Trip Reports
Lead guide Eli Potter called in the first post from our June 5th team, who have adopted the moniker, “Japan 8 8 Expedition.” As Eli describes, their is 8 years of age difference between the climbers and the number 8 is both considered lucky in Japanese culture, as well as somewhat resembles a mountain, when…
Lead guide Rob “Durny” Durnell called in from the team’s Camp 1 at 7,800′ on the Kahiltna Glacier with an update on the team’s progress. They carried all their food, fuel and supplies about five miles up glacier to the junction with the Northeast Fork of the Kahiltna. This site is at what is known…
Ryan called in from the 14,200′ camp after the team back carried the cache that they had placed at about 12,500′ a couple days ago. They now have all their food and fuel poised at 14,200′ and just need a decent weather day in order to push their next cache up onto the ridge above…
The team pushed hard to get supplies up to the high camp on the Upper West Rib or “Riblet” today. They skied up most of the elevation gain, as the initial slopes to high camp are moderate and afford fantastic skiing opportunities. It sounds like then took some advantage of those opportunities on their descent,…
The members of our 2014 Denali West Rib Team are in good spirits, which might well be the secret behind their tenacity! They just moved up to the traditional Camp 3 on the West Buttress, after having been thwarted in their attempt of the West Rib by a serious storm that sat on the Range.…
The team had a busy day today, ending with setting up tents at 7,000 ft on the South East fork of the Kahitlna Glacier at Denali base camp. After a meeting and gear check yesterday, they met early this morning in Anchorage for the 2 hour drive up to the little town of Talkeetna which…
It was a nice day for climbing in the Alaska Range today and the team took advantage of the beautiful weather to climb up to 16,200 ft on the ridge leading to high camp where they left a cache of food and fuel. They are now ready to move up to high camp, with the…
The “Riblet” team called in after a relatively short day of dropping down about 700′ below camp to retrieve the cache they left at 13,500′ a couple of days ago. They plan to move up onto the Rib tomorrow. The “Riblet” is a reference to the route these guys are attempting. There is a steep…
Fernando Larrain called in a post from the big basin camp at 14,200′ (4328m). He sends happy birthday wishes for a special someone and then recounted the hard work it took to reach this camp, from where they can see the summit. Everyone is doing well and they are looking forward to the coming days.…
The rest of the team finished the call from Base Camp, and Jason, Nungshi, Tashi and Caroline left nice messages for their friends and family. Supporting your climbers is very important, and thinking of you all is often the extra energy that climbers need to take that one… more.. step. Here is the team! recording