Trip Reports
A photo of a plane in Denali Basecamp The May 14 left Basecamp at 9:30a arriving in Camp 1 at 2:30p. First descending 600 feet from the South East Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier to the main body of the 40 mile long glacier. Glaciers are like a frozen river. So, just like a river,…
A snowman from the Denali archives! Dave called in to update us from Camp 2 at 11,000′. The team enjoyed a weather slash rest day, and took the time to practice their “snow craft” using snow saws and their shovels. During foul weather, the wind can really pick up and it is important to protect…
A very warm welcome to our third West Buttress team of the 2022 Denali season! We are so excited to climb alongside this team of folks on their journey up North America’s highest peak. We acknowledge that for many, reaching the summit of Denali is a lifelong goal, and the culmination of many months of training,…
A photo from the Denali Archives of one of our teams leaving Basecamp “Stoke Master” Grant Purdue calls in from Bascamp last night after the May 14 team flew into the South East Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier from Talkeetna yesterday around 2:00p AKDT. On Saturday, in preparation the team did their team safety brief,…
The May 11 team called in last night 8:22 AKDT to report a successful cache up to 9,800′ on the glacier near Kahiltna Pass. Yesterday the team got up and chose fuel, food, gear, and other supplies that they wouldn’t need for a few days. They packed these items up, tied in to their rope…
Chloe called in with the May 8 team last night! Today the team had what we call an “active rest day”. Today was a significantly shorter day than when they move camps, allowing them to get out and stretch their legs, get some of that lactic acid flowing and moved out of the body, and…
Birthday boy Craig Lenning called in today’s post from a camp with a view! Early this morning, the team packed up camp at Base Camp, tied themselves and their heavily laden sleds to their climbing ropes and took a hike downhill towards Camp 1. Nope, that wasn’t a typo…! Base Camp is located on the…
Josh Gagner called in on behalf of the May 8th West Buttress expedition. Today they made the push up the Kahiltna Glacier and established themselves at 11,000 feet, the site of their Camp 2. Under bluebird skies, but in the shade of early morning (remember, it never gets dark in the Alaska Range during the…
They May 11 team made it to Denali’s base camp yesterday afternoon! After an extra day in Talkeetna waiting for the weather to clear they got the call from Talkeetna Air Taxi to get ready to go. They loaded their massive piles of gear onto the plane again, and this time they flew right into…
The weather shut down travel on the mountain today with a foot of new snow and winds, the team spent the day in camp. These weather days are to be expected and a normal part of climbing a big mountain like Denali. The team has many extra days in their schedule to accommodate these expected…