Monday, June 6, 2011

Denali Team 6: June 5 to June 25 Dispatch #1
Arrival on the Glacier


Denali Team 6: June 5 to June 25
Guides: Aidan Loehr, Andrew Yasso, and Erin Smart

Climbers: Simon Thomas Gower (Australia), Richard Van Der Sprenkel (UK), Alan Laidlaw (UK), Anna Koufos-Slade (Virginia), Chok Lin Lui (Australia), Kevin Fourie (South Africa), Luke Richmond (Thailand), and Bill Strycharz (Oregon).

Andrew called at 4:00 pm on June 5th with this dispatch:

Sun 4:01 pm

“Hello! This is Andrew calling for Team 6. We haven't flown in yet, but we’re all ready packed and dressed to head out. We’re just waiting for the weather to clear at Base Camp, but right now it’s really nice here in Talkeetna. I’ll call again when we get to camp. We’re looking forward to it!”

We got a second dispatch very early this morning at 12:00 am:

“The is Andrew again, calling from Base Camp!  We made it to the Lower Kahiltna Glacier late Sunday night.  We’re sitting in our sleeping bags right now, happy for the insulation.  It's cold outside!  We had some Thai noodles for 'dinner' in the early morning hours on the glacier.  



We got in pretty late last night/this morning, and so we’re going to sleep in for a while. We can’t wait for cinnamon rolls in the morning, though.  We’ll get some skills practice done in the morning and have a little time to acclimatize to the moderate elevation here [about 7200 feet /2200 meters].  


We'll start out on a night schedule for travel in firmer conditions that the day can offer, so we won't be making a move towards Camp 1 until this evening.  Everyone says hello to friends and family!  Take care.”
.

3 comments:

Mark said...

Man o Man o Man. I can't tell you how much I want to be there. Anna, I am sooo proud of you. Amazing. I'm sure you'll keep everybody laughing. You guys keep safe. Andrew, kick some butt!!!!!

Mark Washburn

Preets said...

Hi Baby (Richard VDS)

I miss you so much its driving me insane and it's only been 5 days. Yikes!

Good luck and enjoy the climb tonight, hope the weather stays calm for all of you.

Take care and be safe!

Love
Preets

Larry said...

"Go Anna, Go Anna..." we're all rooting for you back here - Stewpot included - P