Well, they say that one thing you can count on with the weather is that it will always change. The stormy, snowy weather that has taken up residence over much of the Alaska Range has released its icy hold and planes are flying! All of our teams that have been stuck at Base Camp are…
Well, perhaps “party” is not the accurate term, but several Mountain Trip teams spent the night at Base Camp on the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier, awaiting the weather to improve so they can fly out to verdant Talkeetna. One flight made it into Base Camp yesterday, and a handful of our climbers clambered…
Gerald Oxley and Major Hamad (I think!) called in a recap of the summit team’s arduous summit attempt yesterday. The summit team was slowed by a large number of climbers, and forced to turn back when one of their party was suffering from Acute Mountain Sickness. They are all back in the relatively thick air…
The members of the team of United Arab Emirates Presidential Guard who attempted the summit yesterday turned back at 20,000′ (6094m), as one of their team had a severe headache that was apparently beyond the team’s ability to mitigate. John Doyle, Hasan Al Naqbi, Ahmed Al Mazrouei and our guide Adam Smith are back at…
We’ve received word that UAE Group #1 has departed High Camp and is heading to the summit! It’s a beautiful, calm day….perfect for a summit bid. Best of luck to the team!
Gerald Oxley called in from Camp 3 at 14,200′ (4328m) to reoprt that the United Arab Emirates Team #1 has positioned themselves for a summit bid in the next few days. They carried a load of supplies up onto the ridge above their camp, depositing it at an altitude of over 16,400 feet (5000m). Major…
The weather has continued to stop the climbers from accomplishing much today. Both teams remained in their camps and are hoping for the weather to improve in the coming days. The forecast is still looking optimistic for nice weather early next week.
It’s been a pretty long stretch of wind and snow in the Alaska Range for the last days, and it is expected to continue through most of the weekend. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, as the snow is expected to taper off and winds die down by late Sunday and…
Gerald Oxley and I believe Hamad called in a nice post from Camp 3! The team pushed hard through very challenging weather to make it up to the site of the 14,200′ camp. They had to climb up two significant, named slopes, the first known as Motorcycle Hill, and then Squirrel Hill. Both are physically…
Adam Smith called to report that, despite a motivated team, what at first appeared to be a break in the weather turned out to be temporary; instead of finally moving onward and upward the team had to again change plans to accommodate the whims of the notorious Denali weather. After moving out of camp for…