Mountain Trip guide, Jed, called in with the dispatch for the May 21 climb team after their big push up and around Windy Corner 13,000 ft (3962 m) from their home of Camp 2 11,000 ft (3353 m)!
This day involves an early breakfast before steep snow climbing up the 1,000 ft (305 m) high Motorcycle Hill that rewards climbers with spectacular views. The total distance for the day is about four miles round trip with a little over 2,000 ft (610 m) of elevation gain. Fun climbing with crampons and an ice axe helped the team travel around the feature known as Windy Corner where the upper mountain comes into view. It is incredibly motivating to finally be able to see the objective of the big expedition climbers have been working towards for months!
After cache-ing their gear the team returned back down to their camp for an amazing homemade pizza dinner. Completing this day of the trip puts them exactly on schedule for their climb. Strong work, crew – we can’t wait to hear what you do next! If you’re reading along and are curious, you can view Mountain Trip’s day-by-day itinerary for the West Buttress route here: https://mountaintrip.com/alaska/climb-denali/west-buttress/
