Looking for partners in / around Colorado who want to train for an alpine style ascent of Denali. Anyone want to train hard, Go Lean, and ditch the sleds? Planning to leave June 6 for a 2 week assault on the mountain.

I agree with Brian. 2 weeks is not enough time to do the Cassin. We did it "fast" and we spent 20 days in Alaska.

Not trying to rain on the parade; just trying to prevent you from wasting your vacation. If you only have 2 weeks, climb Hunter or Orizaba, or something not quite so high. To climb Denali, you have to spend a lot of days not climbing. Its very frusttrating if you have precious few vacation days.

yeah, i figured this would be a pipe dream from the start but my schedule just simply won't allow me to take off work for more than 2.5 weeks. but, fortunately for me i live in an area that allows me to sleep high and train high if need be. i get to ice climb regularly at or above 11k and when needed i get to sleep and cardio at 14k 3-4 times per week. you ever do a pack-run for 10 miles at 14k, yeah, it's killer. so my plan of attack is to take advantage of the colorado altitude so that the only thing holding me back from a two week ascent of cassin is weather. and if i get weathered off, well cassin will always be there next year. i read the book summit strategies by gary p. scott and was inspired. (he's the guy from CO who trained and climbed denali in a day). plus, lets not forget that the cassin has been soloed in a day. compared to these accomplishments, i think cassin in 2 weeks is a reasonable pipe dream to attain and ascribe to. think big, train hard, plan ahead, go light, get lucky, and just maybe dreams come true, even for the people who are vacationally challenged.
cheers

I generally second Mono, adding that you might wait several days to fly in, and the same on the return. So, suddenly you may be even more rushed, etc.

Also, note that most folks are going to have a cache in at 17K, so they can have some food on descent. I think I had a pistacio left over in my pocket when we got to the summit.

Another consideration... have you and your partner spent any appreciable time above 15K or 18K? The reason I ask, is that if you're going to jump on an alpine route without bringing your body up higher initially, then you really need to know how your body and your partner's body is going to react. I mean, REALLY knowing exactly how your body is going to react, based on repeated prior experiences.

HAPE or HACE on the Cassin would be a bad deal... descent would not be trivial! Really, descent would be epic.

The route is feasible in a short period of time... IF you're already acclimated (to much higher than 14K) AND you get the weather window.

How about doing a peak down in the Ruth? Lots of the same excitement without the altitude challenges, and better catered to your available time.

Have you considered doing a hard route on a peak of lesser altitude?

I know it's not even in the same league, but what about an alpine ascent of the west buttress? Or even a mixture, say sleds up to 10-11,000 ft and then a big push after that? I'm not recommending this for the OP since he would probably be bored on such a route but for others considering Denali with limited time is this possible?

Lets see we went in and out in 17 days plus two days of travel. Went twice to 16.4k before hopping on the ridge which took us 5 days plus 1.5 days of travel in and out. Left no caches at 17.2k only a few morsels at 14.4k. My partners were and still are a couple of old farts. Our expedition was called "Old and in the way" because the average age of the group was over 40 at the time (now over 50). Had a couple of young Ivy league bucks on our asses the whole way who latter complained about our tracks marring their wilderness experience. Boo hoo for them. Get up earlier in season boys.

That said, is two weeks reasonable? Sure if the weather and conditions are right but you probably will not be acclimating a head of time. A friend tried this a couple of times but got weathered off once and altitude sickness the other (he was living at sea level though). So for some this will be a problem for others not so much. That does not bother me as I have gone from 5k to 19k in a week.

What bothers me is that you are in the process of looking for a partner. That is not a route that I would want to be on with out first having spent some quality time with them. As folks have said retreating would be ugly especially after the Cowboy Traverse . And although they have plucked folks off of the route from as high 18.2k that is the exception rather than the rule.

A few other considerations. It is my understanding that the valley of death is bit more of a jumble fuuck than it has been in the past. More folks are avoiding it. Also I understand down climbing the west rib is also not trivial. Also it helps to have a bit of knowledge about the Alaska gig. That was my 4th trip into the range so I had some of it fairly well wired. Also 90% of the people who sign in for the Cassin never step foot on it.

The bottom line is that if you can get some quality time at altitude before hand, with a quality partner, and get lucky with the weather and conditions it can be pulled it off. But I would certainly have a back up objective if things go tits up.

PS the only ascents of the Cassin anymore are alpine. The NPS (aka Joe Riechart) has worked hard at removing all the old fixed lines on the route.

thanks for the feed back guys. allen i'm flattered, i've read your trip report at least twice as it pertains to the cassin and i appreciate your input here as well as the others. so here is where i'm at. 2 weeks ago a very competent climber from durango contacted me from summitpost wanting to do the same objective. so i kicked into high gear for an alpine ascent and i was gonna allot 3 weeks instead of 2 for the rt. aye, (i woke up and smelled the coffee). but alas, as i was training last weekend trying to ice climb wi3-wi4 and snow climb 5.4 yds with crampons on and hucking 30lbs at ~10k elv. i found it harder than expected, ugh. there's no way for me to train well enough in the time i have left for this rt. without having my partner accessible to do some strong rts. every weekend. so i had to eventually concede to the wisdom of the masses on this one. i'm way bummed but i know the cassin isn't to be triffled with. so, i'm back to my original game plan of training hard enough to pull off a light-n-fast one day ironman ascent from Kahiltna Base to Genet Basin in a day on skiis. I'm gonna be training using the Barr Trail going up Pikes Peak regularly as a test piece. wish me luck. once i get to 14K i haven't decided which way i'll go from there yet.

Hey, What do you think about going to Haine AK, or Mcarthy AK, Two weeks sounds about good for what I looking to do..Some skiing , maybe check out Blackburn base camp or whatever..See what happens.