We’d like to welcome Bob Baker to Alaska!  Bob is attempting the West Buttress of Denali, North America’s highest peak, and he is accompanied by Mountain Trip guide team Joe Butler and Ben Adkison.   The West Buttress is a classic mountaineering challenge that climbs 13,000′ from the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier to the summit of Denali. The team will climb up the West Buttress route over the course of the next 2-3 weeks, pitting themselves against what can often be some of the most inhospitable weather and terrain on the planet.  Fingers crossed, they’ll encounter windows of nice weather and will be able to make their way up to the summit of North America.

(on the tarmac, waiting for the weather to cooperate)

(ready to go! This picture was taken moments ago, June 11th, at 12:45 Alaska time)

The expedition kicked off June 9th at the Alaska Millennium Hotel, where the team conducted a team meeting/equipment check. This consisted of the guides double checking that Bob brought all the necessary gear for the climb, and discussing some of the details of the trip. The rest of the day was spent resting and relaxing. On June 10th the team left Anchorage bright and early and headed north 2.5 hours, to Talkeetna, where they checked in with the National Park Service and sat through the NPS’s mandatory climber orientation. Next the team weighed-in their equipment and supplies with our air services provider, but the weather was not favorable and the team has been waiting for a good weather window to fly to the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier.

Bob has dedicated this climb to his mother, hence the team’s name. We invite you to follow the Gigi Legacy team through posts and audio dispatches that the team will call in from the mountain.  We try to post dispatches on a daily basis, but many factors can prevent that from occurring, so please be patient and remember the old adage, “No News is Good News!” Also,  we encourage you to post comments, but please realize that we have no good way to pass each comment along to the team.  Climbers do enjoy reading through your comments and good wishes, so please let them know you are thinking of them!

Welcome back to Alaska, Bob!