Book data

Denali / Mt McKinley
Harry Kikstra  
15 January 2016
UK price £9.99
96pp, 115 x 145mm, 122g
978-1-898481-53-9

Denali / Mt McKinley

Summit of North America

£9.99

Harry Kikstra

In stock

"All the salient information required to launch a successful expedition" - Lee Farmer, 7 summiteer

At 6190 m (20,310 ft) Denali (Mount McKinley) is the highest mountain in North America. Its arctic latitude makes for extreme weather conditions and its remote location in the Alaskan wilderness means that climbing teams must be self-reliant and experienced. The author focuses on the West Buttress route used by 80-90% of climbers.

Features

This pocket-sized guidebook provides all you need to plan and complete your attempt to summit Denali (McKinley):

  • updated thoroughly in late 2015
  • concise advice about preparation and planning
  • how to prevent and manage altitude sickness
  • practical tips on load-carrying, glacier travel and camping
  • fold-out map showing the West Buttress route
  • 96 pages with open-flat binding
  • in full colour, with over 60 photographs
  • on weatherproof paper.
Look inside

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Contents
2.3 Alaska, the 49th State
3.8 Summit day
Gallery

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Reviews

Praise from Mark Beaumont

Harry Kikstra’s guide to Denali is refreshingly concise, relevant and accurate, written to be easily accessible.

Holder of record for round-the-world cycling who has also climbed Denali and Aconcagua while cycling the Americas

From a mountaineer who completed his "seven summits" bid in June 2011

Once again, Kikstra arms the mountaineer with all the salient information required to launch a successful expedition and summit bid on one of the world’s coldest and most demanding mountains. Its concise writing and compact size meant it travelled with me all the way to the summit, whereas other guidebooks were discarded at base camp.

Lee Farmer, by email

Reviewed by seven-summiteer Jake Meyer

This is the ultimate ‘bible’ dedicated to climbing McKinley. What a pleasure to read an up-to-date, comprehensive guidebook for climbing in one of the most beautiful yet inhospitable environments on Earth. The wonderful pictures remind me of the awe-inspiring scale of the Alaska Range and a memorable expedition. It’s informative, enjoyable and beautifully presented, and should be top of every Denali adventurer’s kit list, to accompany them every step of the way.

The format is snowproof, windproof and probably climberproof. In the military, we use TAMs (Tactical Aide Memoires) to cope with every imaginable situation, and Harry’s book is the ultimate TAM for climbing Denali. Whether it guides you to the summit, or merely adds to the library of the armchair adventurer, this book is an essential part of the team.

Jake Meyer, who in 2005 became the youngest man to complete the seven summits

I never saw a guidebook like this one!

Small enough to bring in a stuffed backpack, this excellent guide will let you travel along the trail to the top of Denali before even taking the plane. Perfect to plan your trip, everything is in it: gear check, clear maps, day-by-day detailed itinerary, breathtaking pictures… Since buying this book the first time, I ordered some to give my expedition partners as gifts!

Mathieu Lapointe, Montreal, Canada on Amazon.com

Good, concise guide to Denali

This is a book that truly can and should be included in the backpack or sled, and Mr. Kikstra is to be commended for his effort … His description of the West Buttress route is superior and detailed. I appreciate that [he] provides altitudes and distance in feet and miles, not just meters and kilometers.

Bottom line is this … don’t attempt this mountain unless you humbly acknowledge your own limitations, are serious about taking your time and acclimatizing, and follow the very good advice given in Kikstra’s guide.

Exceprt from a review at Amazon.com

From an online review

… and if you’re going big on Denali, this little gem of a book is required reading.

I admit I was pretty suspicious at first, but the author gets it right with his advice on tackling the Big D. The author is Harry Kikstra, who has summitted Denali twice via the popular and non-technical West Buttress route. … The book has … everything from a concise summary of the effects of altitude to dealing with the extreme cold to GPS coordinates for camps. This book rivals Coombs’ Denali’s West Buttress in information content and has the advantage of being even smaller (and waterproof!), as well as more recent. Kikstra takes pains to be even-handed as he describes the advantages and disadvantages of going guided vs. unguided and other topics.

Review from http://gearflogger.typepad.com/weblog/2007/07/denali-summit-o.html

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