Base Camp!

They are at basecamp, and should be in Talkeetna in the next hour or so.  They plan to head back to Anchorage this afternoon, and enjoy a good meal and showers.

Summit on Sunday!

I got a call from the Traverse team last night from the summit of Denali!!!  They worked hard to get there, and were pretty excited.  

They returned to their camp on the upper Harper glacier last night, and will go over Denali Pass and begin their descent down the West Buttress today.  They will be down at basecamp where they can get on a ski plane and fly to Talkeetna in just a couple of days now. 

Congratulations to the whole team.

Photos from the Trailhead

Here are some photos of the crew, taken when they left the trailhead. i just returned from Alaska and have not been able to publish them until now. Sorry for the delay, but I hope you enjoy the shots.

The Crew, setting out from Wonder Lake

A rare sighting of the elusive Drewaboo, often pursued by Foxes and Cougars.

The first channel crossing was the easiest.

Heading across the glacially fed, braided McKinley River. The team was fortunate that the water level was low, so they didn't have to strip to their skivvies to wade through.

Another Snowy Day

It snowed again today, and wasn't a good summit day, but they were able to break the trail from camp up to Denali Pass thru the deep newly fallen snow.  This trail should help them save a lot of energy when they go for the summit (hopefully tomorrow).  They are still in great spirits, and pretty excited that carrying big loads up hill is almost completely in the past... until the next expedition.

A Lazy Day...

It snowed all day today, so the N. Side team hung out and ate too much beef jerky(ask Dave about eating Jerky at high altitude when you see him). 

They are doing great, and still hope to give the summit a shot tomorrow.

High Camp 17,200ft

They are working hard and moving slowly, but made their way up to high camp today!! They are just below Denali Pass, where they will drop down to the West Buttress route for the descent. They are in position to summit on the next nice day, hopefully that day will come soon.

Moving up slowly

Dave called last night from about 16,500 ft on the Harper Glacier.  They were able to move up yesterday, but Dave said they were shoveling a trail thru the new deep snow that has been falling.  They were wading thru waist deep snow for 6 hours yesterday before they had to call it good and set up camp.  They aren't moving fast anymore, but are making progress.  They are hoping to be to their high camp at almost 18,000 ft near Denali Pass today.   We'll see how the trail breaking goes...