Trip Reports
Welcome to the end of the season from Kathmandu! Everything has been wrapped up here. With all members back home or on their way. The weather has changed here to very Monsoony! Warm with afternoon thunderstorms. Its actually very nice, not as crowded, with lots of good friends here. A very good season, 100% success…
After a long day and a methodical descent, the entire expedition is back in camp and eating a well-deserved meal in their tents, the entire team made the summit. People are tired but doing well, the focus now is to get everyone fed and as rehydrated as possible before they go to sleep. Rest up…
The May 31st expedition is waiting out some inclement weather in Talkeetna, so they are enjoying a rest day and will be ready to fly tomorrow morning as soon as the weather improves. Think good weather thoughts….
Durny called in the following update from 7,800′ (2380m): [audio:http://mountaintripdenali2011.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/audio-post-2011-06-02-07-46-42.mp3|titles=Audio Post]
After moving all day down the Kahiltna in low visibility conditions, Zach and the entire group are in basecamp, waiting to fly to Talkeetna at the earliest possible chance. The weather is socked in, with reports of intermittent rain throughout the day, but Talkeetna Air Taxi will launch planes as soon as the weather lets…
Chris Kerrick called from 14 camp, reporting a restful day of hanging out. The weather was beginning to sock in, but he reported that temperatures were relatively warm and everything was going great in camp. Rest days involve some light exercise to aid acclimatization, and 14 camp is generally accepted to be free of crevasses;…
Another call from Jacob at 8:50pm brought in some more information. The team was at the bottom of Pig Hill, about 500′ below the summit. They are slowly and surely making their way down to high camp; the rope teams were traveling at different paces and the advance team waited for the teams moving behind…
Our May 31st West Buttress team is largely the genesis of the climbing club of the Wharton School of Business. We organized a custom date for a group of climbers so that they could join an expedition that best fit their time constraints. Seven of the climbers on this team are graduates of Wharton and…
Lead guide Jacob Schmitz called from the summit minutes ago!! It sounds like everyone made it to the top and they did it in good time as well. It is pretty cloudy, and there is a light breeze, so they are going to head back down to high camp in a few minutes. We’ll probably…
Jacob has patiently waited for his team’s chance to attempt the summit, and has now judged the conditions worthy of an effort. The weather is partly cloudy but with very little wind. Every summit day is attempted with a ‘let’s just go have a look’ attitude, as conditions can rapidly change as the day goes…