May 29 West Buttress Team — Cached below High Camp

Mountain Trip guide Jason Denley called in an update for the May 29 Denali West Buttress team, who were relaxing at camp at 14,200′ after a long day in the sun. They have made steady progress up the route without being hindered by the bad weather that stopped earlier teams in their tracks at one camp or another for days (or even weeks) on end.

The team ascended the steep sections of fixed lines above camp, gaining about 2,000 vertical feet to bury their final cache at 16,200′, below High Camp. Now that their cache is in place and they have spent some time acclimatizing above 14,000′, the team will likely make the move up to High Camp within the next couple of days, weather permitting.

The cache day took upwards of six hours and provided the team with good practice moving together in higher-consequence terrain and allowing them to have a better idea of the sections of the route that remain between them and the summit of the Great One at 20,310′.

Here’s Jason with the quick update:

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2 Comments

  1. Hi Gerard and Ross, we’re so happy to hear that you’re making great progress and that the weather is continuing to cooperate with you. On to High Camp! Much love from the Cown, Almengual, Mazzawi, Wasileski and Hollenberg families.

  2. Hi Carly and team-Wow!! Love hearing everyone is well and moving up . Bet you are glad to have good weather to acclimate .Hope you are able to photograph these incredible views . Can’t imagine the difficulty in this climb but also what it must feel like to accomplish your goals. I think you are amazing!.
    Love ❤️ Mom

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