Four separate expeditions are now out of the mountains and living it up in town. Burmeister and his West Buttress team are spending the night in Talkeetna, while the West Rib team, Qobin’s expedition and the Northwest Buttress crew are sleeping soundly in Anchorage. Good work and congratulations to all the expeditions, and welcome back!
The NWB team is gearing up to head down the West Buttress route from 14 camp. They plan to leave at midnight with a few other Mountain Trip teams in order to avoid traveling in the heat of the day. If everything goes smooth they should be in basecamp early in the morning, ready to…
One of our teams called to check in and reported that our NW Buttress team is down below the fixed line section of the West Buttress route known as the Headwall. They have a short stroll down into the expansive basin where there are more tents erected than they’ve seen in weeks. We have two…
The Northwest Buttress team has summitted the north summit of Denali at 19,470′. They left their high camp at 16,400′ yesterday and finished climbing the last section of the Northwest buttress to the north summit. They were out of communication but contacted a Mountain Trip team camped at the 17,200′ camp on the West Buttress…
We just heard about another accident on Denali that occurred last night. This was not a Mountain Trip team. All our climbers are doing fine at this time. Details are not clear at this time, but apparently four climbers roped together fell while descending from Denali Pass. Two of the climbers did not survive. We…
Jared called in yesterday to report that the group had moved up to their high camp at 16,400′. This means that they can possibly attempt the north summit today if weather is favorable.
Our Northwest Buttress team is finding challenging, blue ice conditions on the route, but is making progress. They are currently camped at 15,400′ and will push up to their high camp at 16,400′ soon. This is a great effort on a huge and beautiful route, so good luck guys!!! [audio:http://mountaintripdenali2011.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/audio-post-2011-05-25-05-15-45.mp3|titles=Audio Post]
Jared called in yesterday evening to report that the Northwest Buttress Crew had made a move up the mountain and established a new camp at 16,500 feet. Jared says it’s a stunning camp, nestled among huge granite boulders. The team is feeling strong and ready for the next few days, in which they intend to…
The crew put in another great day yesterday, carrying a load of food and gear to 14,500′. Conditions sounded a little icy but Jared still reported fun climbing and a team that continues to step up and work hard. The weather was trying to cooperate; the winds were up a little in the a.m. but…
I spoke with Jared last night, and what sounded like high winds in the background was just the stoves melting snow for water. Jared reported that all was well, but the connection was poor and I couldn’t understand enough to give an accurate report as to what had happened for the day. I’ll get a…