May 12th West Buttress Expedition — Put in cache below Camp 2

Today the May 12th team was able to begin caching: hauling sled loads full of food and equipment up towards Kahiltna Pass, about halfway between Camp 1 and Camp 2, in order to “cache” it in the snow. This “cache and carry” method of ascent is very common on Denali because it serves two strategic functions to improve the expedition’s success.

First, it allows the expedition to minimize the amount of weight that they have to carry in their sleds and backpacks as they ascend the mountain (carrying 22 days worth of food and gear all at once is too heavy and exhausting). Second, having the expedition team take multiple trips up and down the mountain between camps can help expedition members better acclimatize by climbing incrementally higher in elevation but sleeping at a lower elevation for multiple nights.

Mountain Trip guides digging a cache hole.

Here is the update!

Audio Recording

Share Button

10 Comments

  1. Thanks for regular updates and it’s comforting to know everyone is accomplishing set daily goals.
    Truck Loads of wishes from London

  2. It‘s good to hear from you. Good luck to the whole team. It‘s a great adventure. Enjoy your trip.
    A message just for Stephan: The FC Cologne has done it: they are in the first soccer league again 😊

  3. It‘s good to hear from you. Good luck to the whole team. It‘s a great adventure. Enjoy your trip.
    A message just for Stephan: The FC Cologne has done it: they are in the first soccer league again 😊

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Post comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.