Happy 4th of July, everyone! We hope you all got some time to spend with family and friends today.
The June 22nd team spent the holiday with a combined rest and skills day at 14 Camp, taking time to recover, acclimatize, and sharpen their technique before the upper mountain. After the steady work of getting established at 14, a day like this is exactly what the team needs heading into the next phase of their Denali ski expedition.
Rest days at 14 Camp serve an important purpose. Time spent at 14,200 feet gives the body a chance to keep adapting to the altitude, and going into the move to high camp well-rested and properly acclimatized makes a real difference once the climbing gets more demanding. Pairing the rest with some skills work is a great use of the day. Running through techniques for the fixed lines and the upper mountain, like ascending on the lines, managing transitions at anchor points, and moving efficiently in crampons, helps make sure the team is dialed in and confident when it counts. For a ski team, staying sharp on both the climbing and the snow conditions is part of the equation the whole way up.
Looking ahead, the team is planning to make the move up to high camp in the coming days, with hopes of a summit attempt to follow, weather permitting. Getting established at high camp puts the team in position to capitalize on a good window, and with the summit and the eventual ski descent both in their sights, the team is entering the most pivotal stretch of the expedition.
For now, the June 22nd team is at 14 Camp, rested up and dialed in after a productive holiday on the mountain. With high camp on the horizon, the ski expedition is rolling right along.
Rest day at 14 Camp
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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.
