Mountain Trip appreciates the trust and support of our climbers and another team of adventurers have chosen to join us in Anchorage today, to finalize their preparations to attempt the West Buttress route on North America’s highest peak – Denali, which soars to an elevation of 20,310 feet, a full 18,000′ above the surrounding landscape.

Our June 11th team represents the diversity of climbers who are all attracted by the siren song of big, beautiful mountains.  Though they come from widely different cultures, they are united by the common bond of a love of wild places and a desire to see those places from a very high perch.

Let’s meet the climbers!

• Blaine Yates joins us from Utah, USA
• Remo Bernhardsgruetter has traveled from Switzerland
• Nimrod and Yftah Sheffer are joining us from Israel
• David Porter is from England

Our guide team is:

• Ian Nicholson from Washington, USA
• Zach Keskinen from Alaska
• Danny Donovan from Alaska

Today, they all assembled in Anchorage, where the guides checked everyone’s gear and helped each climber select and pack lunch snacks for the planned 22-day expedition.  Afterwards, they ran around Anchorage to pick up last minute items or upgrade bits of personal kit.

Tomorrow, the team will drive a couple hours north to the little town of Talkeetna, Alaska.  They will be treated to another orientation by Climbing Rangers from the National Park Service before loading all their food and gear onto planes for the flight to the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier, courtesy of our friends at Talkeetna Air Taxi.

The team will try to call in updates each night, but often, work and/or conditions could easily prevent them from connecting via satellite phone, so please enjoy the posts, but don’t fret if they miss a day or two!

Good luck to all the climbers!