Team Dom Denali Attempt Day by Day

[Tom Rankin]

Great read Mats! It all sounds so familiar...

Nat and I are in Anchorage now, flying out early Wednesday morning.
We summited on the 19th at 7:15PM...admittedly one of the toughest day of our lives. We got really lucky with the weather compared to you guys.

Looking forward to share stories at Bearly Live 08.

WOOHOO!Way to go Jean et Nat!

 

[leaf]

Gratz Jean and Nat

 

[Mats Roing]

Wicked Awesome Jean and Nat!!!!!

Thanks for upping the summit % this year

We'll bring champagne to BarelyLive

 

[yvon]

Bravo Jean et Nathalie, c'est fantastique

 

[Frodo]

Excellent job Jean and Nat! Well done! Welcome back to the land of showers, toilets, and "real food". Enjoy!

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

Congrats, Jean and Nat!

West Butt, or West Rib?

 

[Neil]

Congratulations Jean and Nat. Pretty hard to beat a combination of hard work (with the preparations) and good luck (with the weather)!

 

[shelley]

Excellent job, You have inspired me to look forward to someday experiencing the same event.

 

[Jean]

Congrats, Jean and Nat!

West Butt, or West Rib?

West Butt...our permit was for the Upper West Rib but once we made it to 14K camp we had a team meeting and evaluated that our technical skills might not be adequate for that route.

 

[timmus]

Nat and I are in Anchorage now, flying out early Wednesday morning.
We summited on the 19th at 7:15PM.

HOURRA !! Eh bien bravo à vous deux, good job.

On se voit bientôt j'espère.

-Julie

 

[prino]

Bravo Jean et Nathalie!!.... sounds like we're gonna need another beer night to celebrate.

 

[SherpaKroto]

Finally got back to this. This was such a great read: almost felt like I was there! And then to get icing in the cake with Hamtero's, and Jean and Nat's news. Life is good, very good!

 

[arm]

added 20 of Rob's pictures to the end of my Denali album (click on "full size" links - Rob's pics are pretty good)

http://community.webshots.com/user/armtrips


more random thoughts ...

going away on trips can help "flush away" the routine of everyday life, like pressing a reset button that refreshes your spirit and lends a temporary fresh outlook on life (the way life should be)

when you return home, you might encounter some random hassle, where people get mad at the world for no apparent reason, and just shake your head and wonder what makes people get so uptight about things that really don't matter ...

that feeling of "freedom" can last a day, a week, maybe forever ...

Mike Holt and i were talking about this before the Denali trip ... he was heading to Iceland for a few weeks ... we agreed that we should hold onto this refreshing frame of mind as long as possible ...

it took months to feel like i had "returned to the unreal world" ... longer than any trip i've ever been on ... maybe a combination of finally reaching Alaska, the experience of climbing Denali with a great team of friends, the prospect of jamming with the Bluffs at Bearly Live ... life has been pretty good lately

if you've got something on your wish list, go for it ... you might find your self saying "woulda coulda shoulda" someday
.

reading "The Snow Lepoard" while we climbed Denali was very cool ... Mattiessen's account of their spiritual quest through high mountain passes of the Himalayas drew several parallels to our journey, and added to the overall "good feeling" of spending a few weeks in one of the most beautiful places on Earth

 

[Neil]

Arm, you really nailed it.

Going away and doing something completely different and big changes your perspective, head space, tolerance level etc.

Then you come back to the same old bullshit you left behind 2 or 3 weeks earlier and you know you have changed but the bullshit and the people who generate that bullshit haven't.

Some of the things we live through are so big and so important that even though the bullshit is still there it just isn't big enough to touch us.

Thank you Arm, Frodo, Mats, Stinky and the rest of team Dom for going so many light years beyond it all. Thank you very much.