The June 9 Denali West Buttress Team has made it to Camp One on the glacier! We apologize for not having a meet the team posted sooner. The June 9 team will be heading up the classic West Buttress route, first pioneered in 1951 by legendary mountaineer Bradford Washburn. The team landed at Kahiltna Base Camp at 7,200′ on the lower Kahiltna Glacier. For the lower glacier, they will travel under a night schedule to ensure that snow bridges are at their most solid, while hauling heavy sleds and packs loaded with supplies for up to 22-days on the mountain. The team is now at Camp One at 7,800′. From there they will continue to Camp Two (11,200′), Camp Three (14,200′), High Camp (17,200′) and if all goes well, eventually stand atop Denali’s mighty 20,310′ summit.
Let’s meet the climbers!
Jason Woo
Aaron Ansari
Nadia Khoso
Jacob Kupferman
Skip Drew
Ross Jobson
The Mountain Trip guide team will be led by Eli Potter, assisted by guides Maddie Crowell and Jordan Cargill.
The team will try to call in updates daily, if possible, but some circumstances may prevent them from doing so. Occasionally, the team may not have good satellite phone reception at certain camps due to geological features, during certain heavy storms, or simply may not have time to call in due to fatigue or a long day. In general, please assume that no news is good news. You’re more than welcome to leave comments of encouragement, but please keep in mind that the team will not be able to read them until they return to Talkeetna after their expedition.
The team was able to fly onto the glacier yesterday (6/11) after a couple days of weather delay in Talkeetna, waiting to fly into the Alaska Range with Talkeetna Air Taxi.
Here’s the first audio update from Eli!
