A photo from the Denali Archives of one of our teams leaving Basecamp
“Stoke Master” Grant Purdue calls in from Bascamp last night after the May 14 team flew into the South East Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier from Talkeetna yesterday around 2:00p AKDT. On Saturday, in preparation the team did their team safety brief, gear check and lunch pack in Talkeetna before heading to the airport to catch their plane to Basecamp yesterday. Before boarding the plane, each team must weigh all of their gear and report the weight to Talkeetna Air Taxi so that the planes can be properly balanced with the weight of the team and their gear.
Basecamp is situated at 7,200′ (2,194 meters) and typically experiences much warmer temperatures than the rest of the mountain. The team will settle in, set up camp, have a nice dinner possibly of some pizza purchased in Talkeetna and flown in with them, and prepare themselves for their first move up the mountain. Today the team rose early to pack up their backpacks and sleds with 110lbs of gear and food to make the move to Camp 1 at 7,800′. Rigging the sleds takes some skill and attention to make sure everything is nice and snug. Once rigged up the team tied into their rope teams of 3 or 4, which also takes time, skill and attention, and set off for a long day of slogging up the glacier.
Here’s Grant!
