Paul Denkewalter talks about background information and how he and his family ended up in Alaska, mood, character, and circumstances of his first Denali trip with his father, early concessionaires and the style and equipment used, his awe of Denali and the ease of the first trip, learning about physiological conditions at high altitude and his first job in Alaska, starting a climbing store and getting into winter climbing with his friends, climbing Mt. Hunter in the winter using the Lowe-Kennedy route and rudimentary equipment, summiting Mt. Hunter in the winter, winter attempt to climb the Moose's Tooth to the West Summit in very cold conditions, digging a tunnel in the ridge for protection and learning to deal with winter climbing conditions, his experience with Bunny Boots and meeting Reinhold Messner, his experiences with frostbite, group dynamics, and decision making, climbing with lesser experienced climbers and coordinating winter climbs, his preference for down over synthetic materials, the most important component of climbing relationships is trust, the use of an individual's ability and a discouraging attempt of Mt. Huntington, great climbs in Alaska other than Denali, the rock condition on the Ruth Glacier and Little Switzerland, the end of his climbing career and the improvement in tools for ice climbing, necessity facilitating new inventions in gear and climber's dependability on equipment, his philosophy of looking to the examples of pure climbers and explorers, the different reasons that people are involved in climbing, people's excitement for climbing and the meaninglessness of first ascents, the physical and emotional risks of climbing, dealing with death in the climbing community of Anchorage, people's true motivations behind backcountry travel and the use of long distance communication equipment, the impact of the possibility of rescue on the sport of climbing, and living in Alaska.