An enthusiastic June 23rd team is finally moving up glacier! Lead guide Caitlin Hague called in from half way between Base Camp and Camp 1, after her team broke trail for 10 hours to get to that point. For some perspective, a strong team can move from BC to Camp 1 in four hours or less.
Cailtin reports thigh to waist deep snow and tougher trail breaking than she’s seen in her 15 previous trips up Denali!
Nonetheless, the team is very excited to be traveling, as their cheers at the end of the call affirm. Tomorrow, they will continue to move up glacier, and all bets are off as to where they might choose to camp or what sort of schedule they might follow for the next few days.
We often hear that climbing Denali is somewhat of a scripted affair, with teams camping at the same camps every trip. Most of the time, there is a good reason for that, as the collective knowledge of hundreds of previous trips have taught us where the best camps are from a hazard standpoint and also from an acclimatization basis. When Denali starts to get creative with her weather, that’s when guides get creative with their travel plans. Caitlin knows this mountain as well as anyone and better than most, so she’ll adapt to these very unusual conditions.
