The Mountain Trip May 24 team has returned back to 14-Camp after a retreat from High Camp in worsening conditions. Winds blew at a steady 35 miles per hour on the exposed ridgelines, with gusts reaching even higher than that. With no signs of the weather abating any time soon to allow for a summit attempt, the majority of climbers at High Camp at 17,200′ have made the difficult decision to head back down to warmer temperatures as the possibility of making the summit has greatly diminished.

This season marks the most difficult in memory, and perhaps ever, for the likelihood of attaining Denali’s sought-after 20,320′ summit.

Here’s the audio update from the team: