For Tom, Alaska had always represented the ultimate wilderness. Vast glaciers, endless horizons and a level of remoteness that's increasingly hard to find. So when he was invited to join a Denali expedition as the sixth team member, it was an opportunity he couldn't pass up.

On 28 May 2026, the team of six set out to climb and ski Denali via the West Buttress route. Carrying up to 55kg of food, equipment and supplies, they'd spend the next two weeks moving through the Alaska Range, ascending from Base Camp at 2,150m to the summit at 6,190m.

Before arriving in Alaska, most expect the biggest challenges to be the cold and the weather. Denali is known for long storms, extreme wind chill and unpredictable weather.

Instead, the biggest obstacle came from an unexpected cold. After reaching Camp 4 at 4,330m, Tom became ill and spent almost a week confined largely to his tent.

With a good weather window developing, the rest of the team continued upwards. While recovering, Tom focused on rest and preserving enough acclimatisation for the best chance of a summit attempt.

After 6 days of rest and recovery Tom was able to summit Denali on 10.06.26 meaning all 6 members of the expedition successfully stood on the summit!

We asked Tom what his favourite bit of kit from the expedition was:

"I think I will go for the down suit. On the route I only used it on summit push, because we were so lucky with the weather, but I used it nearly every evening back at camp. Once the sun went behind the mountains it got freezing but with the down suit I was never cold, this made cooking and eating much more comfortable. "