Dear Friends and Family, It’s been a pleasure sharing the journey up and down the West Buttress of Denali, along with a handful of riddles with the team. Year 2020 must have been a challenge for everyone, but Denali enjoyed a year of peace and has provided us with a series of opportunities to make…
Congratulations to our May 23rd West Buttress team! They called in from the 20,310 foot summit of Denali, after climbing to the top under amazingly bluebird conditions! Lead Guide Yoshikp Miyazaki reported that it was a warm day on top of North America, after passing the satellite phone around to all the climbers. Congratulations to…
Josh calls in from High Camp at 17,200′. The team is taking a rest day in whiteout conditions and plans to leave early morning on the 11th for a summit bid. The team is ready and excited to make their way on up to the summit of the tallest mountain in North America. This day…
Lead guide Yoshiko calls in from High Camp! With slightly questionable weather in the early morning hours, the team decided to move and through some wind and snow the weather cleared up for a beautiful arrival at High Camp @ 17,200′. Here they will take a rest day and get prepared to attempt the summit…
The May 23rd team is ready to move and just watching the weather for a chance to go to high camp. They’ve waited out a couple of stormy days, but better weather is in the forecast through the weekend which might just give the team the shot they need! They’re ready to move and spirits…
Lead Guide Yoshiko Miyazaki checked in from our May 23rd West Buttress expedition’s Camp 3. They are having a bit of weather right now, with winds higher up on the mountain being outside of the range of what is acceptable, especially given the very cold temperatures up high. Patience and tenacity are required for an…
Yoshiko called in from the May 23rd team as they are on hold at Camp 3 today. They spent the day fortifying camp and enjoying some good food as they are waiting out a bit of weather before pushing up to high camp. The forecast is calling for a couple of days of wind and…
Lead Mountain Trip guide Yoshiko Miyazaki called in an update on the May 23 team, who successfully cached up on the 16-Ridge above the fixed lines up the steep headwall above 14,200′ camp. With their cache in place, the team just has to wait for a good weather window to move up to High Camp…
The May 23 Team did a back carry today from the 14,200′ camp to retrieve the rest of their food and gear from just above windy corner. This is what we call an “active rest day”. The team then spent the rest of the day working on necessary skills to tackle the headwall above 14k…
Nick Ciuzio called in with a very special message from 14,200′ in a broad basin known as Genet Basin, right below the massive West Buttress of Denali. The team broke camp at their Camp 2, strapped crampons to their mountain boots and carried their heavy packs up a series of moderately steep slopes that commenced…