Taken from
our agents Web Blog :
With a
very fun, and very strong crew of climbers on the team, we got lucky
with some excellent weather up there, as well as a team that stayed
healthy though out the entire climb. As I like to say, it is sometimes
better to be lucky than good. What a great climb!!!
Thanks to everyone on the team, Jaysen (aka Veggie!), Geordie, Neil,
Scott; for all of their hard work on the climb, their willingness
to work as a team, and for really sticking together, especially
when it came to the late night celebrations of the last two nights
in Anchorage!!! Thanks to Geordie for his maturity in this case
in particular, and at all other times as well. To Neil for keeping
Geordie straight, and to Scott for keeping him honest and finally
to Veggie for eating the chicken and bacon, even after I forgot
to keep it out of dinner, all with a smile on his face.
May we all meet again climbing somewhere, sometime!!!
All the Best,
Heidi
9th
July - The team spent the night at Camp 3 and are now on their way
down to Camp 1, where they will sleep this evening. They need to
get an early start tomorrow in order to make it back to Base Camp
before the sun softens the runway and makes it too soft for the
planes.
They should be in Talkeetna for breakfast tomorrow!
Heidi
just called to say that the whole team made it to the summit of
Denali!!
Everyone did great and they are spending some time on top taking
in the amazing view and snapping quite a few photos. It is an absolutely
beautiful day with virtually no wind and warm temperatures.
The route up from High Camp ascends a long, rising traverse known
as the Autobahn (named for some Germans who took the "express
route" down years ago...). The team travelled roped and clipped
their climbing ropes into a series of snow pickets that are driven
deeply into the snow to act as anchors. The Autobahn leads to a
saddle between the North and South Summits, known as Denali Pass.
Above Denali Pass the trail climbs up some rolling terrain and finally
drops a bit onto the broad plateau i mentioned in the previous post,
the Football Field. Moderately steep snow climbs slowly up to a
spectacular, knife-edged ridge which runs out to the summit. The
summit ridge is spectacular, airy, climbing with BIG drop offs to
either side. As you climb up toward the top, the entire South Face
drops off almost 9,500' to your left!
There is a nice relatively flat spot to regroup and drop ropes before
making the final few steps up to the highest point in North America.
Congratulations to everyone!!!
Tomorrow they will pack up and head back to at least Camp 3.
Tuesday,
July 7, 2009
Heading up to the summit!
We just received a call from another Mountain Trip group that was
standing on the summit and the June 23rd team is beginning the final
climb up from the large plateau called the Football Field at 19,500'.
They should be on top in about an hour and a half!
The report we received was that today is the nicest summit that
our other guide has seen in over 20 Denali expeditions! He was wearing
a baseball cap and a light jacket.
Hopefully, I will get a call shortly from the team as they stand
on the highest point in North America. I'll keep you posted...
Monday, July 6, 2009
Sitting tight at High Camp
The crew woke up early and fired up the stoves, because the weather
looked favorable at about 7 a.m. Alaska Time this morning. Not long
after, a thick cloud cap settled over the upper mountain and they
lost visibility. The weather did not improve sufficiently to warrant
a summit attempt, so they sat tight for the day.
Tomorrow's weather forecast looks a bit better, so let's all keep
our fingers crossed that they get a shot at the tom in the morning.
If I hear that they are heading up, I'll start posting and keep
you all updated.
Sunday,
July 5, 2009
Resting and acclimatizing at High Camp
Bill Allen just called in from a Mountain Trip team that is now
parallel the June 23rd crew. He said that they are taking a rest
day at High Camp today. The weather is decent, but a bit too windy
higher up to warrant making a summit bid the day after moving up
to High Camp. Taking today off should really benefit the crew when
they head for the top, as it will also bolster their acclimatization.
Last night some huge thunderheads moved through the range and passed
by their camp. Apparently everyone was feeling the electrical charge
and many had hair standing on end- literally. This almost never
happens on Denali, so it was a pretty wild experience for all involved.
During the night a wind squall passed through, but the winds died
off by morning.
The TAT webcam has not been much help of late because of a thick
layer of smoke from some nearby fires. Bill said they could smell
the smoke for a while yesterday, but that a shift in wind from the
north has blown it off the mountain for the time being.
They were able to move into existing camps yesterday, which helped
out a lot. they made some improvements to the existing walls, and
cleaned up the tent platforms, but all in all, it was a freal treat
to not to have to build their own walls.
Tomorrow they will wake up early and prepare for a summit push.
If the weather permits, they should be heading out shortly after
8 am Alaska time. I'll keep you posted!
At High
Camp!
The team moved up to High Camp yesterday (Saturday, July 4). They
packed up their kit and climbed up to the steep headwall, clipped
in to the fixed lines an d made their way slowly up to the top of
the ridge that makes up this part of the West Buttress. As they
passed by the cache of supplies that they left Thursday, they picked
up some of their kit and proceeded up the ridge.
The ridge to High Camp provides some of the most fun and exciting
climbing on the route. The climbers weaved in and out of rocky sections,
and clipped snow pickets and slung rocks for protection against
slips when they climbed through some of the more exposed bits. Another
short bit of fixed rope protects some tricky climbing around a large
rock feature called Washburn's Thumb.
Upon reaching high Camp, the team needed to get to work fortifying
a camp site. High Camp can be buffeted but extremely high winds,
so the tents need to be protected by thick walls built from blocks
of snow. They cut the blocks out or firm snow with snow saws and
stack them atop each other until they feel satisfied that they have
adequate protection. Moving to High Camp is difficult enough, but
adding the workload of building walls makes for one of the hardest
days on the climb.
The report I received was that they might make a summit bid today,
if the weather looks favorable. smoke and haze are obscuring the
view from the TAT webcam, so it is hard to say whether they are
going for it today or not. the weather forecast looks OK, but not
perfect, however; the weather forecast is often quite wrong.
I'll update today as often as I receive information.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Up the fixed lines
The team carried loads of food and supplies up the steepest section
of the route yesterday (Thursday), in preparation for their move
to High Camp tomorrow or the next day. They had beautiful weather
and made good time.
The "Headwall" is a 600' (260m) snow and ice face that
reaches 40 degrees in steepness. The climbers clip themselves into
fixed lines with mechanical ascenders to protect themselves in the
event of a slip. It is fun and exciting climbing that leads to a
spectacular ridge, which they will follow when they move to High
Camp.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
At Camp 3
The team moved up and around Windy Corner yesterday. They are tucked
into camp at 14,200' in on a large glacial shelf known as Genet
Basin. The basin is ringed by huge snow faces and iconic routes
and features such as the Messener Couloir, the Orient Express, the
Upper West Rib and the Rescue Gully. The team has a great view of
the next section of the route, which ascends moderate snow slopes
to gain a steep ice face, known as the Headwall. 600' of fixed lines
run up this stretch, and the climbers will clip into these lines
with ascenders to protect themselves in the event of a slip.
Today is another "active rest day." The crew will sleep
late, eat a huge breakfast and then run down hill for about 20 minutes
to pick up the cache of food and gear that they left at about 13,500'
yesterday. It will take just over an hour to climb back up to camp,
so all in all, it will be a pretty mellow day.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Windy Corner hads been pretty calm for the past few days, and let's
hope that it stays that way for a couple more, but this footage,
shot in 2007, might give an idea of what it can be like in challenging
conditions.
29th
June -
A
view looking up Motorcycle Hill from Camp 2
28th
June -
I'm no
Photoshop genius, but here is an overview of the middle part of
the route the team is following. Much of tomorrow's route is obscured
by the snowy ridge in the foreground.
Click on the photo to see a larger version of it.
27th
June - The team climbed up from 7,800' (2380 m)
and off the Kahiltna Glacier into a stunningly beautiful basin and
the site of our Camp 2. Located at 11,200' (3413 m), this camp is
ringed by huge ice cliffs and seracs to the south and southeast,
a moderately steep snow slope called Motorcycle Hill to the east,
rock and ice slopes to the north and the view opens up as you gaze
off to the west. The views in the evening are sublime, as the sun
passes low across the northern horizon and paints the peaks to the
west and southwest in orange and pink hues of alpenglow.
They found good traveling weather yesterday. It was actually quite
chilly for this time of year, which froze the trail up nice and
hard, making for relatively easy travel.
Today the team will descend down to the cache of food, fuel and
supplies that they left at 10,000' the day before yesterday. It
only takes about 20 minutes to descend to the cache site, and another
hour or so to climb back to camp, so today is effectively an active
rest day. Tomorrow they will climb up Motorcycle Hill and continue
up and around Windy Corner to make a cache just below Camp 3, at
13,500' (4115 m).
26th
June - The team woke in the very early hours of
the morning, packed up their tents, loaded all their kit, supplies
and gear into their packs and onto their sleds and headed out of
Base Camp. The glacier drops for about 600 feet as the Southeast
Fork of the Kahiltna merges with the main body of the Kahiltna Glacier.
The "confluence" of the two is one of the most troublesome stretches
for crevasses, but the crew found easy and straightforward travel
this morning. The nighttime temps dropped low enough that everything
froze hard, and a foot of recent snow helped make for a great day
of glacier travel.
They are safely camped at a sppot located at 7,800' (2380 m) on
the Kahiltna Glacier, just across from the confluence with the Northeast
Fork of the Kahiltna. The view up the NE Fork looks up at the west
side of the South Face of Denali, and the climbers could see most
of the mountain as they rested in camp throughout the day. The very
summit was obscured by clouds, but the view was impressive, by all
accounts.
25th
June - I just received a call from Bill Allen, who
is also trying to fly in to base camp, and he says the weather in
Talkeetna is beautiful and that the team is about to fly into the
Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier.
The crew drove up to Talkeetna yesterday and checked in with the
National Park Service. They hoped to fly to the glacier, but the
weather had other plans. They had an enjoyable evening in Talkeetna,
and Heidi called to say that everyone was in great spirits, and
not frustrated in the least by the delay. Noone really wants their
pilots to push the weather envelope, no do they?
Today they will arrive at basecamp, located at 7,200 feet (2500
m) and set up a basic camp, so they can get some sleep this evening.
Much of today will be busy rigging sleds for travel up the glacier
and with reviewing crevasse rescue techniques. The lower Kahiltna
is quite broken with crevasses these days, so the team will travel
during the wee hours of the morning, just before sunrise, when the
glacier is (hopefully) most frozen.
Tomorrow should have them established in camp at Camp 1, located
at 7,800 ft (2830 m).
23rd
June - In the far north lies one of the most magnificent
ranges of mountains in the world. The Alaska Range stretches 400
miles across southcentral Alaska. It is a wild place, covered in
glaciers and punctuated by rugged peaks. The crown of the range
is Denali, at 20,320 feet (6194 m), the highest peak in North America.
Located so close to the Arctic circle, Denali can present some of
the most challenging and rugged conditions of any mountain on earth.
Each year a relatively few climbers from around the world migrate
to test themselves on the slopes of Denali. Mountain Trip has been
assisting these climbers achieve their Denali dreams since 1976.
We love what we do and are happy to help provide you a taste of
what these climbers are experiencing by updating their progress
in this blog. Following the expedition, we will post numerous photos
from the expedition, so please keep checking in.
On June 23, 2009, a team of climbers will arrive in Anchorage. They
will be accompanied by three Mountain Trip guides:
Heidi Kloos from Ridgway, Colorado
Sebastian Grau from Santiago de Chile
Justin Buttrick from Anchorage, Alaska
Let's meet the climbers!
Stina Glavind from Denmark
Sheri Bastien from Canada
Jaysen Armugmum from the UK
Scott McNaughton from the UK
Neil Hunter from the UK
Mirek Standowicz from the US
Shawn Dawson from the US
George Stewart from the UK
Patrick Turner from the US
21st
June The team will fly out to Anchorage tomorrow.
We encourage you to follow the team's progress. There is an option
at right to "follow" this blog, which is a convenient way to keep
up with the team. Please post comments for the climbers, but realize
that we cannot always get those messages to your climber in a timely
fashion, due to the challenges of communicating from the Alaska
Range.
Please
keep in mind that communication from the big mountains can be challenging
and occasionally intermittent. We will post updates as often as
possible, but please keep in mind the old adage, "NO NEWS IS GOOD
NEWS!" when it comes to communications from the Range.
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