Couple endeavors again to summit Mt. McKinley in winter UNPRECEDENTED: If Testov and Feret succeed, it would be a double feat.

When it comes to winter climbs on North America's tallest peak, denial isn't just an anagram of the word Denali. It's what many climbers experience when they take on Mount McKinley in the harshest of seasons.

A year after their initial attempt to put the first woman on the top of McKinley in the winter ended after 12 days hunkered down in a snow cave at 10,000 feet, Artur Testov and Christine Feret of Palmer are back on the mountain.

The couple put in a hard day of hiking Wednesday after spending a couple of uncomfortable days at 9,500 feet, stalled by a blizzard. They continued to move up the 20,320-foot mountain Thursday, according to an online update.

In a podcast posted on their Facebook page, Feret on Wednesday reported that she and Testov made a long, laborious climb to 10,000 feet.

"We've had a couple of tough days but today was a particularly tough one," Feret said. "We are quite tired."

The couple was slowed by deep powder, the result of a storm that hit soon after they were flown to Kahiltna Glacier a week ago to begin their adventure. They reached 9,500 feet earlier this week and then a blizzard hit, halting their progress and making life at their camp miserable.

On Wednesday they decided they'd rather plow through deep snow than spend another night in a makeshift snow cave.

"We couldn't make a cave because it was too hard snow and ice," Feret said in the audio update. "... so we ended up making a little bit of a cave, sort of a third of a cave and the rest a trench. ... It was quite tight and uncomfortable, and of course the blizzard hit that night.

"We decided no way we can stay one more day in this horrible trench-crap thing, so we took off again anyway and it was just a lot of powder. It was a hard, hard day."

Feret, who is French, and Testov, who is Russian, are making their McKinley bid less than a month after a Minnesota man made it to 17,200 feet before abandoning his attempt to become the first person to make a solo climb in January. Lonnie Dupre turned back after being pinned down for seven days by relentless winds and a prolonged whiteout.

Testov is one of just two people who have ever made it to the top of Denali in January, reaching the summit with Vladimir Ananich of Russia in January 1998.

Now he hopes to help Feret become the first woman to summit in the winter -- which, if successful, would make Testov the first person to summit McKinley in the winter. Only 16 people have managed that feat.

"It's a good, strong team," said Paul Roderick of Talkeetna Air Taxi, who flew the couple to Kahiltna Glacier one week ago. "Artur has spent more time than most in arctic cold in the winter and he's pretty strong and tough. And she seems to be as well."

Roderick said the flight to the glacier was delayed by a few days because of weather. A break allowed him to fly to the glacier last Friday, and Feret and Testov made it to 9,500 feet before another storm hit.

"They called me two days ago and they were getting quite a bit of snow. They were shoveling out their snow cave every few hours," Roderick said Thursday.

Roderick also dropped off and picked up Dupre, who didn't have to contend with deep snow the way Feret and Testov have. In the four days between the day he picked up Dupre and the day he dropped off Feret and Testov, more than three feet of snow fell on the glacier, Roderick said.

"Lonnie didn't have snow problems. He made it all the way to 17,200 with no snow, just a dusting. It was kind of amazing," he said.

Roderick said the weather in Talkeetna cleared on Thursday.

"We're in for supposedly three or four, maybe even five, days of good weather," he said. "That's long enough to get them established and acclimatized at 14,000 feet, maybe 16,000, but at least 14,000, which is where you want to be. You're up high, out of the snow belt."


Fisherman's Choice Charters