Call from High Camp after summit attempt

The weather looked good enough in the morning to load up and head out for a summit foray, however; Zach left this message last night after they were turned back with increasing winds.

Summit day decision making can be truly agonizing. Often the weather looks like it is trending toward a good day, but then the mountain decides that it's time to blow again, and the summit window closes. Everyone has their own personal acceptable level of risk, the parameters of which are forged with their own ambition and egos. It is our job as mountain guides to apply a reasoned set of decision making protocols to the choice of when and if to head for the summit.

Our number one priority is that all of our climbers return home healthy. We also want everyone to have an amazing time with us in the mountains, but we are not willing to sacrifice these goals for the sake of ambition. Frostbite still occasionally occurs, but heading to the summit in high winds will pretty much guarantee that someone damages their fingers or toes, and we have a deep affinity for those appendages, so we'll make conservative decisions.

The team has plenty of time, food and fuel. It looks like today could be a summit day, but there do appear to be lenticular clouds above the summit of Mount Foraker and covering the top of Denali. Keep your fingers crossed!

Here's Zach from High Camp:

A special message from Duncan to Thomas and Robert

Here is a message from high on a snowy mountain to two very special boys.

Rest/Weather day at 11,200 feet

Zach just called in a report that high winds near Windy Corner convinced them to hang out and take a res and acclimatization day at the beautiful 11,200 foot camp.

A lesser known fact is that any altitude on Denali is actually the equivalent of a higher altitude on a peak at a lower latitude. This is because the centrifugal force of the earth's rotation causes the atmosphere to bulge out along the equator and is essentially "pulled" closer to the poles. This makes the summit of Denali feel more like a 23,000' peak near the equator. Therefore the acclimatization benefits of spending an extra day at 11,200' are actually very beneficial.

Here is Zach, calling in from 11,200' about 15 minutes ago:

Podcast from 11,200' Camp

We might need to come up with a new nickname for Zach. Energizer Bunny comes to mind, but is probably too cliche. Here is an update he called in last night.

Enjoy!

Podcast from 7,800' on the Kahiltna Glacier

Zach called in last night with the following podcast. As the expedition progresses, we will try to get your friends and loved ones to make these calls as well. They are a lot of fun. Enjoy!

At the NPS Headquarters

The crew at the Park Service office, waiting for their orientation.

Headed to Talkeetna

Zach sent me this photo of the team, loaded up and ready to head to Talkeetna.

They will drive about 2.5 hours north of Anchorage, stopping for a bite to eat and to refuel on coffee. Upon arriving at the sleepy village of Talkeetna, they will drop their gear and supplies off at the airstrip and continue to the National Park Service headquarters to register with the NPS. Each Denali team is also required to attend an orientation, presented by an NPS Ranger, that outlines proper mountain etiquette and helps climbers better understand the dangers of climbing a big mountain like Denali.

After the NPS stop, they will head back to the airstrip where every piece of gear and every food bag needs to be weighed for the flight into the Range. The staff at Talkeetna Air Taxi does a great job of helping us get our climbers organized and into their aircraft for the amazing 45 minute flight into Base Camp.

The weather looks pretty good for flying today, but it is by no means a bluebird, clear day, so let's keep our fingers crossed that the team can fly onto the glacier.

Standing by...

Follow the team on SPOT

Thanks to Tom Lynam for bringing along a SPOT GPS location tracker.

The SPOT unit will transmit its coordinates to the SPOT website, which will post its location on a dedicated web page. This will allow you to follow the team's progress on one of several Google Maps. Check out the terrain or satellite maps!

Thanks again Tom!

Click HERE for Tom's SPOT page.

Thanks For Joining Us!

Thanks for joining our dispatch blog for our May 16, 2010 West Buttress of Denali expedition.

A group of climbers from around the world will assemble in Anchorage, Alaska to meet three guides from Mountain Trip in preparation for an attempt of the highest peak in North America.

Rising to a higher vertical relief than Mount Everest, Denali (Mount McKinley) dominates the impressive Alaska Range, soaring 20,320 feet above sea level. It's proximity to the Arctic Circle makes for some of the most challenging weather conditions on the planet, and, also due to it's norther latitude, Denali "feels" like a much higher mountain, as the earth's atmosphere is quite a bit thinner so far north. Any attempt of Denali is often the challenge of a lifetime for most climbers.

Let's meet the climbers!

Guides:

Zach Johnson of Anchorage, Alaska
Adam Smith of Anchorage, Alaska
Luke Smithwick of Girdwood, Alaska

Climbers:

Tom Lynam
Dan Healy
Duncan Hale
Steven Marin
Robert Kerr
Ernie Clark
Scott Holder
Jean-Philippe Pepin
Claudio Campori

We will do our best to post updates on a daily basis, but please keep in mind that any number of things could interfere with any given update being posted. The climbers are excited about calling in, but they need to keep their focus on the task at hand, and might not break out the satellite phone each evening, weather and terrain features could conspire to prevent phone calls from going through, etc, etc, etc...

Bear in mind the age-old axiom, "No News Is Good News!" For some reason, sup-optimal news always seems to get out from the mountain, while the exciting update of lounging in the sun, eating reindeer sausage quesadillas sometimes takes a day to filter through to our office.

Lastly, we highly encourage you to post comments to our dispatches. We cannot always pass these comments along to the team members, but we have heard time and again that the climbers really appreciate reading back over these dispatches and seeing all of your support and encouragement. It means a lot to them as they process their experience after the fact, so please post away! If you do need to contact a friend or loved one on this climb, just call or email our office and we'll get your message through to them.

Enjoy the posts!