The team loaded up their sleds and packs and made the big push up to the top of the Kahiltna Glacier this morning.  They traveled about 4.5 miles up to a beautiful basin situated at bout 11,200′.  This is, in many ways, the end of the approach, and the transition to the climbing part of the expedition.  The terrain steepens, most climbers don crampons and grab their ice axes, and things just all around get more serious.

The camp looks off to the west, with stunning views of neighboring peaks that transform as the sun passes to the north of Denali, shifting the quality of light to hues of orange, red and pink.  Massive ice cliffs border the southern edge of camp, and the climbers are afforded a nice view of the granite craggy face of the West Buttress proper.  In the image below, the trail comes into the frame from the lower right and can be seen ascending to camp, up the snowy ramp of glacier from the lower left.

Looking at the basin camp of 11,200', with the massive West Buttress looming at top center