Karen called in a brief update to let us all know that she, the Tylers, Mary, Grant and Brian are established in the stunningly pretty basin at about 11,200′. This will be their Camp 2 for the climb, and it is a really neat place to camp. The basin opens to the west, and is ringed to the south, east and north by towering ice cliffs and steep snow slopes. The view to the west affords views of a couple of the Range’s big peaks, Mt Foraker and Kahiltna Dome, with the tundra stretching off to the west beyond the boundary of the Alaska Range.
They will make a quick trip back down to their cache of gear about a 1,000′ below them, which they buried in the snow to protect their food from ravens yesterday. After that, they wil make a carry up to roughly 13,500′ before striking camp and moving on up the mountain.
Here’s Karen:
