Trip Reports

May 8 West Buttress Expedition Moves to Camp 2

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…

May 11 Team at Basecamp

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…

May 8 Team – Weather Day at C1

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…

May 11 Team – Talkeetna Hang

Lead guide Matt Park emailed the office to update us on yesterday’s adventure. “We had ourselves a genuine Alaska Range fake out today. After making our way to Talkeetna with the team, we had our briefing with the National Park rangers and immediately after were on weather hold. We disbursed into town and were quickly…

May 8 Team Caches at 9,800′

Julian calls in from Camp 1 to report that the May 8 team successfully cached at 9,800 feet yesterday. Caching is an expedition style of climbing that allows teams to lighten their loads as well as acclimatize to the altitude. The team choses food, fuel, and gear that they won’t need for a couple days…

Base Camp to Camp 1!

May 8 Team Arrives at Camp 1

The above photo is from the Mountain Trip Denali archives, a great view of the route from Base Camp to Camp 1! James Partridge with the May 8 team calls in to report from Camp 1 at 7,800 feet. The move from Base Camp to Camp 1 is often considered one of the harder days…

May 8 West Buttress Expedition – Meet the Team!

The longer days of spring draw climbers from around the world northward to the Alaska Range. Towering above the multitude of rugged peaks that are themselves the stuff of history and dreams stands “The Great One,” Denali. At 20,310 feet, North America’s tallest mountain has beckoned adventurers and climbers for more than 100 years. Mountain…

Welcome to our 2022 Denali Season!

2022 celebrates the 47th year that Mountain Trip is guiding Denali! We are beyond thrilled to ramp up our Denali season. The first of our 18 Denali expeditions this season has arrived in Anchorage for their attempt of the West Buttress, the classic route up the mountain. Following our tradition of guiding outside the box,…