The May 16th team had a productive day on the mountain, getting a cache in on the pass! After a long stretch of weather delays back in Talkeetna, it’s great to see the team putting solid work in on the route and building momentum on the climb.
Caching on the pass is an important step on the West Buttress and one of the first significant moves a team makes above Camp 1. By stashing supplies higher up the route, the team starts shifting the weight of their expedition up the mountain piece by piece, setting themselves up for a more efficient move when it’s time to relocate camp. It’s also a chance to get familiar with the terrain ahead and dial in the rhythm of glacier travel under load.
Cache days follow the time-tested mountaineering principle of “climb high, sleep low.” The team climbs up with a heavy load, buries the cache in the snow, and then descends back to a lower camp to sleep. This approach gives climbers a real edge when it comes to acclimatizing — by spending time at elevation without spending the night there, the body has a chance to start adapting to the thinner air without the added stress of sleeping at altitude. Over the course of the expedition, this rhythm builds the kind of physiological resilience needed to push toward the summit.
For now, the May 16th team is back in camp with a strong day behind them. After everything it took to get on the glacier in the first place, today’s progress feels especially well-earned, and we’re hoping the momentum keeps building from here.
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