June 9, 2017 12:55 a.m. PT Every fifteen minutes another gust would pummel the side of the tent. Of course, it would have to be on my side. The moisture inside our precious shelter, frozen to the walls of the tent would fall on us with each gust, forcing us deeper into our bed of down. Day five at 17,200' turned in to a real doozy. The forecasts have actually been fairly good lately, and no good news was to be had with the latest issued. In fact, a high wind alert was posted for the upcoming four days with winds into the sixties. This had camp on edge, including my wise assistants Christina and JT, upon whom I rely so heavily to help make our trip the best and safest, My initial optimism that the weather would surely improve with time was tempered by the latest info coming out. A decision to retreat to the relative safety, protection and comfort of 14,200' camp was made by all in camp, even though the strong winds are cause for concern as we need to navigate the technical terrain of the West Buttress. Taking down tents and packing up went well even in those conditions, a testament of the ability of our veteran and tested team. The climb down to camp went well, besides the inevitable traffic of perhaps fifty people leaving camp simultaneously. To our delight, the RMI teams at 14,200' got into our cache and had camp all set up for us when we pulled in, What incredible work, A huge THANKS to [url=https://www.rmiguides.com/blog/expedition/denali_5_23_17/desc]https://www.rmiguides.com/blog/expedition/denali_5_23_17/desc[/url], Jake and their teams!!! So now, at day 19 we have a number of folks feeling the pull of home and a life put on hold while we take part in this incredible experience. A couple of others are still excited to finish off the climb and willing to put in a few more days. An updated forecast in the morning might help us see if we actually have a realistic chance of getting a good enough break on the weather in a few days time. We'll make some final decisions in the morning, but right now we might not even have good enough weather to leave camp. Goodnight from 14,200' camp (revisited), RMI Guides Brent Okita, Christina Dale and JT Schmitt

On The Map