Trip Reports
Hello Everyone, Our May 20th Highly Supported West Buttress team is on the glacier and apparently having a pretty good time, from the sound of the podcast they called in on the evening of May 22nd. The team met in Anchorage on Saturday, May 20th and the guides conducted a thorough equipment check, helping to…
Rough weather kept the crew in camp today, after making a carry around Windy Corner yesterday. They had planned to move up and around the Corner again today, passing the cache of supplies they left at 13,500′ and progressing to the large 14,200′ (4328m) camp. Here’s Isaac: [audio:http://mountaintripdenali2011.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/audio-post-2011-05-23-03-52-43.mp3|titles=Audio Post]
Yahoo! We are all back in Base Camp after a long few days. The whole group summitted on May 20th on a perfect day. We had an absolutely beautiful sunrise over Tibet on our way up. Everyone did very well with no problems or issues. Yesterday saw us descend from Camp 4 at the South…
Mike called in and he had nothing new to report, they are still hanging out at 14k in camp waiting for the winds to die down up high. Mountaineering is often a waiting game, so everyone is listening to their iPods or reading books and waiting for the next meal to be cooked. As soon…
I spoke with Jared last night, and what sounded like high winds in the background was just the stoves melting snow for water. Jared reported that all was well, but the connection was poor and I couldn’t understand enough to give an accurate report as to what had happened for the day. I’ll get a…
Adam called in a podcast from camp at 14,200′ (4328m). They spent the day fortifying their camp with snow walls, as high winds buffeted the team. It sounds like what we would call “full-on” conditions, requiring multiple layers of clothing and facemasks to protect their noses and cheeks from the bite of the wind. Building…
As so often happens on Denali expeditions, two guests from Joe Butler’s team have decided to descend to basecamp. Art and Bob hitched a ride with two Mountain Trip rope teams and are now either in the air from basecamp or already in Talkeetna. The rest of the group forges on, with plans to carry…
Jared called yesterday evening to report a successful rest day, which wasn’t completely restful as they had to relocate camp to get out of a snowy area which was burying the tents in spindrift blown from the other side of the ridge. Sometimes 20′ makes a big difference, so Jared, Sean and the team worked…
Zach called in this morning to report that he had arranged for one of his clients to descend to basecamp with a Mountain Trip team. Hideko is now in safely in Talkeetna, most likely looking to change out of mountain clothes and make some phone calls. The rest of the team took a short walk…
A light snow accompanied the expedition as they moved up the Kahiltna glacier from basecamp to camp 1. Dave reported great conditions for glacier travel, with very little wind and enough clouds to take the edge off the sun, which can be very intense even at this time of year. Their plan tomorrow is to…