Quoted in the April 2008 issue of Scientific American, the above joke from an Internet climbing chat room sums it all up. Climbing Denali is about withstanding different levels of sucking. Oh, friendship and great company will also get you a long way.

In the winter of 2007/2008, a group of climbers and friends started planning an ascent of Denali in Alaska. For some, being US state high-pointers, the mountain was a natural choice. For others, it was the next adventure to look forward to. The Denali Vikings were born.

Being the nice and unassuming folks that we are, the team quickly decided that getting help with route finding and logistics would be prudent; a guide would help expand the safety margin that we all wanted. Following a lengthy and thorough interview process with all six of the authorized guide services in Denali National Park, we picked Mountain Trip.

After showing Bill & Todd at Mountain Trip our skills (or perhaps lack thereof) with long lists of questions on equipment and preparations, they assigned their best and brightest, Kevin & Joe, to join our team and lead the way.

On the mountain, we met climbers from all around the world, including other teams led by guides from Mountain Trip. In high camp at 17,200 ft, we had the good fortune of adding Ali to our rope for the third summit attempt. After summiting with us on June 7th, Ali joined the vikings for the descent to base camp and celebrations in Talkeetna and Anchorage.