The June 16th Gillig team had a great day on the mountain, getting a cache in at around 16,200 feet today, and even better, they got to put their skis to use with some turns on the way back down!
Caching at 16,200 feet is a significant step on the West Buttress. The day’s work took the team up the fixed lines on the Headwall and out onto the upper mountain to stash supplies for the move higher. For a ski team, every climb up the route also comes with the reward of skiing back down, and today the team got to do exactly that, earning some turns after putting in the hard work of the cache. Skiing on Denali isn’t about soft, easy snow, but getting to ski any portion of this terrain on one of the most ambitious ski mountaineering objectives in North America is a payoff that makes the extra effort of hauling ski gear well worth it.
Looking ahead, the team is planning to take a rest day tomorrow to recover and acclimatize before making the move up to high camp the following day. A projected summit attempt is on the horizon in the days that follow, weather permitting. Timing the move to high camp and the summit push with the right conditions is one of the most important parts of the upper mountain phase, and the team is setting themselves up well to capitalize on a good window.
For now, the June 16th Gillig team is back at camp with another strong day behind them, and some turns in the books to boot. With the cache in place and the upper mountain in their sights, the ski expedition is rolling right along.
Climbing the fixed lines
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