Climbers departing base camp to head to Camp One (7,800′). 2017.

Guide Brian Muller called in an update on the May 8 West Buttress Team, who were able to fly into Denali Base Camp after waiting on the weather to open up for the majority of the day in Talkeetna.

The team is hoping to move to Camp One tomorrow (May 11) after doing some preparations and discussing rope team travel. They will ascend with all of their gear, the heaviest that they will be for the entire trip. Their packs will weigh upwards of 60 pounds (often up to 80!) and they will be pulling another 40 to 50 pounds behind them in sleds–this is where months of training and preparation will certainly come in handy. While tomorrow’s route doesn’t have a massive amount of vertical (they will ascend from 7,200′ to 7,800′), it can be quite long; depending on the snow cover and various crevasse features, the heavy trip can exceed five miles.

The weather was relatively mild at the time of the call, but it was snowing lightly. Everyone had settled in and they had camp set up and guides (who will double as mountain chefs for the next three weeks) were about to start preparing dinner.

Here’s Brian with the update!