Way to go, Sydney! @chasingvertical D E N A L I DIARY / WED 06.01 [ DAY 18 ] Today was our day to push for the summit of Denali. We woke up bright and early to execute the plan we’d hashed out last night. We were on the trail by 9:30AM with a ton of adrenaline and excitement to give this another go. We attempted the summit two days ago and made the tough decision to turn around at 18,500’. This time around, we made incredible time through Denali Pass - nearly half the time it took us the other day - so that was a great way to start. Our break at the end of the Autobahn was where my body really started to feel the altitude. It’s been a really long 18 days and I definitely didn’t feel as good here as I did on our first attempt. At nearly 18,000’, it was hard to breathe and my legs and lungs felt like they were working through molasses. I hoped some quick caffeine and sugar would wake my body up a bit so I downed what I could during our break and kept pushing. As the day went on, I definitely felt like my body figured out what it had to do but the lack of oxygen at higher altitude made it harder to take even normal steps. I’ve experienced this before in Nepal and on Kilimanjaro but this one felt harder because we’ve been at this climb for so long. Once we reached that summit ridge, I can’t even begin to describe the combination of excitement and panic that hit me. The ridge line is unbelievably exposed. In certain areas you have about a foot-wide path to step and then multiple-1000ft vertical faces on either side of you. This walk is protected with a running belay for teams on rope, but you really didn’t want to miss your footing here. We reached the summit of Denali at 7:30PM. It was incredible and yes, I full-blown cried when I touched that summit marker. Those past 10 hours, plus the 17 days leading up to this moment, easily encapsulate the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Physically and mentally this climb has pushed me to levels I didn’t even know I had in me. And the best part is that now I can put a big checkmark next to this mountain and not feel like I have unfinished business here. This is an amazing feeling. We fucking did it.