McKinley Expedition: Burns & Team Carry to 13,600’
Posted by: Seth Burns, Ben Thorneycroft, Margo Kerr
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska
Elevation: 11,200'
Friday, 5/29 1AM PST
After topping off our batteries (personal and electronic) with a sun filled rest day at 11 camp, our team went to bed last night ready for a carry in the morning. Silence greeted us as we awoke, an unusual sound around camps on the mountain. Snow had fallen through the night and we had nearly 2 feet of dry powder to contend with. Hope for moving today was all but lost and we prepared ourselves for a leisurely day, starting with delicious bacon (and vegan bacon) filled breakfast bagels. Once we had all finally settled into our books, movies, and journals, we got the news: “Let’s go! We’re going to carry, we want to be out as soon as possible.” Everyone jumped to it, got into our crampons, and we cruised through snow showers to break through a cloud layer into blistering sun just past Windy Corner to complete our cache at ~13,600ft. Soon we were back at our camp, refueling, and hoping to make a more permanent move to 14 camp in the next few days.
-RMI Climber Graham
Comments (2)
Where are your powder skis? Two feet of powder deserves slaying! Watch out for avys and have fun post-holing…
Posted by: Jim on
Go G! You know I love an unexpected rest day.
Get it Graham.
Posted by: Tammy Brazil on