Mount McKinley. Denali. A mountain to strike fear into anyone with as poor a circulation in his feet as I. It`s claimed to be the coldest mountain in the world, but I think that`s misleading. It can probably boast the coldest temperature in absolute terms. If you want to sample what Art Davidson was writing about in his book "Minus 148°", then go there in winter. On the other hand there are many more consistently cold mountains in Antarctica, Mount Vinson being the obvious example. There, things don`t warm up all that much when the sun is out. But McKinley is just further enough away from its respective Pole as to present a more congenial summer target for a slim-hipped nancy-boy like me. And so in June 1992 I joined the charismatic Mark Miller for his last expedition before his tragic death in the PIA crash near Kathmandu a month or so later. Mark had more joie de vivre than any other human being I`ve ever met.
As evidence of Denali`s occasional softer side, here`s Mark showing his lunchbox at the 14,000 foot camp on the West Buttress Route. Don`t tell me you could do that on Vinson, even in summer!
The pictures are presented more or less chronologically, starting with client Norman trying on his ridiculous white neoprene overboats at the Talkeetna airstrip. Good on you, Norm, for upholding British fashion standards in the mountains.
Page two finishes off with a few snaps taken on my first visit to Alaska in 1988, a time when I thought I knew how to use a camera but didn`t really yet. I don`t think that point came until I learnt to use a separate handheld light meter ten years later.