One day an average working "Joe" and the next, a supplicant praying not to die on a snow-covered mountainside: an Everyman's adventure? Since slowly transforming himself from an overweight and overworked chain-smoker into a two-time marathon runner, Michael Fenner had climbed one glaciated peakMount Rainier in Washington State. Nonetheless, he embarks on a journey to the wilds of Alaska and the unknowns of North America's highest and most dangerous peak for what he hopes will be the adventure of a lifetime: a traverse of Mount McKinley (Denali), ascending up the West Buttress route to the summit, and then down the more ominous and treacherous Karstens Ridge and Muldrow Glacier. In Crossing Denali, Michael describes in gripping detail how he and five other mountaineers, with their three guides, lug hundreds of pounds of gear from camp to camp, living an exhausting if simple life of climbing, digging, eating, sleeping. The well-traveled route along the West Buttress lulls him and his fellow teammates into a false sense of confidence. But once they cross Denali Pass and begin the descent down the northern side of the mountain, Denali unleashes its famed worst. The harrowing journey that follows nearly breaks Fenner's spirit and body, and forever changes him. Crossing Denali is a novice mountaineer's tale that will inspire dreamers and other aspiring mountaineers to seek adventure and transform their lives.