Richard Quintiliani called in a great update from Camp 1 on the Kahiltna Glacier. The team is doing great and moved out of Base Camp this morning after a tasty breakfast and a slightly delayed start, due to modest snowfall that came down early in the morning.
They packed up their tents and left all extra things in a cache at BC, awaiting their return in a couple of weeks or longer. Loading their packs, they also put a hefty quantity of food, fuel and supplies in sleds that they will pull behind them for the next week or so. Sleds make it possible to transport the mountain of “stuff” necessary for a 2-3 week expedition on Denali. They can be your best friend at times, gliding along on the snow, but they can also prove your nemesis when they slide into your heels on downhill stretches!
Once loaded, they tied into ropes that will provide them security in the event that someone were to poke through the snow into a hidden crevasse. There was no such drama today, and they had really good traveling conditions to make the five mile trek up the broad Kahiltna Glacier to the site of their first camp (Camp 1) at 7,800 feet.
Here’s Richard!
