Dispatches from American Alpine Institute's worldwide mountaineering expeditions, including the West Buttress of Denali, Ecuador, Bolivia, and the Seven Summits.
Update Received: June 29 2014. 5:35pm PST. Team 6 was able to fly out of Base Camp around 9am this morning. They are all well, safe and sound in Talkeetna. Team 6 has not made the names of those who were able to summit public. They will share this information with friends and family once home. AAI wishes Team 6 members and Guides happy and safe returns from Alaska!
Update Received: June 28 2014.12am PST. Team 6 is still at 14K'. Their intent is to start descending at 5pm and go down to Base Camp through the night. They have been stuck in quite the storm even and have been waiting for avalanche dangers to clear out before they head down. Everybody is healthy and looking forward to getting back to town. John tried to share a message, but the satellite phone connection was lost.
Update Received: June 26 2014. 5:43pm PST. Team is still at 14K'. Quite the snow storm move in during the afternoon, but started to taper up in the evening hours. They plan to move down to Base Camp on Friday and hopefully fly out on Saturday.
Update Received: June 25 2014. 7:27pm PST. Unfortunately, the second half of the team was not able to summit. Team 6 had to move back down to 14K' due to a weather system moving in at High Camp. They will continue their descent down to Base Camp on Thursday, so Team 6 members will be able to start calling back home with trip details in the next few days.
Update Received: June 24, 2014. 11:34pm PST. Team 6 called in with a very patchy dispatch, which is not unusual when calling from 17K'. We deciphered that half the team made it to the summit on Tuesday the 24th and the other half is going to attempt on Wednesday the 25th. We have not received the names of the team members that made it, but we will update this information as soon as we get it.
We believe the reason for only half the group going up was that some team members needed an additional day to acclimatize and those that were ready took advantage of Tuesday's weather window.
Update Received: June 22, 2014. 1:28pm PST. Team 6 has made it up to High Camp at 17,200' and is enjoying some nice weather. There are many other teams moving in and out of High Camp and on the Fixed Lines taking advantage in the break in weather, making for some people watching while Team 6 takes their rest day. There is a possibility of some wind weather moving in over the next few day, but if it remains below 30MPH Team 6 is going to push for a summit bid on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Update Received: June 22, 2014. 11:25am PST. Richard re-caps the last few days of the expedition. While waiting in Base Camp to fly out, thunder clouds began moving in. Around 4:40 pm on the 17th, one plane was able to fly in during breaks in the weather take 8 of the 11 team members and guides out. Richard, Andy and John volunteered to stay behind and wait for more room on a second plane. However, they did not know how long the wait could be. The three of them hunkered down expecting to spend some quality time at Base Camp. Luckily, another plane was able to make it back around 8:00pm and pick them up as well. The next morning everyone had one last breakfast together in Talkeetna and then all pitched in to help each other move on to their departure destinations.
Team 5 wants to thank everyone for following their journey. Richard hopes to get some photos of the trip posted to the dispatch pages as well.
Update Received: June 21, 2014. 5:55pm PST. On June 20 the team was able to put in a cache at 16,300', just below High Camp. They took a forced rest day on the 21st due to the snow condition. The plan for the 22nd is to move on up to High Camp. John and Bouchra send messages home.
Update Received: June 19, 2014. 6:48pm PST. Today, Team 6 was able to pick up their cache as planned. They were also able to get some practice time in on the Fixed Lines. Rice and chicken are on the menu tonight.
Update Received: June 18, 2014. 6:58pm PST. Team 6 was able to move up to Camp 3 after several days socked in at 11K'. The weather was clear and the winds were calm. They team was able to move up in about an hours time. After the move up everyone was relaxing in camp, enjoying the weather and the views. Tonight's dinner was some good old comfort food of chicken and mashed potatoes. The plan for the 19th is to retrieve the cache already placed around Windy Corner and bring it up to camp or even higher up to the Fixed Lines.
Update Received: June 17, 2014. 4:10am PST. Team 5 called from Base Camp as they were waiting for their flight out. Team members send some final messages for back home...
Update Received: June 17, 2014. 3:02pm PST. Team 6 spent the day hunkered down in Camp 2 waiting for the weather to pass. They were not able to move up to Camp 3 as planned, but hope that the weather clears by tomorrow. In the meantime, they are stocking up on delicious melted-cheesy meals - quesadillas for lunch followed by mac-and-cheese for dinner.
Update Received: June 17, 2014. 11:08am PST. After walking through a blizzard last night, Team 5 made it down to Base Camp. They may get to fly out today if the weather cooperates. They will keep us posted. Happy Birthday Bruce!
Update Received: June 16, 2014. 11:49pm PST. The weather on Denali is just not going to cooperate and the forecast higher up the mountain calls for even more wind and snow in the coming days. Team 5 has decided to turn around and head back down. Although it isn't the outcome they wanted everyone is in high spirits. They will continue to keep us updated on their descent. Also, now that they are moving again they will turn the SPOT back on. Follow them here: Team 5.
Update Received: June 15, 2014. 8:24pm PST. Team 5 is still at Camp 3. They were not able to move up today. Despite being holed up, they are keeping their competitive edge sharp with some cut throat card games -Hearts in particular. Team members send Happy Father's Day greeting to the dads back home...
Photos courtesy of C.M.Coolidge and AAI Collection.
Update Received: June 15, 2014. 6:21pm PST. Team 6 was able to place their cache up around Windy Corner. Everyone was excited to get the snowshoes off, put the crampons on and get into more technical terrain. They were able to put all the food and gear needed for the cache in their packs and not have to pull the extra weight of the sleds. Weather at 13K' was mild. They returned to Camp 2 for the night and hope to move out to Camp 3 on Monday the 16th.
Update Received: June 14, 2014. 10:11pm PST. Team 5 had another cold, wet, rest day under about 6"of new fallen snow. They are hoping to move up on Sunday the 15th if weather permits.
Update Received: June 13, 2014. 9:24pmPST. Team 5 reports they had a productive day at 14K' even though the upper mountain is socked in. They are proud to announce they have finished their igloo project, which they figure can hold an impressive 16 people. The phone was passed around with many messages for back home. Enjoy!
Photos courtesy of AAI Collection and Richard Riquelme.
Update Received: June 12, 2014. 10:58pmPST. Team 5 placed their cache today in mixed weather of warm, cold, windy, and cloudy. They will be taking a rest day on he 13th while they wait for the system to pass. They are in a good position to move up when the weather permits.
Update: Due to the weather not permitting a big enough window to make a summit bid,Team 4 descended from High Camp. They were able to fly out of Base Camp the evening of June 11th. Everyone is happy and safe in Talkeetna.
Update Received: June 12, 2014. 9:29am PST. Team 6 was able to fly out of Talkeetna on the 11th around 2:30pm. After landing, instead of staying at Base Camp they moved right on up to Camp 1. The plan for the 12th is to place a cache up around 10,200' and return to Camp 1 for the night. On the 13th they hope to move up to Camp 2.
Photos courtesy of Alasdair Tuner and AAI Collection.
Update Received: June 11, 2014. 9:35pmPST. We received a partial dispatch. Team 5 is still at Camp 3. They woke up to a cold, but clear morning and warmed up with some biscuits and gravy. They continued the "home improvements" around camp, building snow walls and even started an ingloo....on its way to being the most impressive one in Camp 3! Later they went up to the fixed lines and put in some practice.
Update Received: June 9, 2014. 10:30pm PST. We received a brief and patchy dispatch. In summary: Team 4 is still hunkered down waiting for the weather to pass. June 10th will be the deciding day - if the weather clears they will ascend up and make a bid for the summit. If the weather doesn't improve they will begin their descent to get back down to base camp to fly out by Saturday. They will keep us updated with their plans.
Update Received: June 9 2014. 8:56pm PST. Still at 14K'. They woke up to a nice clear, but cold morning. The team split into two groups - half went down to 13,400' to pick up the cache from a few days ago while the other half made some home improvements back at camp. In the evening, snow started falling again and the temperatures started to drop. Less than perfect conditions are predicted for the next few days, so they plan to hunker down and ride it out.
The team also re-caps this past weekend when the dispatches were muffled and broken up.
June 7th: They carried a cache from Camp 2 up to 13,400'. It was really cold about 8F. Windy Corner was uncharacteristically windless. The sun came out as they were digging in their caches, so they got to warm up a bit. They returned to Camp 2 for the night.
June 8th: Woke up to cloudy, but warmer weather in the mid 20sF. They broke camp and moved up to Camp 3 passing their cache. It was a very tiring day dragging the sleds up 3K' of elevation gain. Everyone was feeling it pretty hard, so a few days of rest and nourishment will be well appreciated. It snowed about 6" during the night.
The phone was passed around with messages for loved ones back home.
Update Received: June 8 2014. 8:43pm PST. Andy called in from 14K'. Team 5 had a productive day, they moved up to Camp 3 ahead of schedule - due to a snow storm coming in. Snow started falling just as they got into their new camp and they expect it will be around for a few days. So far Team 5 has been moving up ahead of schedule, so a few forced rest days and time to acclimatize at 14K' will be put to good use while waiting for the storm to pass.
Update Received: June 8, 2014. 11:29pm PST. Team 4 has moved up to High Camp - 17,200'. They are all set up to go for the summit as soon a the weather permits. They will keep us updated.
Update Received: June 7, 2014. 6:50pm PST. Team 5 had and early morning start and placed a cache at 13,400'. Everyone is strong, weather was great although a little chilly, the views were beautiful and Windy Corner was... just a little breezy. The snow where they placed their cache was really hard and compact, so it was a little more challenging digging in than expected. They made it back to Camp 2 just as the clouds were closing in and snow started coming down. Dylan cooked Thai noodles for dinner.
Update Received: June 7, 2014. 10:08pm PST. Team 4 took a rest day at 14K'. They have been relaxing in the warm weather and acclimatizing. The weather report for the next few days is forecasting snow. The team will re-check the report in the morning before making the call to move up or remain at Camp 3.
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