Juan Pablo Alcalde called in from the team’s Campo 2 today, after the crew carried loads up and around the infamous Windy Corner to an elevation of about 13,400 feet. They were fortunate to have beautiful weather and it was actually hot for part of their carry today!
Starting out of camp, they climbed 1000 feet up a slope known as Motorcycle Hill, which forms the northeastern boundary of their camp. There were a couple of small crevasses near the top Motorcycle Hill, but the team was able to easily negotiate them. Above Motorcycle Hill, there is a series of moderately steep slopes that are collectively known as Squirrel Hill (I have no idea why!) that lead up to a stretch of glacier that rises very gently along the base of the craggy West Buttress proper.
They hiked along the edge of this glacier until a point where a steep rib of rock descended from the West Buttress in a fashion that forms a sort of corner, around which they climbed. This feature can funnel winds that scream along the immense South Face of Denali to an expent that it has earned the name, Windy Corner. Under some conditions, the winds can be impassable; however, today the sun was out and the climbers were more concerned with not getting sunburned.
They dug a deep hole in the snow and buried their cache of supplies ahead of tomorrow’s planned move up past their cache site to the broad Genet Basin and the location of their Camp 3 at 14,200′.
Juan Pablo shared the events of the day in both English and Spanish. We hope our friends in both the northern and southern hemispheres enjoy his post! Chile, Chile, lindo!
Disfrutenselo!
