Climber Matthias Aumayr called in an update for the May 11th Denali West Buttress team, who was able to set their cache today near the summit of Kahiltna Pass, above Ski Hill, to put them in good position for their jaunt up to Camp Two. The weather finally cleared for the team’s cache day after they had experienced a lot of cloud cover and snow flurries for their first couple of days on the glacier.
Matthias noted seeing some small songbirds on the glacier during their trek, a stark contrast with the seemingly endless glacier. When large storms come through Denali National Park, small birds often get caught up in the flow and are pushed deep into the Alaska Range and then are not strong enough to fly out. They do look quite out of place amidst the sea of crevasses, rocks, seracs, ice falls and high mountains.
Here’s the update from Matthias!
Hi Matthias and May 11 team! Congrats on a successful day despite the weather. Hope you see more birds / other wildlife along the way (cue “Three Little Birds” by Bob Marley) xx
Hey to my husband Todd and the May 11 team! You all sound strong and good! You all continue to be in my thoughts and prayers.
Climb on!
Hey Sophie, Markus und Matthias! Gratulation zum Fortschritt. Passt auf, dass Euch die Vögel nicht Euer Cache leefressen; Martin Sailer und ich trinken im sonnigen Wien ein Glaserl auf Euch und drücken die Daumen für die nächsten Tage und Wochen im Eis. Möge das Wetterglück mit Euch sein, den Rest macht ihr schon selbst!
Eure Summit-Kollegen
Martin & Michael
Hey Sophie, Matthias, Markus and the rest of the team! Awesome to hear, you are progressing well and you finally got some sun today! All the best going forward and enjoy the climb!
Lieber Matthias,
war toll, deine Stimme zu hören. Einfach beeindruckend! Wir drücken weiterhin die Daumen für den Sonnenschein. Pass gut auf dich auf.
Alles Gute weiterhin dir und dem May 11 Team!
M&P
Hi Matthias! Congrats on breaking 3000 meters (though you’re in the US now so you should probably stick to feet :-)). Looking forward to following your progress up the mountain!