Monday, April 30, 2012

Denali Team 1: April 29 to May 19 - Dispatch #2

Guides: Alasdair Turner, Chad Cochran, Aili Farquhar

Climbers: Maria Conceicao (Dubai), Stephen Martin (UK), Christopher Kulish (Colorado), Zlatko Filipovic (Sweden), Steve Bain (Colorado), Lorenzo Baraldini (Italy), Christopher Heywood (Oman), Sergey Dmitriev (Russia), Vitaly Simonovich (Russia)

Aili Farquhar called at 9:02pm PST on 4/30 with the following dispatch:


"Hello, it's Aili calling from Camp 1!  Today we had a spectacular day on the lower Kahiltna glacier, as we traveled from basecamp to Camp 1.  There was a slight breeze, which made travel very comfortable and allowed us to move at a fast pace.  Our actual movement time was five and a half hours, which is very fast!  We are feeling good about how we are doing; everyone seems really strong.


There is a great track on the glacier, which also aided in making travel fast.  We are camped along side the National Park Service rangers right now, as they are headed up to 14,200 feet to set up the NPS camp there.  This year Camp 1 is located right at the base of ski hill, which is an excellent location.  We were pleased to find that the crevasses on the entire lower glacier are really filled in, and overal the glacier is in excellent condition.


Tonight we are going to enjoy some burritos as a reward for our fast travel day.  There is almost no wind out and just a light layer of variable clouds.  This trip is off to a great start!"


**We were able to pass a message from Francoise off to Maria Conceicao.

Denali Team 1: April 29 to May 19 - Dispatch #1

Guides: Alasdair Turner, Chad Cochran, Aili Farquhar

Climbers: Maria Conceicao (Dubai), Stephen Martin (UK), Christopher Kulish (Colorado), Zlatko Filipovic (Sweden), Steve Bain (Colorado), Lorenzo Baraldini (Italy), Christopher Heywood (Oman), Sergey Dmitriev (Russia), Vitaly Simonovich (Russia)


Alasdair called at 11:47pm PST with the following dispatch:


"Hi there.  It's Alasdair with Team 1 at Kahiltna Basecamp.  Chad Cochran, myself, and the rest of the team flew in today.  We were treated to an extremely smooth flight and beautiful weather, which provided us gorgeous views of the entire Alaska range.  When we arrived at the airstrip, we happily discovered that Aili, Maria, and Chris Heywood had already built a camp for us to move into!  Maria and Chris flew in a few days ahead of the rest of us for some additional training from AIli before we arrived.  It seems like they put that training to good use!


This evening we enjoyed some burgers for dinner and are planning..." *



*At this point Alasdair was disconnected.  This will happen periodically as clouds move overhead and satellites move out of position for transmissions.    


Denali Team 1 climbers accompanied by AAI guide Chad Cochran happily pose on the runway in Talkeetna before flying to Basecamp on the  Kahiltna Glacier.