June 5 Mountain Trip West Buttress team called in an update from camp at 14,200′ on Denali’s West Buttress route, after enjoying a hearty breakfast of biscuits and gravy above the clouds.

With their final cache assembled, the team ascended fixed lines to around 16,500′, around infamous Windy Corner, to prepare for the trip up to High Camp at 17,200′.

From above 16,000′ (the highest several members of the team have ever been yet), you can look out above the clouds, above the majority of the massive peaks in the Alaska Range, all the way down to the lush, braided river flatlands of Denali National Park, and on a particularly clear day, all the way to the ocean.

Today, June 16, the team plans on taking a rest day at camp to wait on better weather, and to get some mental and physical rest before tackling the upper mountain. If any of you in the comments can tell us who’s calling in this update, please let us know!

Here’s the report for the team: