June 13, 2010 Denali Expedition

A Final Post from Chris

2010-07-11T12:51:00.000-07:00

Hello,
This last blog entry is being written from my cozy warm house after a beautiful day spent with my family in Olympic National Park in Washington State. One way such a state of bliss is achieved is by looking at life through a different lens for a time. This is a good thing to do sometimes; 11 friends and I recently had the good fortune to have Denali be the focus of our reality for nineteen days.

Denali challenged us early (patience) by not allowing us to fly onto its flanks for the first five days of our trip. Once we arrived, almost half of our team became inflicted by a serious sinus infection. This we lost Kate to. Things were not looking good.

To the patient and persistent climber good things can happen. First, one nice weather day, then two, three, four. Light loads and good meals. Great camaraderie, a little bit of luck and the next thing we knew, high camp was home. The altitude finally dug its wicked claws into two of our team members here; it was a strong effort to get to this point on the mountain. The remaining eight of us were lucky enough to climb to the top the next day. Regardless of each climbers “’high point”, Denali had left an impression on each of us and, hopefully, you who were following our adventure on this blog.

Thanks for the support.
Chris

Back to civilization.

2010-07-03T01:15:00.000-07:00

The team is all back in Anchorage tonight, and eating dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, the Glacier Brewhouse this evening. They had a big night travelling from high camp to base camp in one big push, with a break for food and a nap at 11,200 ft (Camp 2) on the way down. They are all doing great, if a bit tired and smelly. The weather wasn't perfect, but they were still good enough to get the planes in and out of base camp and get everyone to Talkeetna this afternoon. I picked them up after lunch in Talkeetna and drove the bunch of smelly climbers back to Anchorage this evening.

Congratulations to the whole team for a safe and successful trip!

We'll have Chris Kerrick do a final trip report in the next day or two to wrap up this trip. Thanks for tuning in.

Coming on down.

2010-07-01T21:26:00.000-07:00

After a beautiful summit day yesterday, they slept in a bit this morning and then started the journey back down. Coming down goes pretty quickly and most teams will be down in just a couple of days covering the terrain that took them almost 2 weeks to climb up. They are well motivated to get down for showers, fresh food, and of course their friends and family.

Chris called just as they were getting ready to leave high camp this (later) morning, and they are all doing great.

SUMMIT!!!

2010-07-01T11:17:00.001-07:00

There were two messages left on our podcast phone from the team. It sounds like they had an amazing day, with clear calm weather and the views were just stunning! I could go on and on, but you should hear it straight from their breathless mouths...

Part 1:

Part 2:

Rest Day at High Camp

2010-06-29T23:16:00.001-07:00

It was a day of rest for the team. They called in this evening to let us know all is well at 17,200 feet. The tents are well protected behind walls of snow and the activities today revolved around reading and eating. Preparations are being made for the big push to the summit tomorrow, so stay tuned to see if tomorrow proves to be summit day. Think happy weather thoughts.

High Camp! 17,200 ft

2010-06-28T21:31:00.000-07:00

They moved to High Camp Today at 17,200 ft!! It was a beautiful sunny day and there was hardly a breath of wind as they moved from the 14,000 ft basin up to the W. Buttress ridge, and on up to Camp 4. There are some tired climbers up there tonight, but everybody is doing well, and they'll likely get a shot at the summit in the next couple of days.

The climbing on the ridge leading into high camp is some of the most beautiful on the entire route, and they had a great day to really enjoy it.

They arrived in camp by mid-day, set up tents, melted snow for water, cooked dinner, and are settling in for the night.

Here's Chris Kerrick with the evening call!

Rest Day

2010-06-28T00:36:00.000-07:00

Today was a day to recover and acclimate for our June 13th team. They slept in, ate a big breakfast, and then took naps. Not too bad. It was a much needed recovery day, several team members have been feeling like they might have a cold, so a day off was great. Hopefully they'll all feel better tomorrow.

It snowed about 1 1/2 feet at Camp3 last night, so they woke up to a pretty good blanket of new snow. That's summer on Denali.

Tomorrow they hope to move up to high camp at 17,200 ft.

Climb up to 16,400 ft

2010-06-26T23:09:00.001-07:00

The team had another productive day today. They carried a load of mostly food and fuel up to about 16,400 ft. They did this to get a bit of acclimitization and to get some of the weight of their loads up on the ridge so that when they are ready to move to high camp they can save a bit of effort. Tomorrow they plan to take a full rest day to recharge, recover, and acclimate before pushing up to high camp and on for the summit. Chris said a couple of the climbers are fighting a bit of a cold, so tomorrow's rest day will be welcomed by all.

Camp 3, 14,000 ft

2010-06-25T23:19:00.000-07:00

The team moved up to Camp 3 yesterday, and had another nice day on the mountain on Friday.

Paul called in for today's post, he does an excellent job of explaining what they are doing up there today.

Carry around Windy Corner

2010-06-23T22:40:00.000-07:00

They had another beautiful day today and were able to carry a load of gear to 13,500 ft, just around the notorious "Windy Corner". Chris said it was anything but windy today, they had sunshine, calm weather and it was actually pretty warm up there.

Most importantly it was Pizza night tonight, always a favorite.

Here's Madhura with tonights call from Camp 2.

Beautiful Day at 11k

2010-06-22T18:51:00.000-07:00

Chris called in this afternoon and said it's been a beautiful day. They had a relatively relaxing day today, doing what is called a "back carry". Two days ago they carried a load from Camp 1 at 7,800 ft up to about 10,500 ft near Kahiltna Pass. Yesterday they passed this cache of gear on their way up to Camp 2 at 11,200 ft. Today's job was to go back down the hill and pick up the gear. It usually takes about 15-20 minutes to walk down to the cache, and about 1-1.5 hrs to carry it all back up the hill. We use this strategy to break up the big load carrying days into 2 smaller days, and it allows the climbers to acclimate to the increasingly higher altitudes. A back carry day is really an acclimitization day with a bit of activity.

Everyone is doing great up there, and passed on a hello to Kate who is probably home by now.

Here's the evening update called in by Lance. The sat phone cut's out a bit for the last part of the call, but you can get the idea.

Camp 2, 11,000 ft

2010-06-21T19:42:00.000-07:00

Chris called in this afternoon from Camp 2 at 11,000 ft. They had a great day and everyone was moving really well.

Kate Etinger has had to come down off the mountain, unfortunately she has a cold/flu type of illness and isn't feeling very well right now. She flew out this afternoon and already got a flight out of Anchorage for this evening.

Camp 1, 7,800 ft

2010-06-19T23:11:00.000-07:00

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.

Base Camp

2010-06-18T20:59:00.000-07:00

They finally got to fly to base camp today!! The weather cleared this afternoon and the fleet of planes took off. Our group was the first in line and they were thrilled to finally get on the plane and are setting up camp for their first night on the glacier this evening.

Talkeetna...

2010-06-17T22:49:00.000-07:00

The team is still in Talkeetna, it was almost nice enough to fly this evening. It really was just enough to give everyone just a little bit of hope, but didn't turn out to be safe flying weather. The clouds are lifting this evening, so hopes are high for early morning flights tomorrow.

Spirits remain relatively high, but everyone is ready to get onto the mountain and start the hard work of climbing Denali.

West Buttress Route Map

2010-06-17T09:21:00.000-07:00

When the team finally gets a chance to start uphill, they will begin at the 7,200' Base Camp on the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier. From this point, they will descend about 600' to the main body of the Kahiltna. It's all uphill from there!

Here is a map we just made of the West Buttress route. The Kahiltna Glacier basically runs along the entire bottom of the photo. Base Camp is well out of the picture to the lower right of the image.

Click on the photo for a larger version.

Thanks to Paul Roderick from TAT for the use of his beautiful photo!

Waiting Patiently(?) in Talkeetna

2010-06-16T23:04:00.000-07:00

They are still in Talkeetna waiting for the weather to improve. Talkeetna is a nice, very small town and they probably know most of the restaurants in town by now, it doesn't take long. It's a tough way to start a trip, but it happens, and there are other climbers who are finished with their trip sitting in base camp waiting to fly out as well.

Chris called in a few times today, and we shared stories of all of the times where we have been stuck for days and days waiting for a plane. Luckily most climbers have "euphoric recall" which allows them to only remember the good parts of expeditions and quickly forget the struggles.

Anyhow, they'll be ready to go again tomorrow.

Bill

Talkeetna...

2010-06-15T22:25:00.000-07:00

Another cloudy and stormy day with no planes flying into the Alaska Range today. The team made good use of their time by practicing some of the skills that they will need when they get on the glacier. Chris and the guides taught some crevasse rescue skills and got their packs and sleds all rigged up for glacier travel.

Getting stuck or delayed due to weather is a part of climbing big mountains, but I'm sure they are all excited to spend their first night on the glacier.

Bill

Ahh Talkeetna...

2010-06-14T22:15:00.000-07:00

They are in Talkeetna for the night. Chris Kerrick (lead guide) and a couple of the climbers were in a plane bound for base camp today, but it was just too cloudy to find the way in to base camp. They turned around part way in and returned to the rest of the team in Talkeetna. It has remained cloudy this afternoon, and they are in town for the night. They are all staying at a "bunkhouse" that Talkeetna Air Taxi provides for circumstances just like this. Tomorrow morning they'll get up and try again. One night in Talkeetna is actually pretty fun prior to the trip, all the packing and sorting gear is done and they can relax and enjoy a dinner and some beers (or coke for Lance) together while they wait. It's a good team bonding night.

The forecast is calling for snow and wind for a few days, but again they just need a small break in the weather to get the whole team into base camp. You can check out the TAT webcam and see some great pics on their website. www.talkeetnaair.com

Bill

Talkeetna Bound!

2010-06-14T11:55:00.000-07:00

The team met in Anchorage on Sunday for a pre-trip meeting and gear check. They were all pretty well prepared, if a bit anxious about their upcoming adventure. It is always exciting to meet the team as all of the months of preparation comes to an end and it's time to go.

The Mountain Trip June 13th West Buttress Team

Guide Greg Nappi checking out Lance's equipment.

This morning they left Anchorage at about 8 am for the 100 mile drive to Talkeetna. They are checking in with the Park Service right now, and hope to fly to base camp in just a few hours. They'll need some moderately good weather to make the flight into base camp, so watch Talkeetna Air Taxi's webcam (link to the right) and hope for some blue sky in the picture.

Thanks For Joining Us!

2010-06-13T07:55:00.000-07:00

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.