After days of waiting on the weather to cooperate, the May 11th team finally got their window, and they made the most of it. Today, the team pushed up the route to drop a cache just shy of 14 Camp before turning around and heading back down to Camp 2 for the night. It’s a significant step forward and a much needed shot of momentum after a long stretch of being weathered in.

The broader weather picture across the mountain is finally beginning to shift in a meaningful way. Storm cycles like the one we’ve been watching can stall entire expeditions for days at a time, and seeing the forecast crack open is good news for every team currently on Denali. With the May 11th team back in motion and other teams beginning to make moves of their own, the energy on the mountain feels different than it did even a few days ago.

What makes today’s cache particularly valuable is where it puts the team for what comes next. 14 Camp, sitting at 14,200 feet, is the heart of any West Buttress expedition. It’s the staging ground for the upper mountain, the launching point for summit pushes, and the place where teams settle in for the most critical stretch of the climb. By dropping a cache so close to 14 today, the team has done the hard work of hauling supplies up the steep terrain between Camp 2 and 14. When they relocate camp in the coming days, they’ll be moving with lighter packs and the comfort of knowing their gear is already waiting just up the route. Weather permitting, the next push is to 14 Camp itself, and from there, the upper mountain comes into view.

Windy Corner

Camp 2 View

—

Family and friends are encouraged to leave comments for their loved ones on this expedition. Please keep in mind that climbers will not be able to see posts or comments until they return to Talkeetna at the end of the expedition.

Don’t forget that you can subscribe to this expedition’s Field Reports by entering your email address in the form to the right or below if viewing via mobile. That way, you never miss an update!

Interested in more information about conditions and happenings on Denali? Be sure to also check out the Denali National Park’s Denali Dispatches Blog where they post weekly Field Reports.