June 9, 2014
We haven't heard from the Simmons team in a few days, but they have been busy. On Saturday, they pushed up to the broad basin camp at 14,200' and established what could be viewed as their "Advanced Base Camp," because they will spend a number of days at this camp,
June 8, 2014
Scott Talmage called in after the team carried a load of supplies to about 15,600', and cached them at the base of the fixed lies that lead up the steepest part of the route, a section called the Headwall. The weather was not cooperative today, so they dropped their loads
June 8, 2014
Pi called in to let us all know that the team did, indeed, take the rest day that they had planned today. After carrying high on the West Rib, they opted to give their bodies a bit of a break and take it easy today. From the sound of the
June 8, 2014
Lead guide Rob Durnell called in after the team made a carry up to 11,000' today. The team is traveling on skis, and so this helped them make quick work of their descent after making their cache, despite being roped together the entire time, as per NPS regulations. The team
June 8, 2014
We have a multilingual phone call from Camp 1 at 7,800'! Lead guide Eli Potter gave us a nice breakdown of the team's strategy for climbing this big, cold mountain, which involves "climbing high and sleeping low." This is an old climbers' axiom that means you climb high during the
June 7, 2014
Juan Pablo Alcalde called in a nice post in both Spanish and English from the 4328 meter (14,200') camp on the Denali's West Buttress. The team is poised to move up to high camp as soon as they have decent weather to do so. Everyone is doing great and spirits
June 7, 2014
Lead guide Eli Potter called in the first post from our June 5th team, who have adopted the moniker, "Japan 8 8 Expedition." As Eli describes, their is 8 years of age difference between the climbers and the number 8 is both considered lucky in Japanese culture, as well as
June 7, 2014
Lead guide Rob "Durny" Durnell called in from the team's Camp 1 at 7,800' on the Kahiltna Glacier with an update on the team's progress. They carried all their food, fuel and supplies about five miles up glacier to the junction with the Northeast Fork of the Kahiltna. This site
June 7, 2014
Ryan called in from the 14,200' camp after the team back carried the cache that they had placed at about 12,500' a couple days ago. They now have all their food and fuel poised at 14,200' and just need a decent weather day in order to push their next cache
June 7, 2014
The team pushed hard to get supplies up to the high camp on the Upper West Rib or "Riblet" today. They skied up most of the elevation gain, as the initial slopes to high camp are moderate and afford fantastic skiing opportunities. It sounds like then took some advantage of
