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....