The Northwest Buttress team was bogged down in bad weather yesterday, tucked away in their camp at 10,000′ (3080m). The next leg of their journey will have carrying loads ahead of camp up to Kahiltna Pass, up to the summit of Mt. Capps at 10,790′ (3,323m), down the north ridge of Capps, across the lower…
Trip leader Jared Vilhauer calls in from Kahiltna Pass to wish his sister Dawn a Happy Mother’s Day. The team is still waiting out windy and stormy weather before they make a carry to the next camp. Click to hear the update: [audio:http://mountaintripdenali2011.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/audio-post-2011-05-09-03-57-29.mp3|titles=Audio Post]
Brian got the phone tonight to call in on behalf of the NW Buttress Team. It sounds like the temperatures are quite cold, but this is an arctic, high altitude mountain, so the team is very well prepared for this. They have been traveling up the long Kahiltna Glacier and will ascend a small peak…
Jared called to let me know of another successful day of hauling loads up the upper Kahiltna. They carried loads to Kahiltna Pass in preparation for moving camp up to 10,000′ (3,048m), hopefully today. Weather looks good and cold, reported to be -15F (-26C) at night and destined to stay cold as long as the…
Jared called this evening from camp 1 to report a successful and uneventful move. Despite earlier dire reports of the travel conditions of the Kahiltna glacier this time around went very smoothly, with no problems at all. Everyone is doing great and undoubtedly zipping into their down bags with stomachs full of hot food. The…
The team showed up in Talkeetna under dismal skies and expectations of waiting out the clouds at the local brewery, but fortunately lead guide Jared Vilhauer knows enough to get everything ready to go no matter what the weather looks to be doing, as there are many miles between Talkeetna and the southeast fork of…
Denali, “The Great One” as it was called by the Athabascans, is a mix of myth and reality. Located close to the Arctic circle and rising higher above the surrounding area than any other mountain on earth, the stories of huge backpacks, tremendous winds and epic storms are part of the fabric of North American…