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.