The May 26th team took a well-earned rest day at high camp today. With everything in position for a summit attempt, the team is now in the familiar Denali rhythm of waiting for the right weather day to step off toward the top.

According to the current forecast, a possible summit window could open in the next few days. That said, weather forecasting on Denali is notoriously tricky. The mountain is so massive that it creates its own weather patterns, with the upper slopes generating wind, clouds, and temperature swings that don’t always line up with what’s happening across the Alaska Range below. Forecast models can get the broad strokes right, but the conditions at 17,200 feet and above can shift in ways that no model fully captures. That’s why guides on the mountain rely on a combination of forecast data, real-time observations, and conversations with other teams to make summit day decisions in the moment.

The patience required to wait for a good window is one of the harder parts of being in position at high camp. The summit is so close, but the mountain has to cooperate, and that timing is rarely predictable. The team is using the rest day to recover, hydrate, and stay sharp for whenever the call comes.

For now, the May 26th team is at high camp, well-positioned, well-rested, and ready to move when the weather lines up. We’ll have more to share as the forecast develops.

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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.