With six weeks to go before departure date, Cat and I are putting more emphasis on altitude acclimatisation. At 6194m, Denali will be the highest of the two mountains we will climb. After this, we should be well acclimatised for the harder route on Mt Foraker. However, due to the high latitude of Denali national park (just below the arctic circle) the barometric pressure is lower than on a mountain of the same height closer to the equator, therefore the altitude will feel more like 7000m.
With this in mind, Cat and I headed up the Aiguille du Midi lift straight after work last sunday. This took us from Chamonix (1030m) to 3842m. Due to the lower barometric pressure, at this height, you are receiving at least 40% less oxygen than at sea level. In order for your body to cope with this, your breathing rate increases, blood pressure in the pulmonary arteries increases and more red blood cells are produced to carry oxygen.
We stayed the night in the Cosmiques refuge (3615m) and could certainly feel the shortness of breath! In order to get the most out of being at this altitude we decided to climb back up to the top of the Midi via 'Cosmiques Arete', a mixed route (ie. snow and rock) graded AD. This also provided some more training in moving together over snow and ice and general ropework. The route was in pretty good condition and we had a beautiful sunny day for it.
We started the up the Arete at 6am and didn't see a single person until we climbed over the viewing platform at the Aiguille de Midi where we got the lift back down to Chamonix. Well done Cat for going straight to a 3 hr off-piste ski lesson afterwards!
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