Speed Ascent of Denali
In May 1990 Boukreev was invited by an American climber to guide several clients to the summit of Mt. McKinley. McKinley, also known as Denali, has its challenges such as hidden crevasse and unpredictably cold weather due to its proximity to the Arctic Circle and the ocean.
The expedition was a success, and the team reached the summit and returned without incidence. During the climb there had been somewhat of a language barrier and Boukreev felt the sting of needing to borrow equipment due to his economic circumstances. After the team had returned home, and before Anatoli returned to the Soviet Union, he decided to attempt a solo speed ascent of McKinley.
Anatoli Boukreev's solo speed ascent of Mt. McKinley in 1990 was completed in 10½ hours from the base to the summit. That season acclimated climbers were normally taking three to four days and five camps to summit — Anatoli's feat was noted by Climbing magazine in a 1990 issue, and commented on by Denali Park rangers who described it as "unreal".
Read more about this topic: Anatoli Boukreev
Famous quotes containing the words speed and/or ascent:
“It was undoubtedly the feeling of exile—that sensation of a void within which never left us, that irrational longing to hark back to the past or else to speed up the march of time, and those keen shafts of memory that stung like fire.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“We are adapted to infinity. We are hard to please, and love nothing which ends: and in nature is no end; but every thing, at the end of one use, is lifted into a superior, and the ascent of these things climbs into daemonic and celestial natures.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)