Trip Reports
Lead Guide Rob “Durny” Durnell called from 14,200′, where the team is still sitting in a snowstorm that has plagued them for days. They are really hopeful that the weather breaks a little, as tomorrow is their “up or down day.” That is the day after which they just won’t have sufficient time to move…
Climber Kirk Ridenour called in on behalf of the Mountain Trip June 26 West Buttress Expedition on Denali. The team plans lay their cache of extra food and fuel tomorrow at around 13,500′, at the top of Motorcycle Hill. Here’s the route the team will follow to make their cache and when they continue on…
Climber Jaahnavi called in with an update on the Mountain Trip June 22 West Buttress expedition on Denali, who are still camped at 11,200′. The team is traveling on a night schedule, so they’re spending their days snacking, sleeping, reading and in Jaahnavi’s case, doing crossword puzzles.They have already buried their cache up at 13,500′,…
Mountain Trip guide Rob “Durny” Durnell called in with an update on the June 16 Denali West Buttress team, who are waiting for the winds to die down above them before moving up to High Camp at Camp 3 at 14,200′. The team has already buried their cache of extra food, fuel and supplies at…
Lead Guide Sean McManamy provides an introduction to Wolfgang’s bilingual update from 14,200′. The team is experiencing heavy snow and this has stopped their upward travel for the time being. They spent the day working on their camp, fortifying it and occupying themselves as they camp in what must seem like the inside of a…
Daniel Laidig called in a special message from the glacier, as well as an update on the team’s progress. This morning, they packed up their camp and moved just shy of 2000′ up the Kahiltna, setting up their Camp 2 on a flat stretch of glacier at around 9700′. Packing up and moving camp is…
Guide josh Garner called in from the beautiful basin camp at 11,200′ to update on the June 24tth team’s progress. Today, they dropped back downhill a bit to retrieve a cache of supplies they had left at around 10,200′ a couple of days ago. This is called making a “back carry” and is a proven…
Franzi called in a special message from the June 15th team. If I spoke German I would translate, but I don’t…..so here’s Franzi! recording Also, guide Nick Aiello sent us this photo of team caching yesterday:
Jacob Schmitz called in from 7,800′, following a five hour hike up the broad Kahiltna Glacier today. The team had been delayed a bit in Talkeetna, which enabled them to review skills in town. The guide team was satisfied that all the climbers were ready to hit the ground running, so they moved up glacier,…
Mountain Trip guide Josh Garner called in the team’s report today. They team moved a load of equipment and supplies up the glacier to approximately 10,500′. The team is feeling good and moving well, and the plan is to move to Camp 2 tomorrow. Here’s Josh: recording