Denali 2008

SATURDAY, MAY 31, 2008

Team Back at Medical Camp

The team has made it back down to Medical Camp. They plan to stay there for a little longer and then hopefully move down to 11,000 tonight and stay there until morning. They found out that it was 50 below with the wind chill when they were at the summit. There were a lot of frostbite injuries yesterday due to the severe cold. Jerry has some frostbite on his right hand. He is currently in the medical tent being taken care of. A climber from India on the AAI team is going to lose a couple of fingers - they are completely black. Wes said he was wearing every piece of clothing that he brought with him when he made the summit. He did not have any skin exposed at all. He said his La Sportiva boots were a great investment - his feet were really warm. When they got back to 14,000 they saw that their igloo was still standing. Wes went around with a sled full of food and fuel and offered it to some of the other teams that are making their way up the mountain. The more they can get rid of the less they have to take with them on the climb down.

Team Safely back at Camp V

Wes just called and sounds exhausted! He said the excitement of making the summit will probably set in later today or tomorrow. Right now he is too tired. He said they left yesterday at 10 am and did not get back to camp until 10 pm. They ate dinner around midnight (some freeze dried food) and then everyone passed out. He said no one tossed and turned at all, they slept like stones. Right now everyone is still sleeping. Wes said ALL of the team made it to the summit! He said it was everything he expected and then some. It was a real mental challenge. It was like running a marathon with a backpack on and breathing through a straw. It was one of his toughest days ever. He said it was really treacherous and very cold. They were all roped in but walking right along the edge of the mountain. It was pretty "insane." He said there were a lot of people going for the summit but not all of the people made it. Wes said he had plenty of food but it got to the point where his body just didn't want to take in any food at all. He said he sucked down a lot of Goo and it would take about 10 minutes to kick in and then he would feel energized to move on - however that didn't last very long and then he was sucking down more Goo. It was about minus 20 degrees with winds about 20 to 25 mph at the summit. John and Wes could see the curvature of the earth. He said the views were spectacular. They didn't spend much time at the summit. He said everyone was so tired and didn't have the energy to take many pictures but they got some. The plan for today is to rest a little longer and eat breakfast. The team will then move down to 11,000 feet tonight and spend a few hours. Tomorrow they will move down to Base Camp and hopefully fly out to Talkeetna. The weather is supposed to be good. They will probably spend the night in Talkeetna on Sunday and get back to Anchorage on Monday. Wes may come home Monday really late or spend the night in Anchorage and get home Tuesday (four weeks after he left).

SUMMIT!!!!!!!!!!

After 23 days on the mountain the team has summited Denali! They summited at about 6 pm yesterday. More details to come when Wes calls in.

FRIDAY, MAY 30, 2008

Team on the Move!

The team is making their summit attempt today! According to the RMI website all three teams at High Camp are making their bid for the summit right now. The weather is sunny with minimal wind at the moment. As of 12 pm Alaska time, Wes' team is right below the other two RMI teams who have reached Denali Pass at 18,200! Will keep you posted.

THURSDAY, MAY 29, 2008

Holding at High Camp

The team is still holding at High Camp. It is about zero degrees right now. The sun is out. This morning it was pretty windy and they could tell it was really windy higher up. Clouds were blowing in earlier but it is nice at the moment. The inside of Wes' tent is like an ice cave. There are icicles hanging inside the tent and every time someone moves it looks like it is snowing. Today Wes spent most of the day inside the tent. He did go out for about an hour and a half and did some work. He dug a new path to the "watering hole," aka the bathroom. He built some other walls to give better shelter, too. He spent a few minutes just relaxing and taking in the view but then had to move back inside because it was so cold. There are five RMI teams on the mountain right now. Three are at 17,200, one is at Medical Camp and one is a little lower on the mountain. Wes' new tent mates are Yury, Eric and Brian. Wes sleeps closest to the tent wall on the left side. Very cozy. When the team dug up their cache of food at 16,000 the guides found another cache that was about two years old that had some food in it. Since it had not been claimed they took that cache which will give them a day or two of extra food. Today Wes has eaten a piece of beef jerky, cracker crumbs and some Starburst (I'm sure he had breakfast, too). Brian had some homemade energy bars (thank you Britta and Gigi) and he was nice enough to share them so Wes got one of those, too. He has three candy bars, three power bars and some string cheese left. He said he is a big eater and if he doesn't eat a lot then he doesn't do very well. Some of the other guys have about the same amount of food as Wes does left. Other guys have a bit more. Wes said he still feels good. The winds are supposed to diminish tomorrow to about 30 mph and even less on Saturday. They may try to make a summit attempt tomorrow. However, Mike said that they will really need to watch the wind because once they get to the "football field" if the winds are too strong they will have to turn back. So they may wait until Saturday to attempt the summit. Stay tuned...

TUESDAY, MAY 27, 2008

Team at 17,200!

The team has moved to 17,200! They moved to Camp V yesterday. Wes said it was a really tough climb. It took about six hours. Although it was really hard he said it was a great climb meandering through rock passageways right along a ridge. They had spectacular views along the way. There were a lot of safety procedures in place. There was a fixed rope section along Washburn's Thumb. They had running belays and pickets with carabiners. Once they got into camp they spent about four hours making walls and getting the campsite ready. Wes said it pretty much wiped everyone out - the altitude and the exertion from the climb. He said I wouldn't have even recognized him if he had called last night, that's how out of it he was from the climb. The team has ditched one of their tents and now they have four climbers in each tent. At first they thought that might be a little too close for comfort but everyone has decided it is pretty cozy! They ended up working so hard yesterday that they didn't even eat dinner until 11:30 p.m. Today they cut more blocks of ice for the camp. It was a nice day. It was about zero degrees. He said that inside the tent it got up to 100 degrees because of the radiant heat. Wes said from their camp they have panoramic views of the whole route they have climbed so far. They could see Medical Camp and it looked so far away. There are about 30 people at Camp V right now. Another RMI team (one guide and one climber - the rest of that team is still at 14,000) arrived today at 17,200. Wes' team has about five days worth of food now. They were able to pick up their cache at 16,000. Wes has seen aircraft flying overhead the past two days still searching for the missing Japanese team on the Cassian Ridge route. There was a German team at 17,200 that lost a couple of their tents from the wind and ended up bunking in with an American team for a couple of days. One team in camp had two tents and a modified igloo for shelter. They had their climbing rope spidered all over the tents to anchor them down. Wes said it looked pretty interesting. The plan right now is to wait for the winds to die down before making a summit attempt. They had thought about it today but the winds at the summit were just too strong. The winds are supposed to slow by Friday. Until then the team will watch the weather and hang out. Everyone on the team is in great spirits. Wes said they have a really tough team. Wes was glad to hear that you made it back safely, Baron. He said he will pass on your well wishes to the team.

SUNDAY, MAY 25, 2008

Team Hoping for a Break in the Weather

The team is at Medical Camp still. The last two or three days the winds have been 40 to 60 mph in camp. The wind has reached 110 mph at 17,000 and above. Twenty-five people have been stuck at 17,000 for the last four days. There is a team that is climbing the Cassian Ridge route that hasn't been heard from in five days. The weather has been pretty miserable lately. However, there is supposed to be a slight break in the wind tomorrow - slowing to 35 mph on the way to 17,000. Another storm is moving in on Thursday. The team has been able to scrounge up some additional food from some climbers going down the mountain. They were actually offered a week's worth of food from a firefighter from England and his team but they graciously declined their offer. If the reduction in wind really happens (there is a two day window) then the team is going to try for 17,000 tomorrow. They are going to pick up their cache at 16,000 and move up. They will make a full assault on the summit on Tuesday - again, only if the break in the wind really happens. Wes said he feels a little weak due to the fact that they have been conserving food. He has more of his snack food cached at 16,000. He is going to take in as many calories today to gain strength for the possible move tomorrow. Stay tuned.