Mr Moderate Goes to Denali

"Your goal in training is to make yourself indestructible." – Mark Twight

I have a long way to go to be "indestructible." I'll settle for "not getting totally trashed."

My climbing partners for this trip include Erol Altay (Chicago) and Andrzej Slawinski (Calgary). We are "well-seasoned," hah. Expeditions on Denali are required to have names, we are calling ours the "AAA Expedition."

Much has been written about the West Buttress climb on Denali. I will dispense with the usual general information that you can find on many other sites.

This is my fourth trip to Alaska, so I have a clue about what to expect. The West Buttress requires two things: 1) Endurance; 2) Patience. I can train for the first.

It's pretty hard to train too much, and I have pushed it to near the point of injury, then backing off and resting. Consider this the efforts of an average climber so perhaps it's relevant to you.

The emphasis is on endurance and aerobics. This is accomplished mainly by running, and also several workouts of hiking with mountain boots and a 40-pound pack. The goal here was altitude. Erol and I lapped the trails at Devil's Lake State Park in Wisconsin with the goal of 3,000 vertical feet. The weather this spring in Wisconsin has been surprisingly cooperative. I missed only one training date due to a spring snowstorm.

For core strength I have been practicing yoga for many years, first Bikram and currently Ashtanga, which I prefer.

Here is my training log for the West Buttress climb.

If you want to comment on this or other climbing-related topics, see the topic Mr Moderate Goes to Denali on the Climbing Central forums.

— Eric Landmann (aka Mr Moderate), May 10, 2011