Mountain Trip teams at Camp 2

The June 16th Gillig team made strong progress today, moving all the way up to Camp 2! The team had initially planned to camp at the 9,600-foot camp, but with things going well, they decided to push on and cover the full distance to Camp 2 at 11,200 feet.

Making the call to keep climbing rather than stopping at an intermediate camp is a sign that the team is moving well and feeling strong. Bumping all the way to Camp 2 in one push covers more ground in a single day, gaining good elevation while the team has the energy and conditions to do it. For a ski team hauling extra gear, that’s an especially solid day of work, since every carry comes with the added weight and bulk of skis and ski-specific equipment on top of the standard expedition kit.

Camp 2 sits at 11,200 feet and serves as the home base for the next phase of the climb. From here, teams typically begin caching toward Windy Corner and eventually relocate to 14 Camp higher up the mountain. For the Gillig team, every foot of elevation gained is also terrain they’ll eventually get to ski back down on their way to attempting a summit ski descent, one of the most ambitious objectives in North American ski mountaineering.

For now, the June 16th Gillig team is settled in at Camp 2 after a strong day on the route. With good momentum building and the team moving well together, the ski expedition is off to a great start.

—

Family and friends are encouraged to leave comments for their loved ones on this expedition. Please keep in mind that climbers will not be able to see posts or comments until they return to Talkeetna at the end of the expedition.

Don’t forget that you can subscribe to this expedition’s Field Reports by entering your email address in the form to the right or below if viewing via mobile. That way, you never miss an update!

Interested in more information about conditions and happenings on Denali? Be sure to also check out the Denali National Park’s Denali Dispatches Blog where they post weekly Field Reports.