Mountain Trip climber Don Cash called in an update on the May 21 Denali West Buttress team.

They awoke up at 3 a.m. to near daylight and an unfortunate 8 inches of snow that collapsed their kitchen tent–which they were able to hastily repair. They broke down and packed up their camp at 7,200′ Denali Base Camp and prepared everything to move up the glacier.

They will be heavily loaded for their first move to Camp One at 7,800′; while the team will complete the majority of the climb in “expedition style,” by burying caches of food and supplies that they will need for later on in the climb and heading back down the route to uncover and retrieve them later on, to lighten their loads of gear as they ascend and acclimate.

They had less than desirable conditions for their move to Camp One, but made their way up the glacier without incident.

Unfortunately Don breaks up at the end and disappears from service, so there are two recordings from him: