The June 9 West Buttress Team took a bit of a down day at 14-Camp after spending yesterday placing their cache above the Fixed Lines on the 16-Ridge. It sounds like the day was filled with a variety of delicious camp food! The team even got to take private makeshift tent vestibule showers, courtesy of…
June 9 West Buttress Team called in an update from Camp Three at around 14,200′! It sounds like everyone on the team is feeling strong and doing well. They had just sat down to enjoy dinner in their cook tent after a long day on the route. Everyone on the team is feeling strong and…
The June 9 Team “enjoyed” a powder day at 14k Camp yesterday. A week of incredible weather can easily change on a dime into waist deep trail breaking on North America’s highest peak. However, the team is in a great position and good spirits. Plus, extra rest days at 14k never hurt. Today, the team…
The June 9 team took a well earned rest day yesterday after a hard move up to 14k Camp. The team spent the day refueling and practicing skills needed on the upper mountain. These include, fixed line and running belay training as well as altitude and cold weather discussions. Today, the team plans to do…
It was a big day for the members of our June 9th West Buttress expedition. Jacob Kupferman called in from 3,200′ higher than where he at breakfast this morning! The crew packed up their camp at 11,000′ and shouldered hefty packs before starting the long climb up Motorcycle Hill, a thousand foot slope at the…
Guide Maddie Crowell calls in from Camp 2 at 11,200′ with a team update. After a morning of breakfast burritos the team headed up and around the feature infamously known as Windy Corner to secure their cache at 13,000′. This cache day is when snowshoes are traded in for crampons and the climbing becomes a…
Skip calls in from Camp 2 at 11,200′! He communicates that the expedition is going very well and that their team is A+. Today was spent firstly retrieving their cache 1,000 feet below camp and then practicing skills for their transition to crampons and ice axes for the climbing above them. Weather has been clear…
Climber Jason Woo called in an update from the June 9 Denali West Buttress team– they made it up to Camp Two, at 11,200′! The team has the unique perspective of traveling on a night schedule on the lower mountain, to escape the heat and avoid traveling across any snow-bridges in the heat of the…
Ross Jobson called in from our June 9th team’s Camp 1 on the Kahiltna Glacier. He and the team carried loads of supplies up the glacier to about 10,000 feet, just below Kahiltna Pass, the low point between Denali and neighboring Mount Capps. They pulled their heavy sleds up a long slope known as Ski…
The June 9 Denali West Buttress Team has made it to Camp One on the glacier! We apologize for not having a meet the team posted sooner. The June 9 team will be heading up the classic West Buttress route, first pioneered in 1951 by legendary mountaineer Bradford Washburn. The team landed at Kahiltna Base…