Family and friends of the May 13th Denali Team should tap the recording link below to hear assistant guide Maddie Crowell’s farewell dispatch. Be sure not to miss the big thank you to all the Mountain Trip staff back home whose work behind the scenes makes these trips possible. We’re psyched to hear this crew is safe and sound back at basecamp.

Getting here required traveling through the night from High Camp 17,200 ft (5242 m) stopping only to unbury any remaining gear cache and maybe make a meal to sustain them on their 10,000 ft (3048 m). Climbing down from High Camp takes one to two days, depending on the team’s strength and motivation to get home. The descent can beat you up more than the ascent, as we often shoulder our heaviest loads of the trip hiking down.

The team hiked up “Heartbreak Hill” and rolled into Denali basecamp 7,200 ft (2194 m) at around 9 AM. Upon arrival, they were greeted with a plentiful amount of fresh snow and other teams hunkered down in their tents waiting out the storm. This is truly the winter that keeps on giving! Regardless of the storm, everyone on this team remains in high spirits and they were rewarded with homemade cheeseburgers for dinner.

Weather dictates when they will be able to fly out to Talkeetna for food and showers. The next update you should be hearing from them will be from their cell phones. Congratulations team on giving this adventure of a lifetime your all and thank you for climbing with us!

recording