Our fifth Denali team of the 2016 season met in Anchorage today.  This team all lives in the USA, but a couple of the climbers are originally from Poland, giving the team an international flair.  They all have a common love for wild places and a desire to test themselves on the snowy flanks of North America’s tallest mountain.

Today, they met our guide team, who provided an orientation about the trip and details about the next 36 hours, until they fly to the glacier.  The guides then checked over all the clothing and equipment that each climber brought, so that no climber flies without sufficient kit, and almost as importantly – without too much kit.  “Ounces add up to pounds, and pounds equal pain,” as we like to say!  Climbers were provided guidance in packing their own snacks for the trip, as we often substitute or augment our lunches with a wide variety of snacks, such as dried fruits, cheeses, meats, cookies, candy, energy bars, nuts and the like.  Our system allows each climber to tailor their snacks to meet his or her personal tastes.  After all that, the team visited a couple local climbing shops to pick up last minute purchases and/or upgrade some of their gear.

Let’s meet the climbers!!

Scott Weinstein joins us from Florida, USA

David Bopp is from Colorado, USA

Marcin Wlodarczyk lives in Pennsylvania, USA

Dean Stois is also from Pennsylvania

Lance Shaw is from California, USA

Our Guide team is:

Caitlin Hague from Alaska, USA

Nick Aiello from New Hampshire, USA

Kristin Arnold from Alaska, USA

We will generally post updates as the team members call in from the field.  Some days are busier than others, so this will probably not mean that daily updates will be posted.  We encourage you to embrace the adage, “No News Is Good News!”  Often, weather or terrain features, such as huge mountains can get in the way of satellite phone transmissions.

Please append comments to the posts!  While we don’t have a way to pass your comments along to the climbers in real time, they love reading your thoughts and good wishes after they come out of the mountains.

Enjoy!