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.