Camp 1, 7,800 ft

They moved right on up to their first camp early this morning. After waiting in Talkeetna for 4 days, they were anxious to begin climbing the mountain. They left very early this morning for Camp 1 to arrive before the sun warmed up the snow covered crevasse bridges.

Tomorrow they'll get another early start and carry a load of food, fuel and extra gear up to about 10,500 ft where they will dig a hole in the snow, bury the load, and cover it back up to keep the curious ravens out of it. This will be the strategy for most of the rest of the climb, carry a load up high, return to camp, move up high the following day. This accomplishes 2 important goals; 1. acclimating, and 2. spreading the giant loads over two days of work.

Here's a video/slideshow from last year that will give you an idea of the people and the places we're talking about.