Local Columns
Would you carry about 50 pounds of food up a mountain?
By Bernie Hohman
According to some estimates, the average American consumes about 3,700 calories a day. This greatly exceeds the amount the average person requires. On Denali, the average climber's body needs 5,000-6,000 calories a day just to maintain weight and strength.
In Tiffin it would not be too hard to find 6,000 calories of food per day. A quick tour of the awesome pizza restaurants and buffets would get a person to this total pretty quickly. Unfortunately, there are no buffet restaurants on the flanks of Denali.
Each climber must carry 20-25 days of food either in a backpack or on a sled dragged behind him. Most climbers attempt to get the high caloric requirement from about 2.5-3 pounds of food a day per person. Quick math reveals each climber is likely carrying (or dragging) at least 50 pounds of just food! When all the gear is added to the food weight, climbers are facing the task of hauling nearly 120 pounds up the mountain.
Thankfully, that huge total is not carried in its entirety for too long. At base camp on the Kahiltna Glacier, three to five days of food is cached. Climbers cache on Denali by digging pits several feet deep into the glacier ice and burying the food or gear being stashed. Park rangers recommend food be down at least three feet to prevent ravens from digging it out. Climbers cache this food at base camp because poor weather can stop flights to and from the glacier for days on end.
Each cache must be marked with wands indicating which climbing team owns the cache and what date it was placed. We registered our official team name, Powersauce, with the National Park Service a few weeks ago. All Denali climbers are required to go through an orientation meeting with rangers and pay a $200 fee for a climbing permit. A part of this registration is naming the expedition for use with caches and for all communication with the NPS.
Fans of "The Simpsons" TV show will no doubt recognize the reference to the episode in which Homer climbs the highest mountain in Springfield - The Murderhorn. A little pop culture reference is always interesting, and our team thought the name apropos as we are fans of the show ourselves.
Food also is cached in a few other locations along the route and often climbers do what is known as a double carry, which greatly reduce the weight being hauled at any one time. For example, climbers camped at the 14,300 feet camp often climb to 16,000 feet and cache food and gear for the next day and then climb back down to the 14,300 feet camp. This lightens the load for the next day and aids the climber in acclimatizing to the high elevation.
The camp, at 14,300 feet, resembles a small town. In this large basin, climbing teams usually spend several days acclimatizing and gearing up for the summit push. During the busiest time of the climbing season, dozens upon dozens of tents are arranged in "neighborhoods" across the basin.
The next day climbers would move the remaining gear up to the 17,200 feet camp (high camp on Denali) and then come back for the cache at 16,000 feet. Traveling over the same part of the route twice with half the weight is often more desirable than schlepping well more than 100 pounds of gear, food, and fuel up the mountain all at once.
Right now, with less than two months until we are on the mountain, Matt, Melissa, Glenn and I are busy planning meals and packing food into three-day bundles for caching. The challenge is to find good-tasting food and light food with high calories. Many of these foods need to be repackaged and combined to save waste, space and weight.
Another challenge is an unfortunate side effect of high elevation -- the dulling of the appetite. Many climbers find it hard to eat the bland food they packed. In an effort to combat this lack of desire to eat, we will be packing hot sauces, pepper and other spices to make the 6,000 calories of food per day more palatable.
Often on climbing trips I have felt like the kid whose mom packed him a ham and cheese sandwich, but he wanted peanut butter and jelly. That kid will be looking to trade even before lunch starts. On Denali, finding someone willing to trade their bland food for someone else's bland food will be a serious challenge as well.
This food disappointment has probably happened to most of us at one time or another. The difference on Denali is we cannot just head out to West Market Street and grab a few tacos or burgers to replace the lousy food we packed. We must be deliberate and we must test the combinations of foods ahead of time. Our team has had enough climbing experience to know the foods we unequivocally despise; however, as the elevation increases conventional wisdom is our tastes will likely change.
So, on your next weekly grocery visit, gaze down into your cart and imagine carrying all of it on your back in a backpack or dragging it home on sled behind you. Then imagine doing this voluntarily and paying the NPS for the permit to do it! This is our reality, and we cannot wait to get our boots on the glacier June 4.
A brief blog of our training and trip is located at:
www.denaliin2008.info
More info about our mountain adventures
www.thesummitridge.com
In Tiffin it would not be too hard to find 6,000 calories of food per day. A quick tour of the awesome pizza restaurants and buffets would get a person to this total pretty quickly. Unfortunately, there are no buffet restaurants on the flanks of Denali.
Each climber must carry 20-25 days of food either in a backpack or on a sled dragged behind him. Most climbers attempt to get the high caloric requirement from about 2.5-3 pounds of food a day per person. Quick math reveals each climber is likely carrying (or dragging) at least 50 pounds of just food! When all the gear is added to the food weight, climbers are facing the task of hauling nearly 120 pounds up the mountain.
Thankfully, that huge total is not carried in its entirety for too long. At base camp on the Kahiltna Glacier, three to five days of food is cached. Climbers cache on Denali by digging pits several feet deep into the glacier ice and burying the food or gear being stashed. Park rangers recommend food be down at least three feet to prevent ravens from digging it out. Climbers cache this food at base camp because poor weather can stop flights to and from the glacier for days on end.
Each cache must be marked with wands indicating which climbing team owns the cache and what date it was placed. We registered our official team name, Powersauce, with the National Park Service a few weeks ago. All Denali climbers are required to go through an orientation meeting with rangers and pay a $200 fee for a climbing permit. A part of this registration is naming the expedition for use with caches and for all communication with the NPS.
Fans of "The Simpsons" TV show will no doubt recognize the reference to the episode in which Homer climbs the highest mountain in Springfield - The Murderhorn. A little pop culture reference is always interesting, and our team thought the name apropos as we are fans of the show ourselves.
Food also is cached in a few other locations along the route and often climbers do what is known as a double carry, which greatly reduce the weight being hauled at any one time. For example, climbers camped at the 14,300 feet camp often climb to 16,000 feet and cache food and gear for the next day and then climb back down to the 14,300 feet camp. This lightens the load for the next day and aids the climber in acclimatizing to the high elevation.
The camp, at 14,300 feet, resembles a small town. In this large basin, climbing teams usually spend several days acclimatizing and gearing up for the summit push. During the busiest time of the climbing season, dozens upon dozens of tents are arranged in "neighborhoods" across the basin.
The next day climbers would move the remaining gear up to the 17,200 feet camp (high camp on Denali) and then come back for the cache at 16,000 feet. Traveling over the same part of the route twice with half the weight is often more desirable than schlepping well more than 100 pounds of gear, food, and fuel up the mountain all at once.
Right now, with less than two months until we are on the mountain, Matt, Melissa, Glenn and I are busy planning meals and packing food into three-day bundles for caching. The challenge is to find good-tasting food and light food with high calories. Many of these foods need to be repackaged and combined to save waste, space and weight.
Another challenge is an unfortunate side effect of high elevation -- the dulling of the appetite. Many climbers find it hard to eat the bland food they packed. In an effort to combat this lack of desire to eat, we will be packing hot sauces, pepper and other spices to make the 6,000 calories of food per day more palatable.
Often on climbing trips I have felt like the kid whose mom packed him a ham and cheese sandwich, but he wanted peanut butter and jelly. That kid will be looking to trade even before lunch starts. On Denali, finding someone willing to trade their bland food for someone else's bland food will be a serious challenge as well.
This food disappointment has probably happened to most of us at one time or another. The difference on Denali is we cannot just head out to West Market Street and grab a few tacos or burgers to replace the lousy food we packed. We must be deliberate and we must test the combinations of foods ahead of time. Our team has had enough climbing experience to know the foods we unequivocally despise; however, as the elevation increases conventional wisdom is our tastes will likely change.
So, on your next weekly grocery visit, gaze down into your cart and imagine carrying all of it on your back in a backpack or dragging it home on sled behind you. Then imagine doing this voluntarily and paying the NPS for the permit to do it! This is our reality, and we cannot wait to get our boots on the glacier June 4.
A brief blog of our training and trip is located at:
www.denaliin2008.info
More info about our mountain adventures
www.thesummitridge.com
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