Entries from Mt. McKinley
This is Dave Hahn calling from 14,000' on Denali. Today was our first nice day in at least three or four days. We took full advantage of it and carried loads up the West Buttress. We reached 17,000', just a few hundred feet above Washburn's Thumb and maybe a 1/2 hour's easy walk from camp at 17,000'. We cached food and fuel up there and came back down to 14,000'.
Beautiful day and quite a relief from the snow storms we have been experiencing for the last few days. Everybody got the big view from up on the West Buttress looking out at Foraker and Hunter. It is still a sea of clouds down low covering the rest of Alaska but we were above it all today. Everything is going well and we'll check in again soon.
We had a little snow overnight and the winds on the upper mountain have picked up. We were hoping to make our carry today to cache some gear, we still might get it in if things change this afternoon, but for now we are going to sit tight at 14,000'. We might take a walk to the "Edge of the World" this afternoon. We will plan to carry tomorrow if the weather improves. Everyone is doing well. We will check in again soon.
Dave Hahn and the team tried doing a carry today but turned around at approximately 15,000' due to low clouds, snow and poor visibility. They are now back at their 14,000' camp and taking a rest day.
They will try to make their carry again tomorrow. The team is doing well and they wish everyone a Happy 4th of July!
As we look up to the higher elevations, there is a cloud cap and it appears to be windy. We have decided to rest comfortably at our 14,000' camp where it is calm. It ruined our plan for a carry but there is always tomorrow.
We moved to the 14,000' camp yesterday. The weather was clear and sunny above us and clouds below. A light wind kept things comfortable. We plan to make a back carry today to Windy Corner to pickup our cache. Everyone is doing well and in high spirits.
Yesterday the team made a successful carry up to 13,500 ft. Today we enjoyed a great breakfast of bagels and bacon. We are resting enjoying some patches of blue sky with a few clouds. Tomorrow our plan is to move up the mountain. Hi to everyone back home, we hope all is well there.
Hey this is Dave on Mt. McKinley giving an update for today, the 28th of June. We got up at 4 a.m. and made our move from 9,500' on the Kahiltna up to 11,000'. The weather cooperated, there were clouds down low but we were above it all. We reached camp by 10 a.m. since we got a nice early start while it was still cool. We built our camp at 11,000' and plan to establish a cache around Windy Corner tomorrow. Everything is going well and we will talk to you soon.
Hey RMI. This is Dave Hahn calling in a dispatch from 9,500' on the Kahiltna Glacier. We had a small snow storm last night at 7,800'. Started about 1:00 or 2:00 a.m. until about 5:30 a.m. with about 6" new snowfall. We delayed our plans for climbing a couple of hours. We were going to get a really early start. But then after breakfast at about 8:00 a.m., it was looking good so we moved up to 9,500'. It ended up being a beautiful day and wonderful conditions.
We've got the whole place all to ourselves. There really hasn't been any traffic passing by in either direction once we got started, so pretty pleasant. There's low clouds below but above it's all clear and we're really enjoying the weather and conditions. Everybody is in a good mood this evening. All for now.
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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Dave's team arrived at K2 Aviation at 11:00 a.m. ready to fly onto Denali. They loaded the planes and headed out only to turn back as the weather window at the airstrip closed down. However, at 6 p.m. Talkeetna time the weather at basecamp cleared and they were expecting to fly onto the glacier.
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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
After breakfast and meeting with the National Park Service, we went shopping and gathered up all our equipment for our upcoming adventure. Tonight we will enjoy downtown Talkeetna with dinner at the steakhouse in anticipation of flying onto the glacier tomorrow.
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