Read more...]

An early Everest summit meant that I could squeeze in an unplanned week of family time in London before my appointment with the park service on Denali. This past week felt like a never-ending feast of sensations: smelling my kids hair, falling asleep while reading with Theo, … [Read more...]