McKinley Expedition: Team Delaney Rests at 11k Camp for Weather
Posted by: Jack Delaney, Jess Wedel, Calvin Jiricko
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska
Elevation: 11,000'
5/16 - It’s 6:30pm and I’ve just turned off the stoves in the kitchen tent after finishing melting water. I step out, get sandblasted with snow as I sneak my way to the big red Hilleberg dining tent or “the hilly” as we call it.
It’s windy, it’s cold, the snow is spinning and spinning around.
I step down into the hilly and feel the warmth from the stove, the whole team all bundled together as Jack and Calvin use creative methods to cook delicious pepperoni and cheese pizzas. Everyone slides over and I slot in between layers of down jackets.
We spend the next couple hours slowly eating pizzas and chatting about a range of topics.
At 7pm, we listen to the weather on the radio and the nightly trivia question. Jack answered it immediately and correctly and ended the dispatch with “RMI RULEZ” so the whole mountain knows our lead guide is an expert on the similarities between sea horses and sea dragons. (you should ask him)
Today we took a somewhat forced but also perfectly timed rest day. Somewhat forced because more unsettled weather has arrived.
Perfectly timed because we have been working so hard nearly every moment since we landed on the Kahiltna glacier.
I keep thinking of the phrase “be here now” and it’s something so challenging in our daily lives but out here there is a forced nowness. We eat long meals together, we shovel walkways to our tents and then shovel them again. Our efforts and our lives are all revolved around a singular goal of moving the team forward. We are living in the now in the most raw way possible and there’s something so beautifully brutal to it all.
We will wake up tomorrow, look at the mountain and see what she says.
Maybe we will stay put at 11k camp, maybe we will have the chance to carry our gear to our 14k cache.
We’re open to what is. We’re in the now-cast.
RMI Guide Jess Wedel & Team
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Comments (2)
Tina said nothing about pizza on the mountain. PIZZA?!
Posted by: Grayson Currin on
I look forward to these daily updates. I am cheering Forest on and all of you hoping for a successful summit. So far you all are facing adversity like champs! You all got this!!!!!!!
Posted by: Peggy Diaz on