Thanks For Joining Us!

Welcome to the expedition dispatch blog for Mountain Trip's June 13, 2010 expedition to Denali!

We have a lot of fun with these blogs and hope that they are a way that friends and family at home can experience a taste of what our climbers are doing each day as they work their way up, hopefully to the top of Mount McKinley, which, at 20,320 feet (6194m) is the highest peak in North America and one of the famed Seven Summits.

The team is assembling today in Anchorage, Alaska and will meet shortly with three Mountain Trip guides to review the upcoming days' schedule and go through a very detailed equipment check. We need to be certain that everyone has the right kit for heading into the Alaska Range and not too much of it!

Tomorrow the team will drive north to the small town of Talkeetna, where they will finish some registration details and attend an orientation with climbing rangers from the National Park Service. If the weather permits, they will then board ski-equipped airplanes and fly to the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier, which serves as Base Camp for climbers attempting the West Buttress route and most of the southern routes on Denali.

Let's meet the team!

Guides:
Chris Kerrick from Salmon Beach (Tacoma), WA
Greg Nappi from Hope, AK
Ben Adkison from Anchorage, AK

Climbers:
Paul Devaney
Niall O'Byrnes
Lance Colley
Steve Emmer
Michael Brett
Anush Elangovan
Madhura Dudhgaonkar
Kate Etinger
Gary Etinger

Please keep in mind that we will post as soon as possible after we hear from the team, but due to time zones, changes in daily on-mountain schedules, etc, we might not post until the following morning. Also, please heed the age-old axiom of "No News Is Good News!" For some reason we always hear when something unexpected happens on the mountain, but occasionally the team is just busy making dinner and dealing with the chores at hand, and does not make the evening call to our office. Also, there are some places on the route where high ridge lines prevent the team from good satellite phone connections, and making daily calls can be challenging.

Lastly, we will try to pass along comments, but this is generally not an easy task to orchestrate. We encourage you to post comments, as the climbers will really appreciate reading them when they get off the mountain. Their knowledge that you all are supporting them and wishing them well is very important, so please do post your thoughts.

If you ever need to contact a friend or loved one, don't hesitate to call or email our Colorado office at: 970-369-1153 or info@mountaintrip.com We are in The Mountain Standard Time Zone, which is GMT-7 for all you folks in the UK and beyond.