Mountain Trip guide Robert “Durney” Durnell called in with an update on the June 16 West Buttress Expedition, who have moved to High Camp on Denali! Since the steep, exposed section of the route on the Headwall requires crampons instead of snowshoes, so the team had to break trail in waist to chest deep snow.…
Climber Daniel Laidig called in with an update on the Mountain Trip June 26 Denali West Buttress Expedition, our last team of the 2016 season, who are holding steady at Camp 2 at 11,200′ due to a consistent and persistent low-pressure system that has brought several feet of snow. Daniel assures those back home that…
Mountain Trip guide Pablo Parunjacas called in with an update on the June 24 Denali West Buttress Team, who made the decision to turn around below the fixed lines up to High Camp. The team was plagued throughout their ascent by snowy conditions and low visibility, which makes movement on the route much harder than…
Mountain Trip guide Sean McManamy called in with an update on the June 15 Denali West Buttress Expedition. He then handed the satellite phone over to climber Fan Zhou, who reported that the team unfortunately had to make the tough decision to abandon their bid for the summit of Denali, due to poor weather conditions,…
Climber Jaahnavi called in yesterday evening with an update on the Mountain Trip June 22 Denali Expedition. The team is planning on moving up the steep headwall and fixed lines to High Camp at 17,200’ on the West Buttress Route, today (Wednesday, July 6). Jaahnavi said that the team had a breakfast of infamous and…
Climber Jaahnavi on the June 22 Denali West Buttress Team called in with an update on their expedition and progress up the mountain, towards the highest point in North America. Jaahnavi seems to be in high spirits and enjoying the mountain life up at camp at 14,200′, taking in the views over the Alaska Range…
Hmm. We’re scratching our heads a bit from this one. We were able to tell that the update came from climber Katrin Oertel, and that half of it was in German, but unfortunately they had a spotty satellite phone connection, likely due to the snowy conditions. The Mountain Trip June 26 West Buttress Expedition is…
Mountain Trip guide Josh Garner called in with an update on the June 24 team, who is still holding at camp at 14,200′. Yesterday, the team did a back carry, which essentially means that they retrieved their cached supplies down below their camp, doing a little bit of backtracking on the West Buttress Route. They…
Wolfgang called in from a birthday party that was taking place at the bustling 14,200′ camp on Denali. Much of his call is in German, so any help in translating would be appreciated!! The team has been waiting and waiting and waiting for any break in the weather that might allow them to move up…
Jaahnavi called in a nice update from the big, relatively busy camp at 14,200′. The team is resting today, allowing their bodies to better acclimatize to the thinner air of the upper mountain. They will spend at least several more days at this camp, preparing themselves and acclimatizing. The team is doing well, and they…