The May 11th team successfully back-carried today, retrieving the cache they’d buried at the pass.. With those supplies now reunited at Camp 2, the team has everything they need consolidated in one place — a key milestone in on any Denali expedition.

Back-carry days have a different rhythm than move days or fresh cache days. The team heads down to where the cache was buried, digs it out of the snow, repacks the supplies into their sleds and packs, and hauls everything back up to camp. While the loads are heavy on the return leg, the trip itself is familiar terrain the team has already covered, which helps make the day feel more manageable. There’s also something quietly satisfying about reclaiming supplies you stashed days earlier — proof that the slow, methodical approach to expedition-style climbing is paying off and that the team is steadily moving the mountain’s worth of gear higher.

With the cache safely back in camp, the team is now well-positioned to focus on what’s ahead. The next step will be looking at the route higher up the mountain and waiting for the right window to push on.

We are in fact communicating via satellite phone with these dispatches so occasionally the audio quality is subject to some interference. Hopefully you are able to make out some details from the audio below.

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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.