The May 19th team is officially on the move! The team left Basecamp today and headed up the route toward Camp 1, taking their first big step into the heart of the expedition.
We haven’t had communication from the team since this morning, but that’s a good sign things are going as planned. After landing on the glacier and getting their first taste of life at Basecamp, the move to Camp 1 is typically a long, full day of work. Climbers rope up, hitch into sleds, and start the haul across the lower Kahiltna Glacier with their heaviest loads of the expedition. By the time the team rolls into Camp 1, most of the focus shifts to setting up camp: digging in tent platforms, building snow walls for wind protection, getting the cook tent running, and melting snow for water. It’s a lot to do at the end of a long day, and the satellite phone usually takes a back seat to dinner and a sleeping bag.
The trek from Basecamp to Camp 1 covers roughly 5.5 miles and gains about 800 feet of elevation, bringing the team from 7,200 feet up to around 7,800 feet. The route starts with the descent down Heartbreak Hill out of Basecamp before stretching across the relatively flat lower glacier. The combination of soft snow, dragging sleds, and heavy packs makes for a long, grinding day, often taking anywhere from 5 to 8 hours depending on conditions. It’s one of the more physically demanding days of the entire expedition, simply because of the weight each climber is hauling.
By all indications, the team is right where they should be: tucked into Camp 1, getting camp set up, and settling in for some well-earned rest after a big first move on the mountain. We’re expecting to hear from them tomorrow with an update once they’ve had a chance to recover and look ahead to what’s next.
For now, great news that the May 19th team is finally on the move!
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