Lloyd Hudson calls in from the summit of Denali; elated and wishes his sister in England a happy birthday. [audio:http://mountaintripdenali2011.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/audio-post-2011-06-18-04-31-53.mp3|titles=Audio Post]
Kevin Koprek and team were able to travel the increasingly broken lower section of the Kahiltna glacier overnight when conditions were frozen, so snow quality made for great walking. Now they are established within a wanded and probed perimeter, most likely sleeping as I write this, getting ready to carry some gear and food ahead…
Drew called from downtown Talkeetna to say hello- they were able to hit a weather window and flew back to town with no problems. They have a few more days on the trip and are in the process of planning activities for the rest of their trip.
The weather improved during the day but when conditions stabilized it was too late for a summit bid. They still have days to wait it out, and the weather forecast continues to be favorable for the next couple of days. Maybe tomorrow they’ll go have a look…
The river crossing went well and the team met up with the MT van and ate watermelon and ate huge sandwiches before getting on the road to head to Anchorage. Right now they are in between McKinley village and Talkeetna.
We received calls from both Mike Burmeister and Durny from the summit at 8pm. Both teams summited with all members and are currently headed down to high camp.
After a very engaging descent from 14,200′ to basecamp and some time waiting for flyable weather the Seans got picked up by a Mountain Trip vehicle and are safely in Anchorage.
Right now a raft should be drawing near the traverse crew, who are still stuck on the wrong side of the McKinley, which is still swollen by sustained rainfall. Once they make it across and walk the 2.2 miles to Wonder Lake they will catch a bus to the Denali national Park entrance where our…
Durny calls in the post for yesterday- still at high camp. They received about a foot of new snow and temps in the -15 to 5 above 0 degrees Farenheit range. The forecast looks favorable for a Friday summit bid. [audio:http://mountaintripdenali2011.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/audio-post-2011-06-16-04-23-09.mp3|titles=Audio Post]