McKinley Expedition: May & Team Make it to Camp at the Base of Ski Hill
Posted by: Daniel May, Drew O’Brien, Mac Nolde
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska
Elevation: 7,800'
Friday, June 5th - 12:15AM PST
Guest dispatcher Joe reporting in from Denali.
The DDM Expedition (Daniel/Drew/Mac) departed Talkeetna this morning in good order. Blue skies and calm air made for an easy flight for our daredevil K2 Aviation bush pilots so everyone enjoyed a little extra sightseeing swooping through the peaks along with a couple barrel rolls just for a little spice. Deposited safely on Kahiltna Glacier early, the group repacked yet again for foot travel and proceeded directly to Skill Hill Camp. The exceptional weather persisted throughout the day, with just a few chill winds interleaved with atypically hot sections. Arriving with plenty of energy, the team stomped out a camp area and got down to the real business of the day: Mac's Mac & Cheese.
On a more tragic note though, departing Talkeetna also meant departing Zach's lunch meats and cheeses abandoned in the hangar fridge. Although he'll survive just fine having apparently packed at least 50lbs of other snacks, this was an emotional blow for his and your reporter's Rope Team Hoarding Marmots, and honestly an affront to our venerable mascots. Tomoki also left a few things in that refrigerator but him and his companions Chris and Paxton on Rope Team World Best #1 Rope Team weren't as loud about it so our guides still don't know and they villainously avoided their fair share of judgement and demerits.
Meanwhile under Sarah's strong leadership and Erik's silent execution, Rope Team Erik and the Squatters continues to be all Rope Team We're So Perfect We Show Up Two Minutes Before Every Meetup And Had All the Gear We Were Supposed To Have And Didn't Leave Anything In The Refrigerator. Some people your faithful chronicler just doesn't understand. Tomorrow the expedition will make an outing to cache supplies and gear uphill in preparation for a hoped-for move to 11 Camp ahead of an expected downturn in the weather.
-RMI Climber Joe
Comments (3)
Aw Zach, you left the meat and cheese behind! Safe travels on your amazing adventure everybody!
Zachs mom ❤️
Posted by: Diane Cross on
I second Sarah’s mom comment! It made me laugh too! Rooting for you all ☺️
Posted by: Tatiana on
Hi, Erik’s mom here, I got a good laugh reading your description of Erik and Sarah, pretty spot on! I’m glad things are going smoothly, hope and pray it continues. Stay safe everyone!
Posted by: Beth on