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McKinley Dispatches
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May 11, 2010 Mount McKinley Expedition
Lead Guide: Billy Nugent
May 11, 2010
Team arrives in Anchorage and drives to Talkeetna.
May 11, 2010 Mount McKinley Expedition
Lead Guide: Billy Nugent
May 13, 2010
The team completed their orientation with the National Park Service yesterday and spent the afternoon packing. By mid morning today they had finished packing, loaded the planes and were ready to fly to the Kahiltna Glacier when it began snowing at Basecamp. From Talkeetna, they can see a cloud front starting to roll in with high cumulus clouds. They are hopeful that the weather may clear and allow them to fly to basecamp this afternoon. But for now they will sit tight in Talkeetna and wait for word from the bush pilot.
May 11, 2010 Mount McKinley Expedition
Lead Guide: Billy Nugent
May 14, 2010 voicemail from 10:29 p.m.
Hey gang, it's Billy giving you a call letting you know that we are at the base of Ski Hill at 7,800'. We flew on yesterday afternoon and spent last night at Basecamp. All is well. We plan on moving to 9,600' tomorrow and will hopefully give you a call.
May 11, 2010 Mount McKinley Expedition
Lead Guide: Billy Nugent
May 15, 2010 voicemail from 9:40 p.m.
Hey gang, it's Billy, Paul, Geoff, and the crew.
We're checking in from 9,600'. We moved here today in a single carry. Tomorrow we'll leave a cache here and move to 11,000' with light loads. The folllowing day we will back carry. Had a ton of snow and bad weather today. Things have cleared now. We are looking good and everyone in the group is going really well.
May 11, 2010 Mount McKinley Expedition
Lead Guide: Billy Nugent
May 17, 2010 (voicemail from 10:25 p.m.)
Hey gang, it's Billy calling, checking in from the 11,000' camp.
We did a back carry today and now have all our supplies in camp. It looks like the weather is good tomorrow but not the next day. We might push a carry up towards Windy Corner tomorrow and then take a rest day. That's our plan for now.
We will check in again soon.
May 11, 2010 Mount McKinley Expedition
Lead Guide: Billy Nugent
May 19, 2010
Billy checked in today. They carried around Windy Corner yesterday. All went well. They are resting at 11,000' and will try to move up to 14,000' tomorrow.
May 11, 2010 Mount McKinley Expedition
Lead Guide: Billy Nugent
May 21, 2010
We're at 14,000'!
Hello everyone,
Billy here checking in for the rest of the crew up here at 14,000'. We made our move up yesterday from the 11,000' camp in BLAZING heat. While we saw some squirrely weather down low on the Kahiltna, it has been mostly clear and sunny for the past several days. We spent today completing a back-carry down to Windy Corner to pick up a cache we left there several days ago, and then fortifying our camp with large snow walls. This weekend is supposed to bring some lousy weather in the form of wind and snow. We will be ready. As soon as the weather clears we will attempt to push a load of food and fuel up the headwall in preparation for our summit push.
Ciao,
Billy and crew
May 11, 2010 Mount McKinley Expedition
Lead Guide: Billy Nugent
May 24, 2010 - voicemail 6:39 p.m.
We're at 14,000'!
Hey, it's Billy just giving you a call to check-in.
We are currently at the 14,000' camp. We made a carry yesterday to 17,000' and took a rest/acclimatization day today. Tomorrow we plan to move to high camp and hopefully take a crack at the summit on Thursday or Friday. Everyone is doing well and climbing strong. Our crew is very motivated and hopefully we are going to tag the top!
May 11, 2010 Mount McKinley Expedition
Lead Guide: Billy Nugent
May 25, 2010 - voicemail 9:57 p.m.PDT
Hey, this is Billy and the crew checking in from 17,000'. Everyone is doing awesome, we have a great camp built and are settling in here at 17,000'. The weather is expected to hold for the next couple of days. We are looking to take a rest day tomorrow and then make our summit attempt after that.
We will check in again soon.
May 11, 2010 Mount McKinley Expedition
Lead Guide: Billy Nugent
May 27, 2010 - voicemail 11:22 p.m. Alaska Time
SUMMIT!
Hey, this is Billy calling to check in. We now have everyone back from the summit climb to the 17,200' camp, safe and sound. Tommorrow we plan to walk down to 11,000' camp and spend the night. Then hopefully we will beat feet for the airstrip.
We had a rough day as far as weather goes with lots of wind and very cold temperatures. Not at all what the forecast had predicted. We had some white out conditions and lenticular clouds. It was full on and we rocked it.
Talk to you tomorrow.
May 11, 2010 Mount McKinley Expedition
Lead Guide: Billy Nugent
May 28, 2010 - voicemail 6:37 p.m. Alaska Time
Hey this is Billy and gang calling from 14,000' camp, spending a little quality time with Brent Okita's team as they are enjoying their rest day. We will head out sometime this evening for 11,000' camp and then should be back at Basecamp by noon tomorrow. Weather depending, we should be able to fly off soon. Everyone is doing well and feeling great.
May 11, 2010 Mount McKinley Expedition
Lead Guide: Billy Nugent
May 29, 2010
Billy called from Talkeetna at 3:45 p.m. AKDT. Everyone is off the mountain. Congratulations to their successful expedition!
Guides
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Billy Nugent
-
Paul Edgren
-
Geoff Schellens
Climbing Team
Steven, Vlado, Chad, Marcus, Andrew, Jesse, Mike, and Mark
Itinerary
The following expedition itinerary is approximate and depends on such considerations as weather, route conditions and strength of the party. Twenty-two man-days of food are carried on the mountain above Base Camp. In the event of bad weather, this amount can be stretched several additional days. Furthermore, there are emergency food rations at Base Camp, in case weather prevents the group from flying off. Expeditions average 18 days roundtrip from Base Camp. It is best to allow an entire month for total completion, including travel time from home.
When climbing is done for the day, a campsite is selected and probed for crevasses. First, the site must be leveled, and tents pitched and anchored. Snow blocks are quarried and walls built to thwart the wind in case of a storm. A group kitchen is dug and cook tent erected. A designated latrine is established. Melting snow is an endless chore in camp, accomplished in the mornings and late into the evenings. All cooking and melting is done outside - never in a tent. It is important for the group to work together when establishing camps. As an integral part of the team, a willingness to pitch in is greatly appreciated.
DAY 4: Base to Camp 1, 8,000'
DAY 5: Camp 1 to Camp 2, 9,500'
DAY 6: Camp 2 to Camp 3, 11,000'
DAY 7: Acclimatization day Camp 3
DAY 8: Camp 3 to Cache 13,000'
DAY 9: Camp 3 to Camp 4, 14,400'
DAY 10: Camp 4 to Cache 13,000'
DAY 11: Acclimatization day Camp 4
DAY 12: Camp 4 to Cache 16,000'
DAY 13: Acclimatization day Camp 4
DAY 14: Camp 4 to Camp 5, 17,200'
DAY 15: Rest day Camp 5
DAY 16: Summit day (night at high camp)
DAY 17: Camp 5 to Camp 4
DAY 18: Camp 4 to Camp 1
DAY 19: Camp 1 to Basecamp (fly off)