Trip Reports
Drew called from downtown Talkeetna to say hello- they were able to hit a weather window and flew back to town with no problems. They have a few more days on the trip and are in the process of planning activities for the rest of their trip.
The weather improved during the day but when conditions stabilized it was too late for a summit bid. They still have days to wait it out, and the weather forecast continues to be favorable for the next couple of days. Maybe tomorrow they’ll go have a look…
The river crossing went well and the team met up with the MT van and ate watermelon and ate huge sandwiches before getting on the road to head to Anchorage. Right now they are in between McKinley village and Talkeetna.
We received calls from both Mike Burmeister and Durny from the summit at 8pm. Both teams summited with all members and are currently headed down to high camp.
After a very engaging descent from 14,200′ to basecamp and some time waiting for flyable weather the Seans got picked up by a Mountain Trip vehicle and are safely in Anchorage.
Right now a raft should be drawing near the traverse crew, who are still stuck on the wrong side of the McKinley, which is still swollen by sustained rainfall. Once they make it across and walk the 2.2 miles to Wonder Lake they will catch a bus to the Denali national Park entrance where our…
Durny calls in the post for yesterday- still at high camp. They received about a foot of new snow and temps in the -15 to 5 above 0 degrees Farenheit range. The forecast looks favorable for a Friday summit bid. [audio:http://mountaintripdenali2011.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/audio-post-2011-06-16-04-23-09.mp3|titles=Audio Post]
The crew is still waiting out the weather, but in their idle time, have given us an audio tour of what life sounds like at camp. Crinkle, flap flap flap, clank. [audio:http://mountaintripdenali2011.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/audio-post-2011-06-16-03-40-52.mp3|titles=Audio Post]
Rain is keeping the McKinley river swollen, so the traverse crew has arranged for a raft team from NOLS to ferry the team across the river braids instead of negotiating the water hazard on foot. Much thanks to NOLS for their assistance in this last crucial leg of the traverse. This will happen tomorrow in…