Trip Reports
Moving high in warm, clear weather, the Pancoe team made good time climbing up the steep fixed lines and out along the ridge that leads to High Camp. Located at 17,200′ (5242m) on a small flat expanse atop the West Buttress, Denali’s High Camp is a challenging place. Climbers need to build stout walls from…
Team Ema is on the move! Today, they carried loads of supplies up and around a notorious feature on the West Buttress route – Windy Corner. But, as Mountain Trip Guide Kaylee Walden shared in today’s update – not today. It was beautiful and windless. The team climbed up a moderately steep slope right out…
Dave Helland called in after the team carried loads around Windy Corner on what was, by other accounts, a windless day. It’s been hot and the team has been moving well, trying to capitalize on the cooler early mornings. Today started out with a thousand foot climb up Motorcycle Hill. The climbers have now donned…
David Wilde checked in from the sunny and warm basin of Camp 2 on Denali’s West Buttress Route. Today was a relatively easy day, with the team sleeping in before dropping down a thousand feet to retrieve the cache they buried in the snow a couple days ago. After digging it out and sorting supplies,…
Rest day! The team enjoyed a leisurely day today, resting their bodies and building up a bit more acclimatization before making the big push to High Camp. Brian Kramp called in with an update from Camp 3, where it was sunny and warm today. The team will pack up camp tomorrow (weather permitting) and climb…
Lead Guide Nick Nason called in from Camp 1 on the Kahiltna Glacier after he, Alan Snyder and Logan Demarcus had a great day carrying loads to an elevation of about 10,000′. It was a sunny, clear day and they made the most of the good weather to ferry supplies close to their next camp.…
Once again – congratulations are in order! The team made it back to High Camp in the late evening hours, with all climbers happy and proud of his and her achievements. Today, they’ll sleep in a bit before packing up camp for the long climb down to their previous camps and eventually out the Kahiltna…
Benefiting from beautiful weather, Mountain Trip’s June 10th West Buttress team climbed up the steepest section of the route today, to establish a cache of supplies on a striking ridge at about 16,500′. They had dropped down glacier from their 14,200′ camp yesterday to retrieve supplies that had been previously cached at 13,500′, which they…
Lead Guide Jason Denley reached out today from a beautiful basin camp that will be Team Ema’s new digs for a few days. They departed their previous camp early in the morning to take advantage of colder nighttime temperatures, which make for easier travel than you’d encounter in the heat of the day. Arriving into…
Mountain Trip Guide Logan Demarcus called in from 7,800′ on the vast Kahiltna Glacier. He, Alan Snyder and Lead Guide Nick Nason made the five mile trek from Base Camp in the early hours of pre-dawn, and enjoyed great conditions, with a firm trail up the glacier. As the day warmed with the sun of…