Heading to Base Camp

We got a call from Kevin and the boys tonight on the way to base camp. They called from Camp 1 at 7,800 ft and were going to take a break there for a bit before continuing down the final stretch. They be spending the night at base camp tonight, and hoping to fly out to Talkeetna in the morning in time for breakfast at the Road House restaurant.

Starting to Descend

Just received a call from a very tired sounding Kevin Koprek at 14,200'. The call was short and kinda broken up. Sometimes communication from the mountain is tough because you have clouds and mountain ridges blocking the satellites. These satellites are also moving through the sky and can quickly disappear. However, I was able to catch that the team is going to continue their descent tomorrow and they are hoping to be in base camp by Sunday morning. All these plans are, of course, weather dependent.

We will post once we hear more about what happened higher up on the mountain. The last few days have been snowy and cloudy. Whatever the team did I am sure it was a grand adventure. We are just happy to hear that the whole team is safe and on their way home.

Hoping for good weather at 17,000' and above

Kevin and Bill made it to 17,000' camp today. They are poised and ready for a summit attempt as early as tomorrow morning. It has been snowy and cloudy on the mountain for a few days and they are eagerly hoping for a good weather window to make an attempt at Denali's summit. They will join another Mountain Trip team that is also at 17,000'.

We all wish them the best of luck and safety in their summit attempt and the rest of their time on the mountain. Send good energy their way.

Catching up

Here's a picture of the team before they flew to basecamp, all ready to load up the plane and get moving.

We join the group about halfway through their expedition to climb Denali's Cassin ridge. The team has been calling in a few times a week and we've been following their progress here at the Mountain Trip office, so this blog will be updated when they call in. As is the case with all groups in the field, no news is good news, but when we know more you will know more.

The team has moved up the West Buttress route and are waiting out some inclement weather at 14,000' camp. As of yesterday MT guide Kevin Koprek has reported that after examining the route and dealing with some foot problems, the team has changed their objective from the Cassin ridge to climbing the South and North summits of Denali via the West Buttress route. Often on an expedition the climbers are forced to reevaluate objectives in the face of changing circumstance, and it sounded like the group was satisfied to move up to high camp at 17,000' on the Buttress to give the summit a shot from there.

14 camp received about a foot of snow the night before last, so the expedition is hanging tight to let snow conditions stabilize overhead before moving to high camp. Stay tuned....

Thanks For Joining Us!

If any route embodies the spirit of alpinism in the US, it could easily be the Cassin Ridge. Splitting the massive South Face of Denali in an elegant and stunning 8,000 foot line, "the Cassin" is perhaps the most sought after and quintessential line in the whole of the Alaska Range. Decades of elite alpinists have attempted the Cassin, and six time Everest climber and senior mountain Trip guide Scott Woolums calls it "the best alpine line (he's) ever done."

First climbed in 1961 by Riccardo Cassin and his team of "Lecco Spiders," the ridge climbs 8,000 feet straight to the summit of Denali. The route had been presented to the climbing world by the legendary Bradford Washburn in a high resolution photograph along with Bradford's endorsement that this stunning feature was the "last and probably the most difficult and dramatic of all potential new routes on Mount McKinley." The ascent and descent were truly epic, with all team members suffering from cold injuries and many narrowly missing injury or worse in falls and avalanches. All climbers made it back to the Kahiltna glacier and as a result, the "great central bulge" of Denali has henceforth been known as the Cassin Ridge.

The climbing, while not considered overly technical by today's standards, is nonetheless always challenging, and the route's location in the middle of the biggest face on one of the biggest mountains in the world makes it a frightening place in a storm.

Mountain Trip is one of two guide services to ever guide the Cassin, the other being the highly respected, but now defunct Fantasy Ridge. Climbs like this are only for highly trained and motivated teams, led by elite guides. We are thrilled to have two of our best leading this climb with two very strong and skilled climbers.

Guides:

Kevin Koprek of Ouray, CO
Clint Cook of Ouray, CO

Climbers:

Bob O'Rourke
Bill Kind

Support Staff:
Chris and Cory Jackson

We will update this blog as often as possible so as to both provide you, the reader, with an accurate description of what the team is up to each day, and also to provide future readers with an account of what it is like to climb Denali. Please keep in mind that communication from the Alaska Range is not always easy and that weather could easily conspire to prevent us from hearing from the team.

Comments posted to our reports will occasionally be passed along to the climbers on the mountain, but we cannot always guarantee that messages will always be relayed. Please know that all of your kind thoughts and best wishes will be read and deeply appreciated by the climbers when they get back to "the real world," so we encourage you to post them frequently. If you should ever need to contact one of the climbers, please call or email our Colorado office.