Back in the World

Everyones back!  They flew out late yesterday, and I'm sure enjoyed themselves in Talkeetna before returning to Anchorage today.  They are enjoying a final celebratory dinner tonight, and then all heading off towards home. 

Congratulations for a successful trip!

Coming down

Just talked to Rob from 14,000 camp on the way down.  They will rest here for a few more hours before making the final push to basecamp thru the night.  Travelling thru the night becomes more typical this time of year as the temperatures rise and the glacier becomes slushy during the day.

They should be to basecamp by tomorrow morning!

Call from the Summit!

Kent, Sam, Josh, and Rob are standing on the summit right now!  

They are doing great, and the weather is nice enough that they could take a minute to call in and pass the word on.  

Congrats, they should be down to high camp in a few hours, and back to basecamp in a couple days...

That's every Mt Trip group this year so far!

Rest Day at High Camp

The team is taking a rest/acclimitization day at high camp today.  The weather wasn't looking great up high today anyhow, but they should be rested and ready when the weather breaks.

Josh wanted to pass on a "Happy Birthday" to his mom.

Rolling into 17K

I just talked to one of our guides at High Camp, and he see's Rob and the crew coming up the ridge into camp.  They'll be there soon, and everyone looks good.  

Moving in the Morning

Josh caught back up to the rest of the team at 14,000 feet today, and they all plan to move to high camp tomorrow.  They will be able to move right into the camp of another Mt Trip team who will be coming down from 17k.   

They hope to get a chance to summit by as early as Sunday...  Hope for good weather.

Rest Day at 14,000 ft

Rob lead the team to the ridge at 16,400 yesterday to put in their last cache before moving up to high camp.  Everyone did great, as they got into some of the steepest climbing on the route.  They clipped into the fixed lines to ascend the last steep icy pitch to the ridgeline of the West Buttress, and continued up the ridge for several hundred feet before digging a hole in the snow to deposit the gear until they return.   

Today they will be taking a rest, sleeping late, and getting ready for the final push to high camp, and on to the summit. 

Rochelle is back in Talkeetna this morning, and Josh is heading back up the mountain in hopes of catching up to his team.

14,000 ft Camp

Rob (lead guide) called today from the 14,000 camp.  They were able to move up yesterday right on schedule.  They will spend the next several nights at this camp resting, aclimating, and carrying loads of food and fuel to stock up for their move to high camp.  

Josh Kling is coming down to base camp w/ Rochelle.  She is doing fine, but is ready to be done with the expedition.  They should be down tomorrow.

14,000 ft Camp

They are moving to 14,000 feet today, and we hope to get a call from these guys tonight.  They are cruising along right on schedule, and everyone is doing great.  I'll update as soon as they call back in...

11,000 feet

The crew has been doing great and they are now at the 11,000 foot camp.   They are enjoying some pretty nice weather, and moving up right on schedule.   They will spend 3 nights at 11,000 feet acclimating and carrying a load around Windy Corner to 13,500.  

Camp 1 7,800ft

The team has been moving right along, and doing great!   They have been right on schedule, and spent last night at Camp 1 at 7,800 feet about 5 miles up the glacier from basecamp.  Today they will carry loads of food and fuel up the glacier to about 10,000 feet and cache it in the snow to be picked up later.  They will drop back down to camp 1 to spend another night here before moving up to camp 2 tomorrow.

Welcome to Mountain Trip's May 25th West Buttress Expedition

On May 25, 2008 a team of climbers will meet in Anchorage, Alaska in order to attempt to climb to the top of North America.

The summit of Denali (Mount McKinley) is the one of the famed Seven Summits and soars 20.320 feet above sea level. This team will spend up to three weeks working their way up the mountain from a base camp located at 7,200'. Due to it's proximity to the Arctic Circle, Denali is notorious for its ferocious weather and extreme cold. For many climbers, it is the challenge of a lifetime.

The team will include:

Ntlaletseng Ramohlola from South Africa
Huzefa Mehta from the US
Rochelle Bright from the US
Kent Stevens from the US

Mountain Trip guides for the expedition will be 2007 Denali Pro Award recipient Rob Durnell from Girdwood, Alaska, and Mike Burmeister from Anchorage, Alaska.

We will post updates as they are available, however due to weather and the big mountains surrounding the team for much of the climb, communications with the team may not occur on a daily basis. Please keep in mind the axiom of "no news is good news."

We can not guarantee that any comments posted to this blog will reach the climbers on the mountain. If you do wish to pass along any news, please call or email the Mountain Trip Office at info@mountaintrip.com or +1-970-369-1153.