Yftah Sheffer, a climber on the Mountain Trip June 11 Denali Team called in with an update on their progress on the West Buttress Route.

The team had a smooth, scenic flight from Talkeetna to Denali Base Camp on the Kahiltna Glacier. They went over a few glacier travel skills, rigged up sleds and packs, waited for the glacier to freeze, and headed to Camp 1 in the Denali twilight a just few hours after landing. They arrived to Camp 1 after crossing the main fork of the Kahiltna at around 3 am and set up their tents to get some well-deserved rest.

The team slept in fairly late, enjoyed breakfast and cached supplies above Ski Hill. Yftah said that the weather detiorated throughout their climb, and grew cold and cloudy.

(Although the climber doesn’t formally introduce himself, I recently did a 12-day Mountaineering Course with Yftah and Nimrod Sheffer and I can easily recognize Yftah’s voice, his propensity to sleep in late when the schedule allows and his Hebrew. Wishing those two–and of course the rest of the team–the best of luck from Kaylee in the Mountain Trip office.)

The team will ascend to Camp 2 at 11,200′ within the next couple of days, weather permitting.

Here’s Yftah with an update on the team’s progress (in English, with a few words in Hebrew for his family back home):