Today at 14 Camp the team rested, relaxed, ate and caught up on sleep. They have a big day tomorrow, climbing up the Headwall section of the West Buttress Route. The Headwall starts out at about 45 degrees and mellows somewhat as you get higher. The 600′ vertical rise is protected by ropes affixed into…
Enchiladas abovy 14,000′? Climber Tony Hogan called in a report for the June 5 team after a hearty dinner prepared at 14,200′ on the West Buttress Route by their guides. Mountain Trip guides wear a lot of hats; they must not only act as technical skills instructors, motivators, teachers, weather forecasters and first responders, but…
Ted Lebedz called in a nice shout out to family in Omaha and the teams at Joint Base Elmendorf, as he gave us an update on the team. The weather finally broke! After days of rain and wet, heavy snow, the climbers were graced with beautiful views of the Alaska Range today. They shouldered backpacks…
Mountain Trip guide Fischer Hazen called in an update for the June 5 West Buttress team, who are camped at 11,200′ on the route keeping busy during a persistent low pressure system that has brought heavy snow and low visibility to the range. Yesterday, the team “back carried” from their camp down to Kahiltna Pass…
The June 5 West Buttress team put in a big day of climbing to move up from Camp One at 7,800′ to Camp Two at 11,200′, through deep fresh snow with heavy packs and sleds full of gear. Their day began at 2 a.m., and they traveled for about 8 hours uphill and breaking trail…
Climber Rob Leskun of the Mountain Trip June 5 West Buttress team called in from Camp One at 7,800′, with an update for those at home on their progress towards the summit of Denali. After flying into the Alaska Range and touching down on the Kahiltna glacier several days ago, the team has made good…
One of the climbers from our June 5th Denali team called in from Camp 1 at 7800′ on the Kahiltna Glacier. It was either Jorge or Arturo, so if anyone out there recognizes his voice, ayudame por favor! The team did well today, hiking the five miles in about as many hours. The glacier has…
Tony Hogan called in from 7,200′ on the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier! The team flew into the Alaska Range in the afternoon, after attending a mandatory orientation presented to every Denali climber by our national Park Service. They loaded up fixed wing aircraft and flew about a half hour into the rigged mountains…
Mountain Trip appreciates the trust and support of our climbers and another team of adventurers have chosen to join us in Anchorage today, to finalize their preparations to attempt the West Buttress route on North America’s highest peak – Denali, which soars to an elevation of 20,310 feet, a full 18,000′ above the surrounding landscape.…