July 10, 1974
Eric on Denali 7-10-74 (Pat Lathrop)
Fifty years ago today I made my first ascent of Denali, the culmination of a successful 41 day “Denali Traverse 1974” expedition. I was 19 years old with over 20 Rainier ascents and one season as an RMI guide under my belt, but was already very experienced at suffering. We started in early June from Kantishna on the north side of the Alaska Range, where legendary bush pilot Don Sheldon dropped us off. It was a total epic, crossing the tundra, carrying loads up the Muldrow Glacier, an attempt at the Taylor Spur approach to Pioneer Ridge, climbing the Karstens Ridge instead, a vicious multi day storm up on the Harper Glacier that caused most of our food and fuel to be avalanched away, and finally a 5 day long storm spent in a snow cave at Denali Pass with 2 days of food. When we reached the top I was completely out of food except for a fist size chunk of frozen Velveeta cheese, with the descent to Kahiltna Base Camp still to contend with. I remember we got buzzed on the summit by two F4 Phantom jets, pilots waving flying upside down, a hundred feet over our heads, At 17 camp we dug up Ray Genet’s old snow cave and found some ramen noodles. The entire expedition we were alone on the mountain until we got to Kahiltna Base Camp and met a Polish team that gave us some food. I lost 25 pounds, it was a great trip! Thanks to my fellow Tacoma area climbers Larry Heggerness (leader), Jerry Hasfjord, Carl Fabiani, Tim Gage, and high school buddies Mike Reed and Pat Lathrop. It’s amazing to remember what it was like to be young and strong and immortal, unwilling to take no for an answer.
Eric Simonson