Safely at base camp

The team had a long and challenging day descending from 11,000 feet to base camp at 7,000 feet. It was a 10 hour travel day including a lot of navigation through the crevasse fields. They had whiteout conditions as they were traveling, greatly increasing the difficulty. This is where most incidents occur on Denali so they were quite relieved to make it through safely. Weather was not conducive to fly out from base camp so they are hoping that will turn and they will be able to fly out soon. They have plenty of reserve food as they had planned for a 21 day expedition and completed their mission in 16 days.

We hope weather cooperates and that we'll be able to welcome them home soon!

Hoping to sleep in real beds tonight!

The team called in this morning, planning to descend from 11,000 feet to base and "weather permitting" (as is always the case) flying out from base today. Hopes and dreams of sleeping in a real bed tonight, along with amazing memories of their successful climb, keep them going on. No new voice messages- hopefully tomorrow.

Back to 11,000 feet, feeling good in the descent

The team, after a long push to summit on Thursday descended back to High Camp. A long day up and down! Major congratulations to all of them! They then descended down to 11,000 feet on Friday, June 25. No voice mail updates and spotty sat phone coverage but we know they successfully reached 11,000.

Summit success!!!

Congratulations to the team for summiting! They had a long 9 hour day with many challenges but successfully reached the summit around 6:00 PM local time. They had a great weather day and only had 5-10 mph winds at the summit. As they say, "it's cool to be cold and high!" They are above the clouds, looking down at North America. What a sight it must be! We are so proud of Taylor, Rick and Keith for a hard earned achievement! They're now ready for their 4-5 hour descent to High Camp.

Hard to add to their words- listen to the call from the summit of Mt. McKinley!

Shooting for summit tomorrow!

The team took the day to rest up, having climbed close to the summit yesterday, then descending back to High Camp. They are taking time to acclimatize with the plan for a full day push to the summit tomorrow. The weather continues to be favorable and forecasts are for decent conditions again tomorrow. We wish them all the best!

At high camp, with summit in view...

Keith, Taylor and Rick phoned in today to say that everyone is doing well. They have ascended to high camp, which is at 17,200 feet. The last two days were challenging, but they feel good, and they are hoping to push for the summit tomorrow (weather permitting of course). Their ascent yesterday brought them up a headwall, and along a narrow ridge to where they are currently camped 3,000 feet below the summit. Keith sends a very special birthday message to his son Kegan - "Happy Birthday and I hope you enjoy Toy Story III with Mommy!". During each day Keith thinks about Kegan with almost every step. Even though Kegan might be thousands of miles away he is never far from Keith's heart. In fact, Kegan and Stacey made Keith a very special therma-rest with hand prints and drawings to make sure Keith never gets homesick. On nights like tonight having Kegan's hand print next to Keith's head as he sleeps makes all the difference! HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEGAN!

The reports from the mountain continue to be sporadic, but we'll continue to post details as soon as we have them! Check back again soon!

Successful cache at 16,200, now back at 14,200

The team succeeded in ascending to 16,200 to leave a cache of food and gear. It was a challenging climb, ascending the headwall with 2,000 feet of elevation. For 800 feet, they had fixed lines and used mechanical ascenders. By the time they reached the ridge at 15,200 feet, they were in full whiteout conditions with lots of snow. For every 1,00 feet of elevation gain, they lost 3-5 degrees in temperature so it was much colder at the cache. They are comfortably settled back at camp at 14,200 feet ready to enjoy a marvelous dinner prepared by Taylor, chef extraordinaire.

Their camp is a very international scene in a beautiful setting. They just enjoyed a visit from a French team, chatting about the weather.

Their goal is to reach 17,200 feet tomorrow which will be their final camp before the summit push. We wish them all great success!

Comfortably settled at 14,200 feet

The team has finally had a break from the bad weather they have been experiencing. They moved up from 11,000 feet to their current camp at 14,200 feet, passing their cache at 13,500 feet. They woke up to a beautiful, calm day but conditions deteriorated around Windy Corner. From that point, they had a very challenging climb but successfully reached camp at 14,200 feet around 10:30 PM. They were cold, tired but grateful to have reached their goal for the day.

Many climbers are having to head down due to the long spell of bad weather they have all been experiencing, very disappointing. But our team is looking ahead to moving their cache up to 16,200 feet and returning to this camp at 14,200 tomorrow night.

Heading to 14,200 feet...

All is well on the mountain, as our team keeps plugging away at their ascent. They phoned in a series of audio messages reporting that they had moved a cache up to 13,500 feet and were planning to head to 14,200 feet today (weather permitting, of course). On their cache-laying mission to 13,500 feet they mostly wore crampons, but were able to ski a little of their return descent (they returned to 11,000 feet after leaving some of their supplies at 13,500 feet).

Their camp at 11,000 feet is surrounded on three sides by high walls of approximately 800 feet, which is the primary reason for the poor sat phone signal. Because they have been unable to send the pictures they are taking Keith opted to leave a "bonus" audio message. Make sure to listen to it below!

Among the people with whom they are sharing Camp 3 are a team of Japanese climbers who are drying sardines which they caught using nets in Anchorage. They are also seeing and talking to climbers who are on their descents after reaching the summit. Surely this is both inspirational and also informative!

The winds that they were expecting arrived and left approximately 1 foot of fresh snow on the ground. The current forecast includes more wind.

We hope to have more frequent updates as the team gets higher! Make sure to check back frequently!

An update from camp 3...

Rick, Keith and Taylor called in from Camp 3 at 11,000 feet to say that all is well. They have had sunny conditions so far, but this could change as a potential storm is in the forecast. If they get nasty weather they'll stay put and await better conditions. They are in a good spot, and they have a double-set of poles for their tent in case of strong wind.

Yesterday they had a big elevation gain, from 7,800 feet to 11,000 feet, and today was an easier day with a short descent to pick up their previously placed cache.

Though remote, camp three is abuzz with activity. Rick estimates that there are 100 people camping within close proximity - all hoping for continued good weather!

The sat phone connection has been poor, thus no update on Sunday, and only a marginal update today (after 4 dropped calls). Without a strong signal it's dufficult to send photos, but the signal should get better with elevation, and Keith has a number of great shots he's attempting to send regularly. We'll keep you posted with as much info as we get from the team... but you may need to be patient!

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They're a movin' on up...

The team reports today that they are on the move, heading towards 9,600 feet. All is good, and the scenery is stunning. More from the team soon!

The adventure begins...

Though the team should already be on the mountain, poor weather at their landing site on the Kahiltna Glacier had prevented them from flying both yesterday and this morning. It sounds like they have just received the "green light" to fly, and we expect that the next time we hear from them they will be on the mountain. Check back soon for another update from the mountain!