Denali Climb
Three women summit highest mountain in North America
At 20,320 feet, Denali boasts arctic winds in excess of 100 miles per hour, temperatures of −40 degrees, miles of heavily glaciated terrain with gaping crevasses, and renowned storms that pin teams in tents for up to a week at a time.
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Our self-guided team of three women climbed the West Buttress route, moving through four camps.
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We summited on June 4, 1998, and arrived back at base camp on day 24 of our journey.
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Due to poor weather conditions during that climbing season, only 36% of teams summitted.
Our team
Before heading to Denali, Susan, Alyson, and I had honed our climbing on Mount Rainier, a tough 14,411-foot glacier-covered mountain outside Seattle. A two-hour drive from where we lived, this mountain offered similar winter conditions of whipping snow and blasting winds as Denali.
![2-our-team 2-our-team](https://chrisfagan.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/2-our-team.jpg)
![denali_1998new denali_1998new](https://chrisfagan.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/denali_1998new.jpg)
Beyond the summit
On the summit ridge of Denali, my teammates and I passed a team of three men who were on their way down after summiting. Our teams had been climbing for almost three weeks at the same pace, and had become friends. A year later, one of their team members named Marty became my husband and adventure partner for life.
Our team
Before heading to Denali, Susan, Alyson, and I had honed our climbing on Mount Rainier, a tough 14,411-foot glacier-covered mountain outside Seattle. A two-hour drive from where we lived, this mountain offered similar winter conditions of whipping snow and blasting winds as Denali.
![2-our-team 2-our-team](https://chrisfagan.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/2-our-team.jpg)
Beyond the summit
On the summit ridge of Denali, my teammates and I passed a team of three men who were on their way down after summiting. Our teams had been climbing for almost three weeks at the same pace, and had become friends. A year later, one of their team members named Marty became my husband and adventure partner for life.
![denali_1998cropped denali_1998cropped](https://chrisfagan.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/denali_1998cropped.jpg)
The extreme conditions experienced on Denali ultimately helped prepare my husband Marty and me for a quest that took place 15 years later.
Read all about our journey to the South Pole in my book, The Expedition.
![2-author_bookcovercrop 2-author_bookcovercrop](https://chrisfagan.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/2-author_bookcovercrop.png)
The extreme conditions experienced on Denali ultimately helped prepare my husband Marty and me for a quest that took place 15 years later.
Read all about our journey to the South Pole in my book, The Expedition.
![2-author_bookcovercrop 2-author_bookcovercrop](https://chrisfagan.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/2-author_bookcovercrop.png)