Our Lead Guide Sebastian Grau sent us some more pictures from yesterday afternoon, when the winds at 14,200′ camp abated somewhat, allowing the team to spend some time reviewing skills that they will need to use on the upper mountain. They also took advantage of not having ice blown into their eyes to reinforce the…
Part of our British Contingent called in to update us on today’s work. The team had a rough night with strong gusts of wind, but they still pushed to get their supplies into camp. After a hearty breakfast, they descended about 600′ to the site where they had left their cache a couple days ago. …
We received some photos and a report from our Lead Guide Sebastian Grau, whose team spent a tough night at 14,200′ last night. Seba reported winds of 60-80 mph throughout the night, which destroyed a neighboring guided team’s kitchen tent and made for a rough night’s sleep. Our team worked very hard yesterday, cutting 20-40…
Greetings from sunny Anchorage! It was a great pleasure to share the ropes with our team, who joined us from all over, and we had the relatively rare privilege of having two Anchorage locals along as well (Brent and Mike). We were a fairly large team, but everyone really bonded well and it was not…
Mike Beuerlein called in from 7,800′ with a report that it is, indeed, cold on Denali! The team is at Camp 1, on the broad Kahiltna Glacier, where the weather has been challenging today. Snow has been falling in earnest and the temperatures are chilly! Today, the team climbed up to about 10,200′, where they…
With a very detailed installment of “How The Mountain Turns,” Lead Guide Pablo Puruncajas called in with an update on the resourcefulness of our West Rib team, in the face of really tough weather and conditions. Heavy snow and high winds caused the team to reevaluate their planned route. The approach to the Wets Rib…
Unfortunately the end of lead guide Dan Starr’s message is cut off due to satellite phone service and the vagaries of mountain weather, but it’s clear that the May 22nd Team officially moved to Camp 1 at 7800′. This is the longest day of the trip based on distance (+/- 5 miles) and Dan is…
Grant Maughn called in from Camp 1, down at 7,800′ after the team decided to throw in the proverbial towel. They have been stuck in foul weather for days and tomorrow was the day by which they needed to head further up the mountain, if they were going to have sufficient time to reach the…
Marcin Wlodarczyk called in on behalf of our May 18 West Buttress team. The team was treated to an extended stay in the small, end of the road town of Talkeetna, due to pretty foul weather for four days. Rain in Talkeetna and at Base Camp made it impossible for our friends at Talkeetna Air…
This afternoon, the seven members of our May 22 West Buttress team flew to the Kahiltna Glacier to start their ascent up the iconic route on Denali, the highest peak in North America. They got lucky with the weather, as our May 18th team just flew onto the glacier yesterday, after getting to spend a…