Ann & Colette on the summit, June 12, at about 10:45 pm.
20,320 feet above sea level

David & Ann on the Summit

David, Colette and Ann about to leave for the summit

Getting onto the Summit Ridge - Mt Foraker in the Background

Colette & Ann on the summit ridge. 20,000 feet and climbing

Leaving the summit

Back in Anchorage

The last day on the Hill was a long one - and not even a day really....

We left the camp at 14,200 at 6 pm Monday afternoon. Things were looking gnarly down at Windy Corner but it proved to be passable. We stopped at the top of Motorcycle Hill to rig our sled straps to go under the sleds for sled brakes - and that worked great for keeping the sleds under control down that steep slope. We picked up a cache we had left at the 11,200 foot camp and descended further. The evening got quiet and gorgeous from there. A few folks coming up, but mostly just us cruising around the Kahiltna Pass/Ski Hill area.

We put the skis on and got a good burn going as we slid/snowplowed onto Ski Hill. We eventually took our skis off as the snow got crustier and walked the rest of the way down ski hill. We picked an abandoned snow kitchen and took a 2 hour break to bust out the stove and have some hot chocolate and instant taters with butter and cheese. Tasty. Great views off the Mountain from here as we hung out in the middle off the night.

We headed out again about 3:30 and worked out way back towards the airstrip, gunning to arrive at the airstrip at 7,200 feet to grab a flight out. We arrived at the airstrip at about 9 am, dug up our cache, hobnobbed with other groups waiting to fly out, checked out with the Park Service, got in line for the planes we hoped were coming (still a little cloudy, but it looked like a fly day), dozed off and by noon we were flying back to Talkeetna.

After 2 days of uncontrolled feasting and sleeping we're now in Anchorage - Ann left for home last night, Mike is headed to Seattle now, David, Colette and I are hanging out a bit longer - and we've got digital pictures! We'll see about adding a few here in a bit...

It was a great trip - a beautiful mountain - we met many interesting and terrific people. And we're happy and grateful to be back safe and sound. Thanks for tracking us!

Coming Down - somewhere around the 13,000 foot level

A view from the descent from about 12,000 feet - click image for a larger version

a climber coming up in the Kahiltna Pass area as we go down.
About 10,000 feet

Colette & David adding a snooze to the 2-hour hot-drink and Instant Tater Break
at the base of Ski Hill

Back to Earth

Patty just got a call from Talkeetna. They're off the mountain and looking for showers and beds and food.

I hear food is winning out over showers for the immediate future!

They Made It!!

Just got a quick phone call from Bill (still at 14,200ft) to let us know that Colette, Ann and Dave summited Denali on June 12th at about 10:45pm! Yay! After a thirteen hour day, they made it back to camp at 17,200 at 3am!

From what I could gather, the team has reunited at 14,200 and will start heading down the mountain. They may be down to 11,000 by tomorrow so this may be the last update until they get back to Talkeetna.

Congratulations to the team for sticking out the weather and making it to the top! Way to go! I can't wait to see the pictures! ;)

The Weather Breaks and the Team Splits Up!

I just got off the phone with Bill with the first real update in several days! As we knew, bad weather had the team socked in at 17,200. They ended up spending 5 days up there waiting out the storm in their tent. There were several other climber that stuck it out too.

After the weather finally broke (Friday I think), Mike was feeling pretty poorly so he and Bill decided to drop back down to 14,200 while the rest of the team continued their summit attempt throughout the weekend. So unfortunately, Mike and Bill won't make it to the top. :( They are going to hang out at 14,200 and see if they can get word from the others. If Bill and Mike feel they can be helpful, they will stick around and lend a hand to the rest of the team on their way down. If not, they'll head on down and meet up with Colette, Ann, and David at a lower camp.

Currently the weather is "beautiful" which should allow the Summit Team to get to the top. They are supposed to make an AudBlog post when they get the chance to keep us all up to date. (N.B. There were two audio post that didn't work over the last two days. One was probably Bill but the other may have been from the Summit team Friday night).

Bill mentioned that for most of the trip, they have been traveling alongside a group from Alpine Ascents International. This group is also calling in cell updates from the mountain. Check out their side of the story on their Denali Cybercast page.

We feel real bad for Mike and Bill that they had to turn back but their spirits are high and they're enjoying a room with a view! Watch for an audio post soon from a (hopefully) successful summit team.

Another Audio Message

Oh, yeah, it's cold!

Weather Wonders at 17, 200 feet

We're happy to have a few more calls come in from THE mountain. If you are unable to listen to these audio feeds, keep reading and we'll fill you in.

Bill reports that they have made it to 17,200, pulling food from the 16,500 cache. They ran into near white-out conditions at 16,000 and ended up with about 6-7 inches of new snow by the time they got camp set up. Ran into others who were headed to the summit. Health wise, headaches and coughing in the group, but well in general. 10 degrees. Brrrrrrr.

More as we hear, too!

More Static From the Mountain

Dave called in this time, but unfortunately it was pretty bad connection. However, there are a few bits in there that are worth listening to.

Today, they're at 14,200 ft where they mostly "lounged around camp and cached calories" getting ready to haul their stuff up to 17,200 tomorrow.

It sounds like they should be on the top the day after tomorrow or the day after that! (6/8 - 6/9?)

That's about all I could make out of it. Still, it's a glimpse of what they're up to!