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.