Our second Denali team of the season is on the move up the mountain!
We apologize for the delay in posting, but we had a bit of a technical challenge that prevented us from posting recently. We will refer to this team as our “2013 May 5 West Buttress Team” and you can follow them by clicking on the filter at the right side of the page.
On the 5th of May, a team assembled in Anchorage, Alaska to finalize their preparations for an attempt of the classic route, The West Buttress of North America’s highest peak, Denali. The team represents a fascinating cross section of our global community, brought together by a love of mountains and wild places. The climbers include:
Mark Cadman and Steven Morton from the UK
Geert-Jan Derks from the Netherlands
Peter and Bernd Horsman also from the Netherlands, although Peter now lives in the US.
Adrian Hendrickse from Colorado
Wasfia Nazreen from Bangladesh
The Mountain Trip guides accompanying the climbers are:
Caitlin Hague from Girdwood, AK
Dan Starr from Hope, AK
Josh Garner from Bend, OR
The team met for an orientation and team meeting on the 5th and our guides conducted a thorough equipment review as having all the right kit, yet not too much, is crucial for having an enjoyable time on Denali. They ran around Anchorage a bit to pick up last minute items and the climbers spent the night at the Millennium Alaska Hotel.
On the 6th, we drove the team north to the small town of Talkeetna, AK. Talkeetna is literally at the “end of the road,” situated at the end of a spur that branches northeast off the Parks Highway (Hwy #3 of 4 in the state!). They attended an orientation provided by rangers from the National Park Service, finalized their packing and boarded a flight to the glacier.
Arriving at the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier, they team unloaded all their gear at the traditional Base Camp for Denali climbers. Our guides conducted an on-glacier orientation and helped everyone rig their sleds for glacier travel before eating dinner and sleeping the first of many nights to come in their tents.
Yesterday morning dawned clear and chilly, while the team hiked about 5 miles up the broad Kahiltna Glacier to establish their first camp (Camp 1) at about the 7,800′ elevation, near the base of a 1700′ hill known as Ski Hill. They took their time, pulling heavy sleds and carrying even heavier backpacks. Unloading at the site of Camp 1, they still had work to do, and spent a couple hours establishing themselves, as they plan to spend two nights at this location.
Today, the team loaded up to carry roughly half their equipment and supplies up to a point at about 10, 200′. They will call in this evening, but it looked like a beautiful clear day on the glacier.
Stay tuned for posts on a daily or almost-daily basis.
