Clark's team is sitting tight at Camp 3

We spoke with Clark at Camp 2 tonight. He said that the weather wasn't too good today, so the team just sat tight in camp. There were a lot of clouds obscuring visibility and they decided not to push high without being able to get a better sense of what the weather was like up there.

The forecast is for clearing and a decrease in the winds. We'll keep our fingers crossed here at the home office!

Clark's team carries up to 16,400 feet

Clark and Co. made a carry up to the ridge at 16,400 feet yesterday. They ascended the fixed lines to put a cache of supplies up high in anticipation of moving to high camp in the next couple of days. Clark reports that everyone is still moving well and the group is a really solid team.

Today they are resting and acclimatizing at Camp 3 (14,200 feet) so that they will be ready for the big move to 17,200 feet tomorrow. Moving to high camp makes for a big day. The route climbs snowslopes out of Camp 3 to the base of the "Headwall", which is the steepest section on the West Buttress. Fixed lines allow teams to quickly and safely ascend the Headwall to gain the ridge above. The ridge is a spectacular stretch of the route and has some really fun climbing along it.

Finally they'll need to establish themselves at high camp. This can sometimes require hours of cutting snow blocks to make thick walls around the tents. High camp is a windy place and you definitely need good protection from the bigger gusts. Hopefully Clark's group will find some solid, abandoned walls that they can move right on in to. Good luck guys!!!

Los Chilenos estan en Campamento 2

We received word that the Banco de Chile Expedition has single carried to 9,500' on the Kahiltna glacier. The team is still doing well and Ryan reports that evrything is going great. The team made short work of pulling sleds up the grueling "Ski Hill", which climbs right out of Camp 1 and is planning to single carry again up to the basin at 11,200 feet tonight.

The Banco De Chile 2005 Mt. McKinley Expedition is comprised of the following climbers:

Andronico Luksic
Paola Luksic

Gabriella Luksic
Rocio Gonzalez
Misael Alvial

Ernesto Olivares
Eugenio (Kiko) Guzman
Aldo Boitano
Rodrigo Jordan
Ryan Campbell
Jesse (Bill) Billmeier
Kevin Koprek
Dave Bolte

Clark's team is doing well at Camp 3

Bill got down from the mountain last night and has word from Clark's team at Camp 3 (14,200 feet). Everyone is doing well. The did their "back-carry" to get supplies from their cache at 13,700 feet yesterday. They are now well provisioned and are setting their sights on getting to high camp.

Today was a bit stormy in Talkeetna, so we're not sure if they were able to make a carry up the fixed lines to put a cache in on the ridge at 16,400. I'll post more when I hear from them. Bill says he gave them his extra cheese and crackers and they were pretty psyched!

Banco De Chile Expedition Cruises to Camp 1

Lead guide Ryan Campbell called in this morning to report that the Banco De Chile Expedition safely moved to Camp 1 at 7,800 feet on the Kahiltna Glacier. The team moved through the night in order to minimize the crevasse hazard of that particular stretch of the route.

Ryan reported that the group is doing well and made the single carry to Camp 1 in just 3.5 hours. This is a really good time for that distance with all of your food, tents and gear on your back or on sleds.

Banco De Chile Expedition Flies to the Glacier

The Banco De Chile 2005 Mt. McKinley Expedition flew to Basecamp on the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier this afternoon. The team plans to move to Camp 1 at 7,800 feet tonight.

The team landed in Anchorage Friday night to learn that 14 of their bags missed a connection. Fortunately, the missing bags arrived the following morning and the expedition was able to proceed as scheduled. Saturday was spent finalizing equipment for the trip and we had a nice dinner at the Glacier Brewhouse in the evening.

Sunday morning we departed Anchorage and drove to Talkeetna where the usual registering for the climb went smoothly and Talkeetna Air Taxi flew the team to the glacier at about 4:30 P.M.

Clark's Team is at 11,200'

I heard from bill last night and he has been in contact with Clark Fyans. Clark's group is at 11,200 feet and will move up to Camp 3 at 14,200 feet today or tomorrow. They are all doing well and feeling strong. I'll post more details when I get them.

Camp 2 at 11,200 feet is in a basin which prevents good communication with pretty much anywhere. When the team gets to Camp 3, we'll be able to get much better information.

Ryan and Billmeier assessing the weather and snow conditions at High Camp (17,200 feet) in early June, 2005.

Mt. Trip group on the Summit Ridge, June 15, 2005

Steve, Rohan and Martin on the Summit, June 15, 2005

Bill's Team Summits Denali!!!!

In a message received last night, we heard that Bill 's team summitted yesterday! Bill reported that the following climbers made it to the top of North America:

Gene Rehfield
Stefano Biffi
Brett Garrett
Megan Delehanty
Martin Johnson
Traci BuckGary Ponder
Julio Bird
Bill Allen (Guide)
Con Severis (Guide)

Congratulations to all of you! You worked hard and kept on pushing wo capitalize on the weather and it paid off. Bill said the summit day was not a perfect, clear day, but the weather held off enough to allow them to keep moving. This team was particularly strong and this allowed them to have a shot on a less than perfect day.

Today the team will descend from high camp to 14,200' camp, dig up the cache of supplies they left there and continue on down the mountain. They will probably be motivated by thoughts of warm pizza and cold beers as they beat it out to Basecamp. If all goes well, they should arrive at Basecamp tomorrow and weather permitting, will fly back to Talkeetna.

Thanks to all of you who helped with the "good weather dances"!!

Bill's team is established and acclimatizing at 17K

I just heard from Bill and he said everyone is doing well at High Camp. The weather is pretty good and everyone feels healthy. They plan to get up early tomorrow morning and make a summit bid. We encourage all readers of this post to go your personal "good weather dance" to send some clear skies and mild winds to the crew.

Bill's team has moved up to High Camp

Bill's team decided to take advantage of the decent weather to make a push to high camp at 17,200 feet. The group made good time heading up the steep headwall and continued on up the ridge. They plan to take a rest day tomorrow and then begin the waiting game; arising each day in hopes of being able to head to the top. You need to be ready to move when the weather window presents itself and I'm sure they'll be poised to move when the opportunity arises.

Bill's team makes a carry up to 16,400'

The harsh weather of yesterday seems to have abated somewhat and Bill Allen's team is pushing hard to get in position to summit. They carried loads to the West Buttress Ridge and cached them at about 16,400 feet. Bill said everyone did well and the group is feeling well enough to consider moving to high camp tomorrow.

Clark's group flies to the Glacier!

Well, the weather gods finally smiled on our group and allowed them safe passage to the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier. I'm guessing that they hit the ground running in order to make up some of the time lost in Talkeetna. Tomorrow they should either carry a load to 10,200' or perhaps just move camp on up the glacier. The weather looks pretty darn good for travelling.

Bill Allen's team prepares for some weather

Bill checked in tonight. This morning his group made their "back-carry*" from Camp 3 to their cache of gear and food at 13,700'. Bill reported that the wind was blowing hard and that there had been some new snow, which caused a number of avalanches to pull out from the slopes surrounding Camp 3. He said they were, "hunkering down and sitting tight," in anticipation of incoming bad weather. They now have all their food and fuel with them and are in good shape to sit it out until the weather breaks.

*When we climb Denali we use a system called "double carrying" to get the large quantities of food and fuel necessary for the expedition up to the next camp. Essentially, we pack up half of our extra food and fuel, along with some high-altitude specific personal items, and "carry" them to either the next camp or to a point just below the next camp where we "cache" it in a snow pit. The next day we then "move" all of our remaining supplies, with all of our tents, up to the next camp. If we did not make our "carry" all the way to that camp, then we need to make a "back-carry" back down to the cache to get the rest of the gear on the following day.

The benefits of double-carrying are that you can move large quantities of supplies in more moderate loads and it allows you to more readily acclimatize to new elevations. You get a taste of the next elevation on your carry day, but get to sleep back at your previous camp. This makes it easier on your body when you then move camp to the next higher elevation.

Clark's group still stuck in Talkeetna!

The crew is hanging tough in Talkeetna, waiting for the weather to break and allow them to fly to the glacier. This is known as the "Hurry up and wiat" program!

Most of the team have schedules that will allow for a bit of a wait and if they get in soon, this delay shouldn't be an issue. A couple guys have that pesky thing called "work", which is putting some pressure on their climbing time...

Clark's June 17th Expedition delayed in Talkeetna

Clark Fyans is leading his third Denali expedition for the season. His group drove to Talkeetna yesterday, but as of yet, has been unable to fly due to poor visibility and bad weather at Base Camp. Clark called to say that spirits were up and that they were all eating well in the sleepy little town at the "end of the road".

Members of his team are as follows:

Rob Durnell (guide)
Kevin Wright (guide)
Gil Nyerges
Doug Waymark
Eric Kapitulik
Ryan Shanahan
Walker Huey
Soren Gudmann
Eric Dalzell

Denali as seen from Mount Crosson

Bill Allen's June 10th team arrives at Camp 3

I heard from Bill yesterday and his team arrived at Camp 3 (14,200') yesterday in the early afternoon. They made good time up from Camp 2 at 11,200, arriving in just five hours. Bill said everyone was doing well and moving strongly.

It's raining in Anchorage today and the report from Base Camp is that it's stormy and raining up there as well. The team is scheduled to drop down from Camp 3 to pick up a cache of gear that they left at 13,700' two days ago. They should be able to do this in most any kind of weather, so hopefully that can stay on schedule.

A key to maximizing your chances of summitting Denali is to save your allotted weather days (and their associated food and fuel) for High Camp. You can only get to the top from High Camp, so it helps if you can arrive up there without having lost too many days.

Two teams return after summitting

Two teams arrived in Anchorage yesterday after summitting Denali. Ryan Campbell's May 27th expedition and Clint Cook's June 3rd trip both reached the summit on Wednesday, June 15th. These two expeditions exemplify the fickle nature of climbing Denali.

Ryan's group Flew into Base Camp on the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier on May 28th. They battled wind and deep snow all the way to Camp 3 at 14,200'. After seven days at that camp, during which they were unable to move higher due to extremely high winds, they were finally able to push up to High Camp at 17,200'. Winds at higher elevations kept them from miving any higher for another five days.

Clint's group, in the meantime, flew onto the glacier on June 4th and was able to keep moving on up the route to Camp 3. After a few nights at that camp, with everyone feeling good, they decided to push up to High Camp to try to take advantage of an apparent upcoming break in the weather. The morning after they arrived at High Camp, the weather broke and they joined Ryan's team in a push for the summit.

It was a cold summit day, but everyone felt good enough to keep moving and reached the top ahead of most of the other groups that summitted that day. Congratulations to everyone who reached the top. You all worked hard and should be proud of your efforts.

Both teams descended the following day and reached Base Camp on the morning of June 17th. Descending Denali can beat you up almost as much as Climbing it, so I'm certain that they enjoyed their well-deserved dinners at The Bear Tooth in Anchorage.

Mooses Tooth- Ham and Eggs Route

We had two teams go in to Ham and Eggs, the classic ice route up the Mooses Tooth. Both teams found tricky mixed and ice climbing with a fair bit of rock as well. The route was probably about 5.9/WI5/M5 this season. Ice routes in the Alaska Range didn't come in too well this year and not many were even able to be climbed. Our guys were tenacious and were able to get up Ham and Eggs in a long day of climbing. They also climbed moderate ice and 5.8 rock to the summit of theWisdom Tooth and one group caught a shuttle flight with TAT over to Kahiltna Base Camp and climbed ice on the Mini Moonflower.

Jack Gerstein in the Ham and Eggs Couloir on The Mooses Tooth

Bill Allen's June 10th group moves to 14,200'

Cell phones don't seem to be working too well on Denali this year, but descending teams told me that Bill's group is moving to 14,200' camp (Camp 3) today. The weather looks good and it seems like everyone in their party is doing well. The group looked strong and organized at the gear check last week so hopefully they will continue to have good weather so they can keep moving up the mountain.

Tough Season on Denali

The 2005 climbing season has been a tough one on Denali. Early season (April-May) was marked by very cold temperatures and high winds. Our first groups on the mountain found unusual blue ice conditions from about 12,000 feet on up. Running belays using ice screws were the norm. Our team that went up on the west rib found hard ice all the way up to the 'Schrund Camp at 16,300'. This made for hard, slow progress and poor adhesion between the ice and later snowfalls caused some spectacular avalanches.

Two more teams summit Denali!

Two more Mountain Trip teams just reached the summit of Mt. McKinley. One group, led be Ryan Campbell, had experienced pretty tough weather at 14,200' and again at high camp at 17,200' before getting a weather window in which to summit yesterday. The other one, led by Clint Cook, slugged it out through inclement weather down low and was able to reach high camp just in time to jump on the same window as Ryan.

Good work to all team members!!!

Woman climbs Seven Summits in a year

Annabelle Bond climbed Denali May 2005 with Mountain Trip to become the first person to climb the Seven Summits in a year. She began with Everest, which she summitted May 15, 2005 and chose Mountain Trip as her guide service to finish her quest. She's a neat lady who worked really hard- Congrats, Annabelle!

Climbing Denali

Welcome to the Mountain Trip blog. We are one of five guide services which operate on the south side of Mount McKinley, which includes the popular West Buttress route. We've been at it for a long time and love what we do. This blog is intended to give you more of an insight into what sets us apart from the other guys up on the mountain and will allow freinds, family and interested folks to track where our expeditions are on Denali.

I'm Todd Rutledge and you'll see a lot of post from me on here. Bill Allen is my partner in Mountain Trip and he'll be adding to the site as well. He's currently at 11,200' on Denali and I'll post updates on his trip as I receive information from him.

Thanks for checking this out and I hope you get some useful information from our posts.