Hello, This is lead guide Michael Burmeister bringing you the final blog post for the May 31st West Buttress expedition. First of all, I just want to say thanks to all the team members for their help, patience, and perseverance. An additional thanks to assistant guides Jared Vilhauer and Sean McManamy for all their expertise…
Michael B called from Talkeetna this afternoon. The team left Camp 3 at 14,000 ft last night and travelled thru the night all the way to base camp. They travelled during the coldest time of the night hoping to catch the lower Kahiltna glacier while the surface was frozen for easy travel conditions. They’ll spend…
The May 31 team called this morning to report a successful descent. They were tired and it was late, so the crew went straight to bed. They reported a beautiful but long summit day. Their plan is to head down the ridge to the top of the fixed lines and continue down to 14 camp…
The May 31 team called at 8pm to report a successful summit with everyone reaching the top of North America. They enjoyed light winds and excellent views all around. They are currently on their way down to high camp, I’ll update when they are all down in camp.
The weather improved during the day but when conditions stabilized it was too late for a summit bid. They still have days to wait it out, and the weather forecast continues to be favorable for the next couple of days. Maybe tomorrow they’ll go have a look…
We received calls from both Mike Burmeister and Durny from the summit at 8pm. Both teams summited with all members and are currently headed down to high camp.
After a very engaging descent from 14,200′ to basecamp and some time waiting for flyable weather the Seans got picked up by a Mountain Trip vehicle and are safely in Anchorage.
The crew is still waiting out the weather, but in their idle time, have given us an audio tour of what life sounds like at camp. Crinkle, flap flap flap, clank. [audio:http://mountaintripdenali2011.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/audio-post-2011-06-16-03-40-52.mp3|titles=Audio Post]
Snow and wind is keeping the May 31 team in their tents today. Let’s hope for some better weather down the road…
Mike called to report a successful rest day at high camp. Guide Sean McManamy is descending to basecamp with Shaun Gilbert and a guest from another expedition, they should be in basecamp at the time of this posting. Everything is OK but Shaun had some issues with the altitude that warranted descent to friendlier elevations.