The May 9th team has officially come full circle, arriving back at Basecamp around 6:30 this morning and catching their flight back to Talkeetna in the early afternoon. The team is now safely back in Anchorage, where they’ll gather for a final celebratory lunch tomorrow before heading their separate ways.

Like many teams moving on the lower glacier, the May 9th team traveled through the “night,” taking advantage of the coldest hours to move when the glacier is at its most stable. At this time of year on Denali, it never truly gets dark, but the temperatures still drop in the overnight hours, refreezing the snow and firming up the snow bridges that span the crevasses below. Traveling during these hours is the safest way to cross the lower glacier, but it comes with its own challenges. Climbers are moving when their bodies naturally want to rest, pushing through fatigue and cold in the small hours of the morning, all while staying sharp and focused on a glacier that demands constant attention. It’s a discipline that takes mental toughness as much as physical strength, and this team handled it well.

Coming off the mountain is always a moment worth pausing on. This team gave it everything they had, and they should be enormously proud of what they accomplished on Denali. They navigated weather delays, worked their way through the lower mountain, pushed through Windy Corner, and made it all the way to 14 Camp at 14,200 feet. As some of the first climbers all season to reach that point on the mountain, they did so without the established track and beta that later teams get to rely on. That takes grit, patience, and real mountaineering skill.

Denali is a mountain that asks a lot of everyone who steps onto it, and the summit is never a given. The true measure of an expedition isn’t a single point on a map, it’s the climbing itself, the resilience shown through long days and storm holds, the trust built between teammates, and the experience of standing in one of the most spectacular and demanding places on the planet. By every one of those measures, the May 9th team had a tremendously successful climb. They showed up, supported one another, made smart decisions, and came home safe, which is always the most important outcome of all.

We’ll be sitting down with the team tomorrow afternoon to debrief, hear their stories, and celebrate everything they achieved up there. For now, we want to say how proud we are of this group. The mountains they’ve climbed and the memories they’ve made will stay with them long after the gear is unpacked. Congratulations to the May 9th team on a hard-earned and well-deserved expedition.

In the coming day we will have more photos and media from the team!

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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.