I’ll preface this by stating that my Portuguese is limited to, “Eu não falo português.” But, I was able to pick out a few words that are similar to Spanish and deduced that Vanessa called in from Camp 2 at 11,000 feet on Denali.
The team carried loads around Windy Corner today. This is the first section of the route where the climbers used crampons and ice axes, as the trail gets moderately steep immediately outside of camp. They first climbed the 1000′ (300m) Motorcycle Hill to get out of the basin where they were camped. Above this, there are a couple of steeper sections that are collectively known as “Squirrel Hill.” Then, a long, gradual grade saw the climbers to the notorious Windy Corner, where a craggy ridge of rock drops down thousands of feet from the West Buttress. This area can create a Venturi effect of accelerating wind that sweeps across the south side of the mountain. Today, the team had good conditions and little wind. Lead Guide Eli Potter reported that the trail passing around the corner is in really good shape and made for relatively easy travel. At an elevation of just over 13,000 feet (~4000m), easy is a relative term!
They cached their supplies uphill of Windy Corner and then descended back to Camp 2 for the night. They plan to re-climb today’s route as they push up to the next camp at 14,200′ (4328m). Here’s Vanessa with the report!
