Mt Denali 2011Next May will see intrepid IT Professional, Ray Smith and his climbing partner Steve Berry will attempt to climb Mt Denali in a challenge that will test their endurance to the limits and raise money for Help for Hero's.
A Message from Ray... In May next year I’m off to Alaska to climb Mt Denali via the West Buttress route with my friend Steve Berry. Denali is the highest mountain in the North Americas at 6194 Metres it’s not one of the highest in the world but being so close to the Arctic circle the conditions can be worse than on Everest.
Steve and I will be climbing alone without any support or guide, having to carry all the equipment and supplies we need on our backs or by sledges. We are planning on being away for 4 weeks and if conditions are favourable and we summit quickly enough we then plan to attempt to climb Mt Foraker via the Sultana ridge route. Denali is our main aim but after summiting we should be acclimatised enough to try a fast accent of Foraker and as we are already out there we may as well make the most of it About Mt DenaliMount McKinley or Denali (Koyukon Athabaskan for "The High One", Dghelaayce’e in Ahtna) in Alaska, United States is the highest mountain peak in North America and the United States, with a summit elevation of 20,320 feet (6,194 m) above sea level. The CIA World Factbook lists its summit elevation as 6,198 metres (20,335 ft). It is the centerpiece of Denali National Park and Preserve. The mountain is regularly climbed today; in 2003, around 58% of climbers reached the top. But by 2003, the mountain had claimed the lives of nearly 100 mountaineers over time. The vast majority of climbers use the West Buttress Route, pioneered in 1951 by Bradford Washburn, after an extensive aerial photographic analysis of the mountain. Climbers typically take two to four weeks to ascend the mountain. | 
