Josh Garner shared the following, on behalf of the guide team of our May 26, 2014 Denali West Buttress Expedition: All the team is back in Anchorage now, catching up on everything from sleep to fresh food to phone calls. The descent from 14 Camp to Base Camp went smoothly and the team made really…
We recently received word that the members of the May 26th team decided last night that enough was enough… They gave Denali a tremendous demonstration of patience, tenacity and perseverance, but the mountain was unforgiving and unrelenting in its seeming refusal to allow them much opportunity for upward travel. Faced with a dwindling number of…
The team called in from a spectacular spot near the 14,200′ camp, called “The Edge Of The World.” This is a spot at the very edge of the basin that forms camp, where you can peer (carefully!) over the edge of a rock outcropping and gaze 1000 meters down at the heavily crevassed Northeast Fork…
Base camp is located at 7,200 on the Southeast fork of the Kahiltna Glacier. It can be a bustling place, with the deep drone of aircraft echoing off the surrounding walls. Here are some images to help readers get a sense of what your friends and family are experiencing on their Denali climb. …
Scott Talmage called in after the team carried a load of supplies to about 15,600′, and cached them at the base of the fixed lies that lead up the steepest part of the route, a section called the Headwall. The weather was not cooperative today, so they dropped their loads and did a quick practice…
Juan Pablo Alcalde called in a nice post in both Spanish and English from the 4328 meter (14,200′) camp on the Denali’s West Buttress. The team is poised to move up to high camp as soon as they have decent weather to do so. Everyone is doing great and spirits are high, but they just…
Fernando Larrain called in a post from the big basin camp at 14,200′ (4328m). He sends happy birthday wishes for a special someone and then recounted the hard work it took to reach this camp, from where they can see the summit. Everyone is doing well and they are looking forward to the coming days.…
Lead guide Ian Nicholson give a recap of the team’s progress to date. It’s pretty cool to hear an update in his words! recording
Lead guide Ian Nicholson called in from the big, bustling basin camp at 14,200′. The team pushed hard to reach this camp, climbing up through almost constant snow, which was unusually wet for this time of year and at the elevations through which they climbed. They did great and rolled into camp late in the…
The May 26th Team is on the move today, ferrying a load of equipment and supplies from Camp 2 at 11,200 ft to a cache at 13,500 ft. They have been making good time up the glacier! Yesterday they “back carried” which means they brought a load of equipment and supplies from their cache at…