There has been a thick band of really crummy weather sitting on the lower portions of the mountain.  Thick clouds, wind and snow have created whiteout conditions, making travel difficult at best.  Our May 28 and May 30th teams are not making much progress up the mountain in the face of such conditions.  Our June 1st crew is still stuck in Talkeetna, hoping for a break in which to fly to the glacier.

The upper part of this system fluctuates between the 14,200′ Camp and High Camp, making it challenging for upwards progress for our May 18th team, poised to push for the summit, as well as for our May 22nd team, which is looking for a break in which to push up to High Camp.

Weather has been tough this season.  We saw generally good condition up until the second week of May, after which the weather became really bad for about two weeks!  Our West Rib and May 18th teams sneaked in summit bids during a brief break in the weather, but that window was just a few days long.  The forecast for the upper mountain is a mixed bag of snow and moderate winds, making it really tough to predict if they team up high will see an opportunity to move today.  Then again – the Denali weather forecast has never been great, so there is a good chance that our guides will poke their heads out this morning and see blue skies overhead.

Fingers crossed!!