Assistant guide Patrick Lane called in last night with the update! Yesterday the team left Camp 2 (11,200′ 3413m) with relatively empty backpacks and walked down to their cache around 10,000′ (3048m). They dug their cache up out of the snow and stashed it all in their packs, then they returned to camp. Backcarry days…
Team Brazil left Camp 3 at 14,200′ (4328m) yesterday and descended into Camp 2 at 11,200′ (3413m). Due to the warmer conditions found on the glacier this time of year, teams are traveling largely at night (or really, early in the morning) when the glacier is most frozen. This provides teams with the best travel…
After spending the night in High Camp after their summit attempt, Team Brazil has made it back down to Camp 3 at 14,200′ (4328m). They will rest up here, hydrate, eat something besides backpacker meals, and start making their way back down to Basecamp and soon be catching a flight back to Talkeetna. Here’s Gustavo…
The June 21 team put in a big effort for a summit attempt yesterday. This is a huge day, covering over 3,000′ of elevation gain and 5.5 miles round trip. The day can take teams anywhere from 10-18 hours to accomplish. During that time, a multitude of factors can come into play and change throughout…
Gustavo Ziller called in from Team Brazil’s camp in the broad Genet Basin at 14,200 feet on the West Buttress of Denali. The team rested today and organized themselves for moving up to 17,200 feet where they will establish their final camp of their ascent. Tomorrow, they will pack up camp and shoulder their backpacks…
The Brazil crew took some time to work on technical skills that they will need to be proficient at as they move higher up the mountain. One of these skills is using an ascender. An ascender is a progress capture device. An ascender is used on a fixed line. In this scenario, the fixed line is…
After bringing all of their supplies up to Camp 3 (14,200′ 4328m) from Windy Corner (13,200′ 4023m) the day before yesterday, the team took the opportunity to catch up on some well deserved R&R. This included a little field trip from camp to the Edge of the World, where Genet Basin drops an unbelievable 6,000′…
Yesterday Team Brazil descended from Camp 3 at 14,200′ (4328m) to their Windy Corner cache located just before Windy Corner, in a flatter section of the glacier at 13,200′ (3413m). After digging up the supplies they buried there a few days ago, they packed everything up and returned to Camp 3. The took a trip…
Yesterday this crew made their way up Motorcycle Hill, topped out on Squirrel Hill, crossed the Polo Field, navigated through Windy Corner, and made their way into Genet Basin at 14,200′ (4328m) where Camp 3 resides. The surrounding scenery of the basin is awe-inspiring. Behind camp, the Headwall rises up to meet the ridge at 16,200′…
Yesterday the team left Camp 2 at 11,200′ (3413m) and walked down to their cache at 10,200′ (3108m). They dug up their buried supplies, packed them up, and hiked back up to camp. Now they are fully supplied here, at Camp 2. Their next move will be to put in a cache above Camp 2,…