Denali Team 2: May 6 to May 26 - Dispatch #10

Guides: Mike Pond, Dustin Byrne, Alan Rousseau

Climbers: Garry McMahon (UK), Roy Cursley (UK), Kayla Cooper (Washington), Damon Vincent (Missouri), Greg Lamarche (B), Margaret St. Hill (Australia), Vijay Kumar (New Jersey), Christine Burke (Australia)

Mike Pond called May 23rd at 11:00am PST with the following dispatch: Hooray! Our summit team consisting of Chris, Roy, Kayla and Greg guided by Mike and Alan summited yesterday. It took us 11 hours round trip. 

We were very skeptical as the weather wasn't looking very good at all. There were lenticulars everywhere and there was wind and snow so it definitely felt like we might have to turn around at any point if the weather deteriorated. It turned out that as we got higher and higher the weather just kept getting nicer. We felt exceptionally fortunate. The views from the summit were spectacular. There was a cloud layer up to 14,000 feet so everyone lower on the mountain was socked in. 

We were descending with the setting sun over the cloud layer below and peaks in the distance. Truly amazing. 

Thanks for all your messages from home, the team will be really excited to hear these and we will try to call later today and deliver some new messages to all of you out there. 


We're sorry that our dispatches have been so spotty. Our phone has not been performing well in the cold so it's been very hard to make calls. We usually get cut off before we ever really get connected. That said, we've been reporting sparingly to save our battery and keep the phone as warm as possible in case of any emergencies. We are hoping to fly out to talkeetna tomorrow night so you should all be hearing from us soon.