Mountain Trip's June 1 2008 Denali Climb

Some of the Crew on the Kahiltna Glacier

2008-06-28T14:43:00.000-07:00

I caught the team as they were heading to the airstrip and snapped a few pictures of some of them. I just returned from Alaska, so pardon the delay in posting these.

Clockwise from upper left: Mr. Flamboyant Dave Staeheli, Brian Matthews with the NW Ridge of Mt. Francis in the background, a bunch of the crew with West Kahiltna Peak in the background, and Nick Beale taking a well-deserved break

In Talkeetna!

2008-06-18T09:57:00.000-07:00

They all flew off the mountain last night around 8pm! They stayed in Talkeetna last night, and will be making their way back to Anchorage today after a leisurely breakfast at the Talkeetna RoadHouse. Welcome home!

Base Camp!

2008-06-17T19:16:00.000-07:00

The team passed another Mt Trip group just a little while ago, and they were almost down to basecamp. I expect that they are there now, and waiting for flights off the glacier hopefully this evening. It's a beautiful day in our part of Alaska, and it doesn't look like the clouds are going to get in the way of the planes today.

They could be in Talkeetna any time.

Summit on Sunday!

2008-06-16T13:22:00.001-07:00

Zach Johnson made the phone call this morning from high camp, and they went to the summit yesterday. I didn't get all of the details, but it sounds like it was a pretty difficult summit day and everyone was pretty tired this morning. They'll get off to a slow start today, and descend down to 14,000 camp, continuing to base camp tomorrow!

They should be in the relative comfort and civilization of Talkeetna in just a couple of days...

That is 14 Mt Trip expeditions in a row to the top!

Settled in at 17,000 feet

2008-06-14T12:20:00.000-07:00

Zach Johnson got Sat Phone duties today, and just called from high camp. They moved up yesterday, and everyone was tired, but doing good. They are taking a rest day today, and hope to get a chance to summit as soon as tomorrow. The weather forecast looks very promising, it's wrong as often as not, but it's hopefull!

Moving to High Camp

2008-06-13T12:09:00.000-07:00

I just talked to lead guide Dave Staeheli via Sat Phone and they were on the way to High Camp at 17,000 feet. It looks to be a great day for them. I'll update if they call again tonight, but we may not hear from them until their rest day tomorrow.

Windy Day

2008-06-12T20:44:00.000-07:00

The crew sat at 14k today watching the winds blow on the ridge 2,000 ft above them. They are all doing great, and enjoying reading, and practicing wishing the weather away.

Rest Day at 14,000 ft

2008-06-10T20:54:00.000-07:00

Staeheli and crew took a rest/acclimitization day today at 14,000. They practiced some of the technical skills that they'll need for tomorrows climb up to the ridge at 16,200 ft.

Tomorrow they plan to get up early and cache some food and fuel up on the ridge, then one more day of rest before the final push to high camp, and on to the top.

14,000 ft Camp

2008-06-10T09:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the June 1 team went downhill to 13,500 feet to pick up the cache that they had left there a couple of day's earlier. They are doing great and are right on schedule. I'll talk to the guys tonight and update again.

14,000 ft Camp

2008-06-08T19:36:00.000-07:00

The team was able to move on up another 3,000 ft, around Windy Corner to Camp 3 at 14,000 ft. Everybody is doing great, and they will get a chance to sleep in at least a little tomorrow before descending to pick up the cache at 13,500.

A Beautiful Evening at 11,000

2008-06-07T20:53:00.000-07:00

Just talked to Dave, and they were able to carry a load up around Windy Corner and make their cache at 13,500 feet. They will plan on moving up to 14k tomorrow. They are doing great.

Snowing at 11,000 ft

2008-06-06T21:26:00.000-07:00

Just got off the phone with Dave S. and they are at 11,000 ft (Camp 2). It's snowing this evening, but they had a good day, and are still right on schedule. This morning they were able to sleep in a bit, and then hike back down to 10,500 to pick up the cache they left 2 days before.

Camp 1 7,800ft

2008-06-04T17:55:00.000-07:00

They're off... The June 1 Mountain Trip expedition flew in late on Monday afternoon to basecamp, and got started climbing yesterday. They moved to camp 1 about 5 miles up the Kahiltna glacier from the landing strip. Today they carried a load of food, fuel, and extra supplies to about 10,000 feet where they dug a hole in the snow and cached it to pick up later. They will move up to the next camp at 11,000 ft tomorrow, then return to pick the cache up the following day. This is going to be the general strategy to work their way up the mountain. They break their loads up into two different carries, and it allows them time to acclimate to the progressively higher altitudes.

Sean(guide) brought Manny down to basecamp yesterday afternoon, and he has already flown out to Taleetna. He is healthy, he was just ready to come down. Sean will return to catch up to the team today.

Welcome to Mountain Trip's June 1 West Buttress Expedition

2008-05-22T06:49:00.000-07:00

On June 1, 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:

Nick Beale from the UK
Henk van Bilderbeek from the Netherlands
Manny Rizea from the US
Mark Howard from the UK
Michel Blommer from the US
Todd Winzenreid from the US
Tony Hampson-Tindale from South Africa
Brian Matthews from the US

Mountain Trip guides for the expedition will be Dave Staeheli from Palmer, Alaska, Zach Johnson from Anchorage, Alaska, and Sean McManamy 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."