The aim of The Finnish Airborne Range Club is currently set at the summit of Denali, or Mount McKinley. Rising at 20,320 feet it is the highest point of North America. On 15th of May over 30 Finnish climbers will board a plane in Helsinki and head towards Anchorage, and from there, Denali. Should everything go as planned, we will return to Finland on 21st of June just in time to celebrate the Mid Summer Festival. And yes, the Finnish summer is much warmer than the summer on Denali.

With constant cold at subzero temperatures; sudden storms, blinding snow, hurricane winds, causing wind-chill factors well below minus 100 degrees, Denali offers an environment that will strain both mental and physical limits of any climber. Thus all equipment and members of the expedition as well need to be rigorously tested before setting foot on the mountain. We like to think we are fit enough. Last phsyical tests on 31st of March will prove us right or wrong.

First summit attempts will happen using the West Buttress route. This route has the reputation of being an easy climb, but its steep grade, severe weather, and numerous crevasses demand caution and respect.

If and when we succeed on West Buttress and there still is time left and the weather is good, the most experienced climbers of our expedition will make a second summit attempt via Cassin Ridge or West Rib. These undertakings, particularly Cassin Ridge, are far more difficult than West Buttress. Cassin Ridge is a direct, 9,000-foot granite ridge up the South Face to McKinley's summit. The route includes 40- to 65-degree snow and ice climbing, and up to 5.8 rock in Alaskan scale on several pitches below 16,400 feet and is considered to be one of the most difficult routes to the summit of Denali.

The Denali Expedition is the fourth highly demanding expedition of The Finnish Airborne Ranger Club. The previous three were the succesful mountain climbing expedition to Huascaran (roughly 23,000 feet) in the Andes in Peru in '98, skiing across Greenland in '99 and a three week skiing expedition in Spitzbergen (Svalbard) in '96. In addition to these, The Finnish Airborne Ranger Club makes a climbing trip to French and Swiss Alps every summer. The Club also organizes mountain climbing courses with nearly a hundred participants every year.