What was the most harrowing moment of the climb up Mt. McKinley?
RL: One of the most harrowing moments was on the way down from high-camp at 17,000 to Basin Camp at 14,200 the morning after we summited. We cut out a rest day so that we could summit the day before a storm was forecast to hit the mountain, and as we were descending, we could feel the beginning of the storm approaching. We were walking down the West Buttress, which is a really narrow ridge that drops off steeply on either side; a place that I found to be nerve-racking when we were coming up it in calm weather. On the way down, exhausted from the long summit the day before, it got to be windy and there were moments when it almost felt as if we were going to be blown right off the mountain. Q: What kind of preparation work did you have to do before the climb (acclimatization, exercises, etc.)? RL: Before I’d even started planning for the trip, I already had a solid fitness base from four seasons of cross-country running in high school. I kept running with the team up until two weeks befo
