Mt. McKinley/Denali West Buttress Expedition

AMS Denali guides are talented mountain climbers and educators who meet our high standards for employment. The typical AMS Denali guide team consists of one lead guide, one assistant guide, and one training guide. AMS lead guides have logged an average of 12 years climbing Denali and other high-altitude peaks. They exhibit exceptional leadership skills and bring considerable, noteworthy expertise in mountain medicine and rescue experience to the expedition. Assistant guides have multiple years of personal and professional climbing experience, and many meet the qualifications to lead. Training guides are experienced climbers with a guiding background; they are hand-selected so that they can advance their careers with AMS. Anyone working for AMS has been carefully screened for their climbing ability, work ethic, trustworthiness, and passion for teaching. All incoming guides become part of an ongoing internal training program and are referred to AMS through a network of mountain professionals.

We climb the West Buttress in traditional expedition style, ferrying loads up the mountain, climbing high and sleeping low in order for everyone to have ample time to acclimate to higher elevations. This itinerary is a typical schedule, but your expedition may deviate from it depending on weather and snow conditions.

Travel Day
Meet the provided shuttle at the south terminal taxi lane, Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, at 5:00 pm for arrival in Talkeetna the evening before your start date. (An additional shuttle pickup will be made in downtown Anchorage, if needed.) Check into AMS-reserved Talkeetna lodging. Be sure to get dinner by 9:00 pm in downtownTalkeetna, an easy walk from the hotel.

Day 1
12:45 pm, AMS van pickup of team at reserved lodging.     1:00 pm, start at AMS: Orientation and gear check, with time to rent or purchase gear from the AMS Mountain  Shop. Pack mountain lunches. You are free at 6:00 pm to enjoy the evening in Talkeetna.

Day 2
7:45 am, AMS van pickup of team at reserved lodging.        8:00 am, start at AMS: team moves to National Park Service for briefing. Denali skills review, lunch at AMS, final packing, weighing, and loading gear for a 3:00 pm flight to 7,200 ft. base camp. Distance: 60 miles, elevation gain: 6,850 ft.

Day 3
Base camp to 7,800 ft.: glacier travel and crevasse rescue drill, pack and single carry to 7,800 ft., Camp 1. Distance:  5.5 miles, elevation gain: 600 ft.

Day 4
Carry to 9,700 ft., Kahiltna Pass. Distance: 5 miles (RT),  elevation gain: 1,900 ft.

Day 5
Move to 11,000 ft., Camp 2. Distance: 4 miles, elevation gain: 3,200 ft.

Day 6
Back carry to 9,700 ft. Distance: 2 miles (RT). Acclimatization/weather contingency day at 11,000 ft., Camp 2.

Day 7
Carry to 13,500 ft., around Windy Corner. Distance: 3.5  miles (RT), elevation gain: 2,500 ft.

Day 8
Move to 14,200 ft., Camp 3. Distance: 2.75 miles, elevation gain 3,200 ft.

Day 9
Back carry 13,500 ft. cache. Distance: 2 miles (RT), elevation gain: 700 ft.

Day 10
Carry to 16,200 ft. Distance: 2 miles (RT), elevation gain:  2,000 ft.

Day 11
Acclimatization/weather contingency day at 14,200 ft., Camp 3.

Day 12
Move to 17,200 ft., Camp 4. Distance: 1.75 miles, elevation gain: 3,000 ft.

Day 13
Rest day/acclimatization/weather contingency day at 17,200 ft., Camp 4.

Days 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19
Summit day/weather contingency days, 20,310 ft. Distance: 5 miles (RT), elevation gain: 3,120 ft.

Day 20
Return to 14,200 ft. Distance: 1.5 miles, elevation loss: 3,000 ft.

Day 21
Return to base camp, 7,200 ft. Distance: 12.25 miles, elevation loss: 7,000 ft.

Day 22
Fly back to Talkeetna.

As an advanced climb, Denali’s West Buttress requires a significant amount of prior climbing experience and training. The better condition you are in, the more you will enjoy the climb, the safer it will be for you, and the better chance for reaching the summit. This mountain is too severe to be learning some skills for the first time. Applicants should be in excellent physical condition and should have the following experience:

• The minimum age for members of our expeditions is 18, with very occasional exceptions made on a case-by-case basis. Our maximum age for regularly scheduled Denali expeditions is 65. However, we can happily accommodate younger or older climbers by arranging a custom program tailored to your needs
• Mountaineering climbs that required roped glacier travel, winter snow camping, and the use of an ice axe and crampons.
 Winter camping and travel experience for extended periods. This is essential training, since cold temperatures on Denali are a daily challenge.
• Familiarity with the figure-eight knot series, rope coiling, and belaying with a munter hitch
• Ability to arrest a fall on a steep snow slope
• Ability to use crampons with a 65-plus pound pack on slopes up to 30–35°. Some sections of the route require you to bend down and clip through running belays.
• Experience on smaller climbs such as smaller peaks in the Alaska Range, winter climbs of Mt. Washington, Colorado 14’ers, Mt. Rainier, the Tetons, or Mount Blanc.

A non-technical, high-altitude climb is a great way to train for the altitude. Our best-prepared expedition members have taken a mountaineering course and trained for a year or more before joining an expedition.

Denali Prep Course 

6-Day Mountaineering

12-Day Mountaineering

Glacier Travel & Crevasse Rescue Workshop

AMS should be considered THE Denali Guide Service. The Talkeetna location and facilities, excellent guides and long running Denali history set AMS ahead of the rest.—Jack Tolan

I just don’t think any other company can match AMS’s magic balance of deep, expert knowledge combined with profound love and respect for everything the Alaska Range has to offer and teach us.  I love that while AMS can boast expert guides, it is not a “guide service,” but truly lives up to its name as a mountaineering school, genuinely committed to what we can learn in the mountains about climbing and about ourselves.—Jana Loeb

AMS has the right stuff—a logistical pyramid that is second-to-none, and phenomenal guides who are personally committed to your success. Nobody can give you a better high-altitude experience!—Tom Dougherty

AMS’ local presence in Talkeetna gives it a built-in edge over the other guiding companies on Denali—Darrel Koehling

AMS was rock solid from the pre-expedition planning and office staff, to food prep/pantry, store, transportation, etc. This is the most straightforwardly run operation I have encountered and I applaud all the hard work that AMS puts into making these expeditions ‘priceless’ to us as climbers! — Tom Moore