Trip Reports
Denali, “The Great One,” rises a full 18,000′ (5486 m) from the surrounding landscape in southcentral Alaska. At 20,310 feet (6190 m), it is the tallest mountain in North America and one of the famed Seven Summits. Despite being the third highest of the Seven, it has more vertical relief than Mount Everest, and many…
A group of climbers from different hemispheres have gathered in Anchorage to forge themselves into a team that will attempt to climb the highest peak in North America. Denali, at 20,310 feet (6190 m), is arguably the hardest of the famed Seven Summits, due in part to it’s location just south of the Arctic Circle,…
Climbers cross a 5-ladder bridge over a huge crevasses in the Khumbu Icefall. Terry Kelleher called in a nice update from camp 2 at about 21,500′ today. Terry climbed up two days ago with most of our team, and Jacob Schmitz, our Lead Guide for this joint Mountain Trip / Mountain Madness Everest Expedition, caught…
Jay Patry called in a report from the basin camp at 11,200′ this evening. He was in high spirits, perhaps due to the Alaskan King Crab legs that they had for dinner tonight? Wow. Just. Wow… The team dropped downhill a ways this morning, in order to retrieve the cache of supplies they had left…
Our May 11 Denali West Buttress team called in from the basin camp at 11,200 feet (3413 m) after the team pushed through some strong, cold wind to put in a cache of supplies on the far side of the notorious Windy Corner. That name was well-deserved today! They set out in the morning, carrying…
The members of the DSUSA/Warfighter Sports Challenge team called in to answer a couple of questions posed to them recently. The three veterans on the team are climbing in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Disabled Sports USA as part of the Warfighters Challenge. They are pushing themselves in a manner that they might not…
Gustav Deuss called in from the team’s home for the last week or so at 14,200′. They carried supplies up onto the beautiful ridge above camp, which gave them a chance to experience the steepest section of the West Buttress route. They used “ascenders,” a climbing term for a clamp that will allow one direction…
Lead Guide Joe Butler called in after the team took an active rest day yesterday and a full rest day today. The team slept in yesterday, as there was no reason to awaken before the sun came around the mountain and warmed their tents. They had a big breakfast and dropped back to the uphill…
The team packed up camp and began to move up the mountain, but after a bit of a hike, they decided to turn back to camp, as they could see strong winds screaming spindrift across a long section of route known as the Polo Fields. It was a cold morning, so they took their time…
Our Everest Team awoke early on the morning of the 18th and after some breakfast and coffee in the warmth of the heated base camp dome, they started off through the Khumbu Ice Fall for Camp 2 and ultimately their push for the summit. It’s a 4 day push to get to the top from…