Welcome to the expedition dispatches for Mountain Trip’s June 17th West Buttress Expedition.  We’ll be following the progress of the climbers on their 2-3 week journey up the West Buttress of Denali.   We’ll typically post dispatches every day and often we’ll embed a recording of the phone call from the team on the mountain.   There is a link on the right side bar where you can select your team and see a link to their latest SPOT gps track, as well as look at the current conditions in the Alaska Range on Talkeetna Air Taxi’s webcam, and the weather forecast for Denali.

The team met in Anchorage, AK yesterday for a trip briefing and gear check.  This morning they drove to Talkeetna, checked in with the National Park Service, and flew in to base camp.  It’s been a busy few days, traveling to Alaska, preparing for the trip, and finally they are on the glacier.

Here’s a pic from today in Talkeetna getting ready to fly to base camp.   (One member of the team, Cason Crane, flew to basecamp yesterday with guides Yoshiko and Ted to get a day to practice some skills before the rest of the team arrived.)

The June 17th Expedition

 

The team includes:

Greg Harris

Shlomo Wasser

Arkhom Kijwanichprasert

Nancy Novak

Silvia Vasquez-Lavado

Cason Crane

and Guides:

Joe Butler, Yoshiko Miyazaki-Back, Ian Havlick, Sam Novey, Ted Grosgebauer, and Travis Williams.