Hi all, well as most of you know we are back! If you haven't seen the updates you can copy and paste the link below into your browser www.737challenge.com/blogafter.html and a video link here http://youtu.be/h0xGeL2YElk thanks for your support.

On the 27th May I fly to Alaska with my friend Richard to climb Denali, also known as Mount McKinley. At 20,320 feet / 6194m Denali towers over the National Park that bears its name and is North America's highest peak.

The easiest route up Denali is the West Buttress and this is the route that we will be taking! First climbed in 1951 the route covers a whopping 16.5 miles of horizontal distance and 13,570ft of ascent from the air strip. Whilst the route itself does not involve any technical climbing it does involve some pretty serious glacial terrain and combined with the intense cold and wind higher up makes this a route not to be underestimated. Due to its extreme northerly latitude, which leads to thinner air, its height is equivalent to a 22,000ft (6900m) peak in the Himalayas.

We will be dropped off on the glacier by a ski plane and there our journey will begin. Everything that we need for our 16 day stay on the mountain will be carried by us from day 1. We will carry heavy packs and drag pulks as this mountain is not like mountains in the Himalaya where porters or yaks carry your loads - we will be entirely self sufficient.

Denali's summit rate is around 50%. The weather can be fierce and the load carrying brutal. We will not be taking any risks. We plan to reach the summit given good health and conditions but a summit is not worth a life. So, we will make wise decisions together on a day to day basis and given a little luck with the weather we hope to summit on or around the 10th June.

Many thanks to everyone for your love, support, encouragement, training, cakes and advice and a BIG thanks to my employer Rab for happily allowing me extra time for this trip and also for providing me with the best gear available...

Let's go!!