To the friends and family of the May 6th Denali expedition: I am writing our final dispatch from my home in Anchorage, Alaska. Our climbing team is off the mountain and safe. I wanted to send a big thank you to all who supported the climbers while they were away from home. Despite not…
Mountain Trip lead guide Brian Kramp called in an update on the May 6 West Buttress team, who took a rest day yesterday after caching on the high ridge above the fixed lines. He said today the team would likely take another rest and weather day at 14-camp today, May 22, and wait for a…
Lead guide Brian Kramp called in an update for the May 6 Denali West Buttress team, who sounds like they had a great rest day at 14,200′, complete with pancakes, quesadillas, pizza and ice cream! They took an additional rest day after retrieving their cache at around 13,500′ to practice skills specific to the upper…
The May 6 team is making great progress up the route after a good weather window the past couple of days! After a long push from 11,200′, the team made the move up to 14,200′–commonly known as “14-Camp.” They spent a long night after their arrival building camp: leveling tent platforms and digging out a…
Lead Guide Brian Kramp called in from the beautiful basin camp at 11,200′ (3413m) after the team carried loads up to 13,500′ (4114m) today. They are doing great and hoping to move up to their next camp tomorrow! The morning started with a 1000′ (300m) climb up a slope known as Motorcycle Hill. The hill…
Frank Fumich called in from 11,200′ to update us all on the May 6th Denali team. Today, they did a “backcarry” downhill to the site of their previous cache. This entailed a 20-30 minute stroll downhill and then they dug up the supplies they buried under the snow a couple days ago. Loading up their…
After caching yesterday, the team made the move up to 11,200′, Camp 2, today. This is a 4.5 mile push up the glacier with 3400′ of elevation gain. It sounds like the move went well, and the team is settling in camp for a hot dinner. Roland has a special message in Dutch for…
Mountain Trip Guide Jed Porter called in with an update from Camp 1, located at 7800′ (2377m) on the broad Kahiltna Glacier. Today, the team packed up roughly half of their supplies and carried it all up to an elevation of about 10,000′ (3109m), where they dug a big hole in the snow and buried…
Goulven Couzon lest a message in French that (I believe, and please correct me if I’m wrong in the comments) John Molloy then translated for us (j’ai oubliez mon français…). The team has moved up the Kahiltna Glacier approximately five miles (8km) and established camp at the junction of the Kahiltna and the Northeast Fork…
After a little delay, the team has made it into basecamp! The trip starts with a 45 minute flight in a ski plane into the middle of the Alaska Range, so as you might imagine, the weather can sometimes be a problem. Their patience paid off and they are settled in to basecamp tonight on…