Sebastian called in from 11,200′ camp, where the team moved up to today. About an hour out of camp, an unfortunate event occurred, when one of the team, a climber from Israel, experienced severe and debilitating back pain at the top of Ski Hill. A very experienced climber with loads of high altitude experience, he was literally stopped in his tracks by the pain and it was decided that the best course of action was to get him to a higher level of care as quickly as possible. Guides Ben and Agustin descended back to 7,800′ camp with the injured climber, where they met a patrol of National Park Service climbing rangers. After consultation with the rangers, the decision was made for him, Ben and Agustin to continue hiking back to Base Camp, rather than fly in a helicopter for an extraction. Hours later, they arrived at Base Camp and the climber was quickly flown to Talkeetna, where we met him with a van to transport him back to Anchorage for evaluation.
The rest of the team continued up to 11,200′, as they knew that the descending climbers were in radio contact with both the NPS and another Mountain Trip team that flew to the glacier today. After a long, hot day on the Kahiltna, they climbed into the stunningly beautiful bowl that is the site of 11,200′ camp. The plan is for Ben and Agustin to hike up to meet the team tomorrow, while the climbers at 11,200′ drop back down to the cache they buried at 10,200′ yesterday.
Here’s Seba!
