Back to civilization.

The team skied on down to base camp early this morning under beautiful blue skies. They flew out to Talkeetna by mid- day where Cheryl (Durny's better half) met them with the Mt Trip van and they are in Anchorage tonight going out for Sushi!

Still heading to Base Camp...

Durny called in this afternoon from 11,200 ft (Camp 2) and said they were in the middle of a storm and weren't able to go anywhere. They hung out in their tents, eating and napping (the usual) waiting for the storm to break. It is expected to clear out a bit tonight, so they'll try to come down tonight if it does.

Heading to Base Camp

They left high camp this morning on another stormy day. They'll take the next day or two to descend the mountain, it doesn't take long and climbers are pretty motivated to get back to showers and a beer.

We probably won't hear from these guys again until they reach base camp, which could be as soon as tomorrow.

Summit!!

They got their break in the weather today and went for the summit. Mel had cold feet this morning and had to turn around with our guide Mike, I'm sure she's a bit bummed, but frostbite is no joke. The rest of the crew reached the summit at 7pm tonight, and I just got the call from Durny at 8:30 pm that they are back at high camp!! Everyone is safe and sound and they skied off the top of Denali all the way back down to the 17,200 ft camp. This was the first guided ski trip off the summit of Denali, so Congratulations to all involved.

Here's the call from the summit.

Sunny Day!

We haven't gotten the morning call yet, but check out the webcam of the Alaska Range this morning. It's as beautiful a day as we've seen in over a month. Hopefully the wind isn't blowing too hard and they are getting a chance to go for the summit today!!

http://www.talkeetnaair.com/web-cam

Wind and weather

It was a windy day up high on Denali today and our Ski team had to wait it out at high camp. It was just breezy at 17,200 ft, but up above the winds were "Nuking" as reported this morning by Durny. It's been a stormy stretch of weather up high, a friend of ours who is guiding another trip for AMS has been at high camp for a week now without getting a chance to go to the top. Hopefully our team will have better luck in the next few days. They are all doing great, rested and somewhat acclimated and ready to go when the weather breaks. That's all they can do at this point is be ready and hope for good weather.

Acclimating and Recovering at 17,200 ft

They had a rest day at high camp today and watched the wind blow on the upper mountain. It wasn't much of a summit day today. They're doing good and ready to go tomorrow if they get a chance. The weather this whole season has been pretty tough, with a lot of stormy weather up high. They'll wait until they have a pretty good day before trying for the top.

High Camp! 17,200 ft

The weather improved today so they took advantage of the sunshine and moved up to high camp. They had a great day and got to camp in about 7 hours. It's one of the more challenging climbing days of the trip with high altitude and steeper terrain, and everyone did really well. They carried the skis up with them and are hoping to find good conditions to ski off of the summit. Durny commented that much of the new snow from the last week has been blow off of the upper mountain, but conditions still look OK for skiing.

They may go for the summit as early as Wednesday, but will most likely take an acclimitization and recovery day prior to going from the summit.

Another Snowy Day...

Durny said the wind on the ridge above the camp sounded like a freight train this morning, so climbing up to high camp was not an option. Instead they slept, ate, and were planning on a ski tour when the visibility improved. It's been snowing for several days now, so the skiing has been great when they get a chance to get out.

No teams moved up the mountain at all today so not much to report.

A Snowy 4th of July

They had a bit of snow again today, and enjoyed a ski tour above camp but weren't able to move up to high camp at 17,200ft. They need some decent weather to climb up the ridge and get settled into high camp, so it needs to be a reasonably nice day up there. It sounds like they are having a great time, and very happy to have their skis with them.

Happy 4th of July! Here's Durny.

A weather day at Camp 3

It was snowing today, with pretty bad visibility for most of the day in the 14,000 ft basin where Camp 3 lies. They weren't able to climb up to high camp, but enjoyed a few turns on the hill above camp when the visibility allowed. They'll wake up ready to go again tomorrow and see what the weather brings.

Here's Mel with the evening phone call.

Rest Day at Camp 3

Today was a day off to recover and acclimate before pushing up higher on the mountain. It sounds like they are having a good time up there, and got out for some skiing above camp this afternoon. They didn't report much today, but it sounded like they had a very relaxing day on the mountain.

Camp 3, 14,200 ft!!

Sorry this wasn't updated yesterday, technical difficulties on my end. Here's what you've missed. Durny and Michael B. climbed back up to Camp 2 late Monday night/Tuesday morning. Alex flew out civilization and is back home by now. (Alex if you are reading, do you have an extra set of tent poles in your gear? email us if you find them) After a few hours of rest, the guides got up and led their crew on up to Camp 3 at 14,000 ft on Tuesday.

Wednesday's job was to go back down to 13,500 ft and pick up the cache that they had left a couple of days before an bring it up to Camp 3.

Today they'll carry a small load up to the ridge above camp that leads from the top of the fixed lines at 16,200 ft to high camp at 17,200 ft. There is some great skiing below the fixed lines all the way back to camp, so they hope to make some turns today on the way back down. The terrain above camp 3 is the best ski terrain on the route, and this is where they'll get the best opportunities to ski.

They are all doing great and having a good time up there.

One step back...

Alex woke up this morning feeling a bit of congestion in his lungs that seems like a bit of Pulmonary Edema. It is something that happens at altitude, and fluid will seep into the lungs. It was pretty mild, but did require him to get to lower altitude and ended the trip for him. It was an unfortunate ending for him, but it is a problem he's had previously. So, Durny and Mike Burmeister (our guides) skied down to basecamp with Alex today while the rest of the crew took an extra rest day at Camp 2. Alex has already flown out to the waiting Mountain Trip van, and is in Anchorage tonight feeling much much better in the thick Oxygenated air of Anchorage.

Durny and Mike are leaving for Camp 2 tonight after the snow has a chance to refreeze a bit from the hot day, and expect to be there by 2am.

The team was sad to see Alex need to leave, but health and safety obviously come first.

Carry around Windy Corner

They woke up to a bunch of new snow and winds up high this morning, but it cleared up enough for the team to ski up above "Windy Corner" today. They made a cache of gear up at around 13,500 ft in preparation for the next big move up to Camp 3. It's been snowing a bit up there lately, so the ski conditions are improving every day. They were able to ski part of the route on the way down, and enjoyed the fresh powder.

Here's the evening call from Durny.

Camp 2, 11,000 ft

They moved on up to Camp 2 today at over 11,000 ft. It was another nice day in the Alaska Range with lot's of blue sky, and just a bit of clouds. This evening it did start to snow a bit, so maybe it is freshening up the powder a little for some good skiing. They plan to take a day off tomorrow and ski some of the terrain up out of the 11,000 ft camp. It should be fun!

Here's the call from Durny this afternoon.

A poem about the day

Heres today's call, they are back at Camp 1 for the night after carrying a load of gear up towards camp 2. This strategy allows them to get all of the food, fuel and gear that is required to spend 2-3 weeks on Denali up there, and gives them a chance to acclimate by climbing high and sleeping low.

Anyhow, it sounds like Melanie got creative with the call tonight so enjoy...

Camp 1, 7,800 ft

Moving right along! They are in Camp 1 tonight after an early morning start today. This time of year it can get pretty warm on the lower glacier so teams often travel at night/early morning to avoid the heat and the softening snow conditions.

Durny (our lead guide) said it was perfect travelling conditions today with the new snow of the last few weeks covering the crevasses, and cold night time temps freezing things up. They arrived in camp 1 by 9 am today, so had a good long nap this afternoon and will get up early tomorrow and carry a load up the mountain again.

The team flew into base camp on the SE fork of the Kahiltna glacier right on schedule today! They'll spend the afternoon getting organized in base camp, and plan to take off for camp 1 early in the morning.




Here's the pre trip photo. Mike Burmeister is the other guide on this trip and he is missing from the photo, he ran for a cup of coffee and missed the pic.




Here's one of the local characters, John Loomis (Loomie), one of our favorite Rangers at the Talkeetna Ranger Station in his flight suit. Loomie did the pre-trip check in and briefing for our team in this morning.

Welcome to our Denali Ski Expedition!

Coming Soon! Follow Mountain Trip's 2010 Denali Ski Expedition as they attempt to climb the highest peak in North America.

Our guides are:

Rob (Durny) Durnell from Girdwood, AK
Luke Smithwick from Girdwood, AK

Climbers:

Alex Long
Hugh Showe
Melanie Miller
Kazue Oshiro