The May 14th team made the move up to 14 Camp today! It’s a major milestone on any Denali expedition and a great step forward after the steady work of caching and climbing through the lower mountain.

The move from Camp 2 to 14 Camp is one of the bigger days on the West Buttress, gaining roughly 3,000 feet of elevation through some of the more demanding terrain on the route. The day includes the climb up to Windy Corner at around 13,500 feet, followed by the push along the upper traverse and the final stretch into 14 Camp at 14,200 feet. Doing this with a fully loaded team is no small effort, and arriving at camp ready to settle in for the next phase of the expedition is something to celebrate.

14 Camp itself sits at the heart of any West Buttress climb. It’s the staging ground for the upper mountain, the launching point for summit pushes, and the place where teams settle in for the most pivotal stretch of the climb. From here, the focus shifts to acclimatizing, scouting the route higher, and waiting for the right window to push toward the summit. It’s a different rhythm than the lower mountain, and the work the team has done to get here puts them in a strong position for what’s ahead.

We don’t have any other significant updates from the team tonight, which is fairly typical after a long, demanding move day. Once camp is set up and dinner is on, most climbers prioritize rest over satellite calls. We’re expecting to hear more once the team has had a chance to recover and look ahead to the next move.

For now, congratulations to the May 14th team on a big day and a hard-earned arrival at 14!

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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.