One of the great pleasures of guiding Denali is having the opportunity to work with some amazing guides. Jim Williams is one such guide, a long time high altitude guide who has mentored many of the younger guides working on big, cold mountains today. Mountain Trip is thrilled to have Jim working as part of…
It sounds like the team has been enjoying the relative comfort of 14 Camp located in the beautiful Genet Basin. In between napping, reading, and eating, the team has been practicing skills they will use to ascend the upper mountain. The route above 14 Camp climbs 1,400′ of moderately steep snow before reaching the steepest…
Team Fubar has been digging out after receiving 50″ of new snow in the past few days. Yesterday morning it appeared that there was going to be a window of decent weather, so the team packed up camp and started headed up Motorcycle Hill. They met several teams descending, who reported deteriorating weather ahead. The…
May 20 Final Blog Post: Joe Butler reporting The team decided to descend from 14K camp on June 6. With our food supplies dwindling and a very rough weather forecast pending, the team decided to leave for lower elevations and try to outrun the incoming storm and get a flight out of the range. Easier…
Guide Aaron called in a brief team report today. The team descended to 7800′ Camp yesterday, which is a long day, and they hope to continue down to Base Camp this afternoon. It sounds like it’s pretty low visibility on the glacier, so it’s unlikely that they will be able to fly out today, but…
Denali. “The Great One.” Mount McKinley. By any name, the behemoth that dominates south central Alaska is something to behold in awe and to treat with the utmost respect. For climbers, the mountain presents what many might consider the challenge of a lifetime, as they pit themselves against brutal winds, arctic temperatures and the thin…
Terry called in the team’s report tonight. It sounds like the team has spent much of the last 48 hours digging out their camp, and reading and relaxing. While the team is relatively comfortable in camp, they are anxious to continue to their ascent. Fingers crossed for clearing weather! Here’s Terry: recording
After a couple of days of no contact, we heard that the May 26th Team has descended back to Base Camp and is hoping to fly off the mountain. They made a hard fought push for the summit, reaching 19,500′, before turning back in rough weather. They hoped to attempt the summit again, but instead…
Unfortunately the weather has not cooperated with the team’s schedule, and they are becoming intimately familiar with the small Alaskan town of Talkeetna. Lead guide Seba Grau reports that the team has been taking advantage of time in town to review camp building skills and sled rigging techniques. And enjoying fresh, hot coffee! The weather…
Enjoy the following photos of the team as they packed up and headed to Talkeetna yesterday: