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Podcast: Doing Denali Light Part 2
Carol Crooker talks with Matt Hage and Agnes Stowe who have just returned from their summit attempt of Denali. A successful trip going ultralight.
by Carol Crooker | 2007-06-12 03:00:00-06
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Matt Hage and Agnes Stowe are back from their Denali expedition. They traveled in lightweight style, never carrying more than 30 pounds in their packs. This trip was Matt's fourth time on Denali and Agnes' first. Both are in high spirits and truly enjoyed their experience. Even though they were held back by bad weather for a week at the 14,000 foot camp, their tale is in stark contrast to the misery experienced by many Denali expeditioners who haul 60 plus pound packs up the mountain.
In this podcast Matt and Agnes discuss the progression of their ascent, Guinness at 14,000 feet, other climbers' comments about their "porch," and the lightweight gear that worked for them and the gear they would replace on a second attempt.
To learn more about Matt, visit his web page here.
Citation
"Podcast: Doing Denali Light Part 2," by Carol Crooker. BackpackingLight.com (ISSN 1537-0364).
http://backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/podcast_061107_doing_denali_light_part_2.html, 2007-06-12 03:00:00-06.
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U.S. Library of Congress Serial Registrations: BackpackingLight.com (electronic, ISSN 1537-0364) & Backpacking Light Magazine (print, ISSN 1550-4417)
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Forum Index » Editor's Roundtable » Doing Denali Light
(bugbomb) - M
Locale: South Texas
Companion forum thread to:
Doing Denali Light
Podcast: Doing Denali Light Part 1
Podcast: Doing Denali Light Part 2
Edited by bugbomb on 06/12/2007 22:36:35 MDT.
(Jkrew81) - M
Locale: White Mtns
Great podcast today guys. I am always looking for ways to lighten my winter kit so any kind of insight is always appreciated. Any chance on posting the gearlist for this trip?
(cmcrooker) - MLife
Locale: Desert Southwest, USA
We may be able to get a gear list post-trip.
(Brett1234)
Locale: CA
Any word on how the trip is going?
edit: Thank you Carol
Edited by Brett1234 on 05/30/2007 20:18:52 MDT.
(cmcrooker) - MLife
Locale: Desert Southwest, USA
No word yet from Matt and Agnes. They planned to check in some time between May 26-29.
(cmcrooker) - MLife
Locale: Desert Southwest, USA
Matt left me a message on May 31 from Camp Four at 14K feet, located just below the Headwall. He sounded great! We weren't able to connect for an interview. Camp Four is traditionally a place to rest for a few days to acclimatize and then head to High Camp.
Edited by cmcrooker on 06/03/2007 11:16:11 MDT.
(ryan) - BPL Staff - MLife
Locale: Greater Yellowstone
Matt left us an email yesterday with a brief update:
"We just flew off the Kahiltna this morning ending our 14-day Denali trip. Ags and I had a great time on the West Buttress this season. We got to weather out some serious storms with interesting people, put some gear through the ringer and push our limits both physically and mentally. Our project was the talk of camp up there in May. We set-up our 8x10 siltarp in what we called front-porch mode at 14, 300 ft camp. Everyone stopped by for tea on the porch. We did sorely underestimate the need for a full sized shovel on that mountain. Digging out camp with the snow claws was quite a process. But a full trip report it to come shortly.
Sorry that we couldn't connect on the route. Our two weeks was plagued by severe storm systems that wreaked havoc on cell phones and sat phone connections. I did manage to get a call through on a sat phone during one of the calmer days. We spent a full week at camp 3 (14,300 ft) trying to gain passage to the upper mountain. But high winds, no visibility and very low temps (the trifecta) beat us down on three attempts. We finally ran out of time on Sat and headed down with a lenticular still on the summit and a forecast that a 'real' storm system was due on Monday. That was very hard on the psyche, especially since we were cruising up the mountain for the whole first week. A great intro to big mountains for Agnes."
(henryliu)
Bummer it didn't work out. Can we get the gear list? I'm interested how they travelled so light.
(cmcrooker) - MLife
Locale: Desert Southwest, USA
Matt and Agnes will be submitting a trip report including gear list and photos. Matt will also do a wrap up podcast with me.
(mohid)
I'd be very interested to know what systems they found were too light or not up to snuff for a real mountain.
I'd like to avoid any mistakes.
(cmcrooker) - MLife
Locale: Desert Southwest, USA
Hi Robert,
That is on my list of questions for the podcast.
(henryliu)
Any idea when the interview is taking place?
(cmcrooker) - MLife
Locale: Desert Southwest, USA
I interviewed Matt and Agnes post trip on Friday night. We'll hopefully have it ready to publish this Tuesday.
(henryliu)
Awesome. Looking forward to it. I feel a shopping spree coming on when the gear list comes out :)
(mohid)
Great podcast, thanks Carol.
Would it be possible to get a full, skin out, gear list from Matt?
I'm especially interested in his food choices and the little luxuries he brought for camp life.
(cmcrooker) - MLife
Locale: Desert Southwest, USA
Matt is submitting a gear list and trip report for publishing.
(mohid)
Ahhh... the perils of the post-expedition follow-up :)
(mohid)
*cough*
(henryliu)
Any ETA on the gear list? Thanks.
(sumo) - M
Locale: Southern Quebec
C'est la vie.
You live and learn from these attempts and hopefully the next attempt will be successful.