As expected, Dave called for ahard earned rest day for Anders and the rest of his team. Here is his recap of yesterday:
"Monday, July 8, 2013
One of our better weather days of the trip. That said, it is snowing good and hard now at our 14,200 ft camp, but that isn’t so important (yet). It was clear and calm this morning when we were interested in starting our carry up onto the West Buttress of Denali. By far, this was our coldest morning. We were guessing it was -10F or thereabouts.
We started climbing at a quarter to 10 this morning in bright sunshine. The route goes uphill in a hurry out of 14 camp and we made steady progress toward the “fixed ropes”. This steep and intimidating section of the climb was tough, as expected. Hard ice, 45 degree angles, unrelentingly uphill and airy feeling… but it was also spectacular when one was able to look up from the hard work for a moment to see the lower Kahiltna Glacier or Foraker across the way or the clean granite of Denali all around us.
We reached the ridge crest (16,200 ft) at 2 PM and took a welcome break, gazing down at the Peters Glacier and the Northwest Buttress on the “other” side of our perch. Thus we broke Max’s altitude record, which was momentous. But his was the only one to fall as our other climbers had previously topped mountains like Kilimanjaro and Aconcagua. All noted that 16,200 on Denali felt a little different than similar heights on other mountains. We cached our supplies and descended in gathering cloud and murk. We’d reached 14 camp by 4:30 and took a few hours to kick back and drink water before dinner.
Tomorrow is a rest day, and a welcome one after four hard days of moving and acclimating to uncomfortable new altitudes."
Some pictures from the scene at ABC:
And finally, not for the weak of heart--a vid of one of the avalanches that plagued last year's climbing season on Denali:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNtKrfGzku0
"Monday, July 8, 2013
One of our better weather days of the trip. That said, it is snowing good and hard now at our 14,200 ft camp, but that isn’t so important (yet). It was clear and calm this morning when we were interested in starting our carry up onto the West Buttress of Denali. By far, this was our coldest morning. We were guessing it was -10F or thereabouts.
We started climbing at a quarter to 10 this morning in bright sunshine. The route goes uphill in a hurry out of 14 camp and we made steady progress toward the “fixed ropes”. This steep and intimidating section of the climb was tough, as expected. Hard ice, 45 degree angles, unrelentingly uphill and airy feeling… but it was also spectacular when one was able to look up from the hard work for a moment to see the lower Kahiltna Glacier or Foraker across the way or the clean granite of Denali all around us.
We reached the ridge crest (16,200 ft) at 2 PM and took a welcome break, gazing down at the Peters Glacier and the Northwest Buttress on the “other” side of our perch. Thus we broke Max’s altitude record, which was momentous. But his was the only one to fall as our other climbers had previously topped mountains like Kilimanjaro and Aconcagua. All noted that 16,200 on Denali felt a little different than similar heights on other mountains. We cached our supplies and descended in gathering cloud and murk. We’d reached 14 camp by 4:30 and took a few hours to kick back and drink water before dinner.
Tomorrow is a rest day, and a welcome one after four hard days of moving and acclimating to uncomfortable new altitudes."
Some pictures from the scene at ABC:
And finally, not for the weak of heart--a vid of one of the avalanches that plagued last year's climbing season on Denali:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNtKrfGzku0
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