Wednesday, July 3, 2013

AC Denali Post 14

I chatted with Anders for about 15 minutes yesterday.  They were pinned down at 11,200 feet for a second day yesterday.   He doesn't have cabin fever (yet) and was taking everything in stride--he fully expected this to happen at some point.  He said it was noticeably colder today--he said around 10 to 12 degrees and steadily snowing--a couple of inches an hour.   He said it was very comfy in the tent and he was thankful for his -30 degree rated sleepting bag!  Lots of reading and cleaning of the tent.  He also participated in a knot class put on by one of the guides.

An interesting aside, he told me his tentmate forgeot his crampons but Conrad Anker had given his to him--how cool is that!!!!

Most of our conversation involved me updating Anders on the Tour, the NHL draft, the Red Sox, Egypt, etc....I'm going to make sure I can give him a quick, concise update on the world when he calls....

Here is Hahn's blog and a pic of snowy Camp Three:

"There was some reason for optimism at 6 this morning when snow stopped falling and we were granted a view of some blue sky and the upper mountain.  The guides got up and out to brew a cup of coffee and to watch the skies.  It was considerably colder at 11,000 ft this morning, down to about what should be “normal” for this place.  We watched clouds build up again and eventually we found ourselves in another snowstorm before we could even call the gang to breakfast.  Mike King taught a well-attended seminar on knots and hitches in the main dining tent for a good chunk of the morning.  Some lounged the day away in the POSH while others returned to their own tents to clear the snow and read/sleep/zone-out.  Our afternoon was brightened when our good friends Tyler Jones and Laura Rogers, of RMI and Whittaker Mountaineering respectively came skiing down out of the storm.  They are up to play and were just successful a few days back in climbing Denali’s North Peak.  They regaled us with all of the news of the other teams around the mountain and a pretty comprehensive wrap up of the entire season in the range.  Eventually, they moved down into the clouds to get a little closer to Basecamp and we moved back into our POSH tent for dinner and a final round of stimulating conversation before bed.  We remain optimistic that the snow will quit and the clouds will flee."


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