Congratulations to the members of the June 17th West Buttress team!  They reached the summit of North America!

This morning they departed from High Camp at about 8:45 am, hiking up a steep, rising traverse, known as The Autobahn (for a party of Germans who slipped…) to reach Denali Pass, the low point between Denali’s North and South Summits.  Taking a break at about 18,200′, they geared up for some steep pitches of snow above the pass.  Rolling terrain finally saw them drop down a short bit onto a long, flat expanse of glacier known as The Football Field, at 19,500′.

A moderately steep climb took them from The Football Field onto the stunning summit ridge, which ascends 300′ over several hundred horizontal meters of knife-edged climbing.  They had hundreds of feet of exposure to their left and about 9,000′ of air to their right, as the tremendous South Face of Denali fell away just off the pinkie toe of their left boots.

Great job team!

Enjoy the phone call from 20,3010′ above North America –

recording