We were now in the halls of the gods. Mt. Foraker, 17,600', loomed ahead of us, 14,000' Mt. Hunter towered above us to the right, and up the enormous Kahiltna Valley, in the distance, slightly to the right, was our destination: Denali, at 20,320'. In all directions was white and grey--there was no green in sight. We flew past Hunter, turned to the right, and saw a few specks in the snow, and a line coming down that fork, turning, and making its way up the main fork out into the distance. Soon the specks were tents, and the landing strip became apparent, and then we were on it, landing with power, going uphill. Doug gunned the engine until we were at the top of the strip, then cut power and turned the plane around. We still had some speed: skis don't have brakes, so he turned sideways again, and a few bystanders came and stopped the plane, keeping it from sliding back down the runway while we unloaded.

While we were packing up at base camp, a journalist from the Wall Street Journal came up to us, asking questions of first-time climbers of Denali. "What do you think of the proposed climbing/rescue fee?" he asked, referring to a park service decision to charge all climbers $200 to cover rescue expenses. "Have you ever done any other major climbing expeditions?" he asked Jeff.

"Well, we've all done some smaller climbs, but nothing on this scale," answered Jeff.

"What makes you think you're ready to climb Denali?" He kept asking somewhat aggressive questions, as if we were incompetent.

"Please don't step on our rope," I interjected. It was a verbal bop on the nose that caught him off guard. We finished packing and left.

Two hours later, we were at the lowest point of the ascent, 6,600' on the main fork of the Kahiltna, each of us with 70 pounds on our backs and another 70 on the sleds dragging behind us, attached to each other with the green rope that would be our umbilical cord for the next 18 days. Only 13,720' and 19 miles to the top! I was in front, Jeff took the middle, and Fred took up the rear. In no time we reached the bottom of the South East Fork, that we had landed on. We had no desire to stay at Base Camp, with the 60 or so people hanging out there. So that evening found us at 7,200' on the main fork of the Kahiltna, enjoying a Jello Cherry cheesecake.