Dave Helland rang in from 17,200′ on Denali today. In his words, “After getting beaten off the West Rib” they dropped down to 14,200′ on the West Buttress for the night. Today, in windy conditions, they pushed up to High Camp on the West Buttress. The weather seems to be trending better, so they are poised and ready to punch out a summit bid tomorrow morning.
Rigidly flexible. That’s a phrase we use around here a lot (thanks Kevin Koprek!). The West Rib team has epitomized being rigidly flexible. They climbed hard for over a vertical mile up steep terrain, but the increased avalanche hazard of several windy days in a row stymied their wishes to complete the route, but they shifted gears and are pushing hard for the summit from another direction – rigidly flexible!
Here’s Dave –
You sound good! Praying for you all, and hope you summit today, per your plan. Take care, David, Matt, and Fischer. Rigidly flexible – I think that term could be applied in many of life’s situations!