The June 22nd Team “Big Knots” will meet in Anchorage today to go over final preparations for their climb of Denali’s West Buttress! The lofty goal of climbing Denali has been on the horizon for the team for a long time, and we are excited to welcome them to Alaska. They will be attempting the West Buttress route, arguably the most classic mountaineering route in North America, established by legendary climber and Alaska Range pioneer, Bradford Washburn. The team will spend up to 22 days on the mountain endeavoring to reach its 20,310′ summit, the highest point in North America.

The Big Knots Team will close out the season for us this year, as the last team to fly onto the glacier for the 2021 Alaska season.

Let’s meet the climbers!

Lara Daniel

Steve Daniel

Pat James

Mike Ross

Saurabh Bhasin

The Mountain Trip Guide Team will be led by Jesse Wright, assisted by Jed Porter and Robert Caldwell, all back for their second trip up the mountain this season.

Tomorrow the team will head north to the small mountain hamlet of Talkeetna, Alaska, about 4 hours north of Anchorage through beautiful mountain valleys. Talkeetna is the starting point for most climbing expeditions in the Alaska Range and the gateway town to Denali National Park. There, the team will have a briefing with the National Park Service, make sure all of their gear is packed and ready to go, and hop on a flight into the Alaska Range with Talkeetna Air Taxi. Once the team begins making progress up the route, they’ll try to call in daily updates via satellite phone to keep everyone following along at home up to date on their progress.

The team has another big goal–to raise funds for Polaris Alaskan Malamute rescue efforts. We will do a full “Meet the Team” dispatch once the full expedition team assembles in Anchorage, but for now, you can subscribe to the updates for the team to tune in to their progress up the mountain when the time comes. It takes many years of preparation and months of training to be ready for the (up to) 22-day long expedition to Denali’s 20,310′ summit, and is definitely no small undertaking. If you wish to donate to their fundraising efforts, you can follow this link: https://www.polarismalamuterescue.org/denaliclimb.shtml

Good luck to the guides and climbers!