Sorry for the delay in adding this team to our blog, but the holiday weekend snuck up on us.
On May 27th, a group of climbers met in Anchorage to meet three Mountain Trip guides and make the final preparations for their expedition up Denali. The team spent the day discussing the details of the trip and sorting, checking and rechecking their gear. Our guides helped them by taking them around Anchorage to make last minute purchases and treated them to a bite to eat at our favorite lunch spot, The Bear Tooth.
The crew drove up to the small town of Talkeetna, AK on Monday, the 28th, attended an orientation provided by the National Park Service and then proceeded to indulge themselves in what we call, “The Talkeetna Hang.” Weather did not permit them to fly to the glacier as hoped for that evening, so they took in the sights of this lazy, end-of-the-road town.
The team, front-loading on calories in preparation for Denali!
Yesterday, the 29th, the team still could not fly, so they began covering skills that they will need to have for their climb. They rigged their packs for glacier travel and practiced crevasse rescue skills, all the while keeping an eye on the weather and waiting for the air-raid siren that blasts across town when the planes are able to fly.
Discussing rope techniques and crevasse rescue skills in Talkeetna.
The team did fly to the glacier last night and are heading up glacier right now. We will post a link to a GPS tracking device called a Spot Messenger at the right side of this blog page shortly. By clicking the link, you will be able to follow the team in almost real time, as they make their way up the mountain. I suggest alternating between the “Satellite” and “Terrain” views to get a sense of where they are at any given time.
Let’s meet the team!
CLIMBERS:
Peter Whitfield from the UK
Kari Berg from Vermont, USA
Arthur Howard from Colorado, USA
David Ikink from Belgium
Roman Lentz from Belgium
Diarmuid Boyle from the Emerald Isle
George Seehaver from Canada
GUIDES:
Chris Kerrick from Washington, USA
Eli Potter from Alaska, USA
Matt Barela from New Mexico, USA
