Trip Reports
Guide Karl Welter updated us that the May 13 Denali West Buttress team is waiting on their weather window in Talkeetna to fly onto the Kahiltna Glacier to Denali Base Camp. Often, the weather may be clear at higher elevations, but low hanging clouds impede visibility; flying through large, glaciated peaks that can create their…
Mountain Trip guide Slator Aplin called in from Camp One at 7,800′ with an update on the May 11 Denali West Buttress team! While he called in at around 9 p.m., the sun in Alaska is nowhere near setting this time of year, and they were likely in nearly full light. The infamous Alaskan ‘midnight…
Guide Fischer Hazen called in an update for the May 8th West Buttress team, who are camped at 11,200′ camp. They spent yesterday “back carrying” down the route to retrieve supplies that they cached earlier at Kahiltna Pass at around 10,500′, and bringing them up to camp. The weather has finally cleared, revealing the beautiful…
The team moved up to Camp 2 today at an elevation of 11,000 ft. It was a beautiful sunny day and they enjoyed the spectacular views from this camp and enjoyed nice weather for climbing. They are doing great and settled in for the night, planning to sleep in tomorrow and enjoy a pancake breakfast!…
The May 11 Mountain Trip Denali team is in basecamp tonight enjoying the beautiful scenery and preparing to start up the glacier to Camp 1 tomorrow. The weather has been in and out, but they are happy to be at base camp on the Kahiltna Glacier today. They spent the day practicing some glacier travel…
Brian Dagg is at it again! He’s on Denali for another shot at the summit with guides Zach Keskinen and Jason Denley. They are a small team and moving fast. The guys hit the ground running and headed straight on up to Camp 1 at 7,800 ft the first night on the glacier. They arrived…
The guides from the Mountain Trip called in with warm wishes to their mothers and to all Moms out there on this Mother’s Day. The team carried loads up Ski Hill to an elevation of about 9600′ today. Ski Hill is the first big climb of the route, and the team broke trail through fresh…
WELCOME TO ALASKA – MAY 11th WEST BUTTRESS DENALI TEAM Standing high above the surrounding tundra of Denali National Park, ‘The Great One’ has enticed and enchanted mountaineers from around the world for over a century. Today our second team of climbers of the season will assemble in Anchorage to go over trip logistics,…
Mountain Trip guide Fischer Hazen called in an update from Camp One on the Denali West Buttress at 7,800′. The team sounds to be “inside a ping pong ball,” a common weather phenomenon on Denali where the visibility essentially dissipates to near nothing, and it is a bit disorienting trying to route-find when one can’t…
Mountain Trip guide Brian Muller called in an update on the May 8th West Buttress team, who were able to move up to Camp 1 at 7,800′ with heavy loads of gear. Their day of climbing began relatively clear with clouds still obscuring the majority of the mountains, but the weather grew increasingly overcast as…