WELCOME MAY 18 DENALI WEST BUTTRESS TEAM!

Standing majestically at 20,310′ above the surrounding tundra and enticing mountaineers from around the world to test their mettle for over a decade, Denali has enticed another group of Mountain Trip climbers to head to the great white north. Less than 200 miles from the Artic Circle, featuring frequent sub-zero temperatures in summer, deep, ever-changing crevasses

Our May 18th Denali team will met in Anchorage yesterday to go over logistics and meet their fellow climbers and guides with whom they will be spending upwards of three weeks on a glacier.

Let’s meet the climbers!

Kyle Samson, of Washington, USA.

Patrick Kabouw, from Germany.

Marlies Neefjes, traveling from the Netherlands.

Will Lodder, of Austrailia.

Børre Albrigtsen, joining us from Norway.

Lee Pain, from Australia.

The Mountain Trip guide team will be headed by Brian Kramp, from Alaska, who will be assisted by Nicole Lawton, who spends her time guiding between Colorado and Mount Shasta and Logan DeMarcus, also of Alaska. All team members are very experienced with glacier travel and the high mountains of Alaska.

Today, May 19, the team will load up into vans along with all the gear they need for 21 days on the route and drive several hours north to the small, end of the road mountain town of Talkeetna. From Talkeetna, the jumping-off point for most expeditions into the Alaska Range and remote areas of Denali National Park, they will fly above miles of glacier and high mountains to reach Denali Base Camp at 7,200′, courtesy of our friends at Talkeetna Air Taxi. They may have to wait on the weather to allow them a window to pass through the clouds that so often cloak the range, especially at lower elevations.

Keep in mind while the team is on the glacier, deep in the Alaska Range, they may not be able to establish the best connection to call in updates from their satellite phone, especially when at Camp Two at 11,200′ (as it is in a basin with surrounding mountains occasionally blocking signal). Everyone is encouraged to leave encouraging comments for their friends and loved ones while on the route, but please keep in mind that they wont be able to read them until they return to Talkeetna, AK after the end of their expedition. In years past, teams were actually able to send us photos from 14,000′ in above

Best of luck on their endeavor to reach the highest point in North America!