Ralf & Gerlinde summits Denali
Ralf Dujomovits and his wife Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner have successfully summited Denali in Alaska USA.
Ralf Dujomovits is the first German high altitude to buckle up the 14 highest 8000m peaks in the world. Out of the 14 only one was climbed using supplemental oxygen: Everest his first 8000. Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner from Austria has delivered the fundamental answer of who would become the first woman to equalize Reinhold Messner’s 14 8000 meters non oxygen climbs that ended in 1986. Both Ralf and Gerlinde practice high altitude non ox climbs, in what is known as alpine style. No porters to install the camps and carry the gear needed. You are on your own confronted by the challenge. Briefly the toughest kind of mountaineering in the World.
Gerlinde finished her last 8000m peak by shooting straight up the North pillar of K2 (The savage mountain) in the spring 2012, a memorable climb published in a 26 page article in National Geographic (You can find it here ). And in 2013 she was awarded adventurer of the year by National Geographic.
Denali — also known as Mount McKinley — is a pretty hard climb despite it is only a 6.194m peak (20.320ft). Its situation in Alaska makes it a very cold mountain to climb, and its location up in the northern hemisphere makes the oxygen conditions difficult compared to Everest.
Another difficulty is that the base starts out low, leaving a 5.486m climb to accomplish up to the summit in very cold conditions (-40° C at the summit).
Ralf and Gerlinde was kind enough to send us some photos from the climb, that we naturally want to share with the community. Both of them are totally committed to mountaineering which is a passion.
Sharing the passion is what it is all about.
