Welcome to the dispatch page for Mountain Trip’s April 24th West Buttress Expedition.

Conventional wisdom holds that the “Denali climbing season” begins on May 1st.  We’re not certain how Denali reads the calender, but we have been happy to offer late April expeditions for the past six years and have enjoyed the more wild feel of the mountain as we climb without the large numbers of climbers that will begin ascending in the coming weeks.

On April 24th, a team of climbers from around the world will gather in Anchorage, Alaska to meet a team of guides from Mountain Trip to finalize their preparations for an early season ascent of the highest peak in North America.  These climbers have been preparing for months and sometimes years for this experience.  Our lead guide for this team is Dave Staeheli, the most experienced Denali guide working today.  He has been guiding on the mountain since 1982 and lost count of how many teams he has led up the peak when the count reached the mid-30′s.

Let’s meet the team:

Toni Diskin, from the Ireland
Aidan Connolly, from the Ireland
Richard Quintiliani, from the US
Lawrence Cutler, from the US
Jerry O’ Sullivan, from the Ireland
Peter Conroy, from the Ireland
Beat Niederer, from Switzerland
Dave Dacquino, from the US
Dave Staeheli (lead guide), from Palmer, AK
Henry Munter (guide) from Girdwood, AK
Jack McGee (guide) from Girdwood, AK

The team will meet in Anchorage, Alaska on the 17th of April for a team meeting and gear check.  They will have a full day of preparing their personal kits for the glacier and picking up last minute items.  The following morning, they will travel to the small town of Talkeetna to check in with the National Park Service and then fly to the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier at an elevation of 7,200′.

Enjoy the dispatches and we encourage you to post comments and warm wishes (pun totally intended!) for your friends and family members as they make their way up to the summit of North America.