Hello from Heidi in warm, sunny, Anchorage!

Hello to everyone out there who has followed the progress of our climb on Denali over the last few weeks. First off I would like to thank all of you for your warm thoughts and prayers sent our way. The entire climbing team appreciates all of the love and support that we received during our climb. We are all very happy to have gotten that first shower and that first great sleep in a real bed.

The news from our new friends still up on the mountain, is the same story that we had during our stay up there, wind, wind, and more wind. As of Thursday evening teams still have not been able to travel safely to high camp, and I really hope that the winds at Camp 3 are not as bad as we experienced early this week. Keep your fingers crossed that the mountain will change her tune soon.

Our team; David, Mike, Ryan, Zach and myself was a finely tuned machine, we worked well together, had some wonderful laughs, and I believe really enjoyed each others company. It was a fine adventure for sure. The summit itself was not in our cards, but the dance with the mountain was still fun. I hope to have the opportunity to climb with all of you guys again someday.

Again, thanks for following our climb and for all of the support given to us climbers, without which our climb would have been impossible.

All the best,
Heidi Kloos

Coming Home

They have had enough. The team decided to come on down a few days early after sitting in a storm for several days now. They left Camp3 (14k feet) yesterday at around 3pm, and are in Base Camp this morning. The forecast is for high winds for a few more days still, and they felt like they weren't going to get a shot at moving up the mountan. They are a bit disappointed they didn't get a chance to get to the top, but they had a pretty good adventure. Heidi said they saw some of the highest winds she's ever experienced at the 14k camp and everyone in camp was just holding on for several days.

I'm sure we'll get some more stories when they get to Talkeetna this afternoon.

Wind Wind Wind

Wind is the story all over the mountain right now. Heidi called this morning, as they were getting up from a night of tent rattling wind. A couple of tent poles snapped, but they were able to repair them, and keep everything standing. The weather had improved this morning, and the winds had died some, but the gusts hit 80 mph last night.

The weather is still forecast to be quite windy for a few more days...

Everyone is hanging in there and doing fine, but anxious to have a change and move up the mountain.

Morning Update...

Heidi called this morning after breakfast at 14k. They are watching the wind blow high on the mountain, and won't be able to move anywhere today. They have some more company now as our May 1 trip has joined them in camp to wait for a change in the weather.

Hanging tough in high winds

Heidi called yesterday and said that the team remained at Camp 3 for the day. High winds and low visibility compelled them to stay put in their well-fortified encampment. Hopefully today will afford them an opportunity to head up to high camp.

The route ahead of them involves the most technical climbing on the West Buttress. They climb up moderately steep snow for the first 1,400 feet before things get steep. The snow turns to 40-50 degree ice for the next 600 feet and the climbers ascend using fixed ropes as protection against possible slips. This takes them to the ridge, where the path follows more or less along the crest, weaving in and out of the rocks all the way to high camp.

High camp is a challenging place to set up to set up tents on a good day, and very hard to deal with when the wind is blowing. Climbers need a pretty good day to make this move. hopefully, the winds will taper off and they'll get a shot at it!

Weather day at 14k

The weather finally slowed them down a bit yesterday, as the winds up high prevented them from moving to high camp. The winds blew over 50mph up higher on the mountain, but it remained pretty pleasant at the 14,200 basin where they are camped. They were planning to be ready to move again on Sunday morning, but the forecast is still calling for high winds today. They'll be ready to go as soon as the wind abates a bit.

Rest and Acclimatization at 14,000 ft

The team rested yesterday at Camp 3 at 14k. This was a well deserved rest, and one more day for them to adjust to this altitude before making the jump up to high camp at over 17,000 ft. Today they'll be moving up to high camp, and then it's just one more push to the summit. The weather on Denali has been exceptionally nice for them up till now, so hope that it holds out.

There was a tragic, unexpected death on another team just a few days behind this group. You can read about it on the blog for the May 1st trip at http://may12009denali.blogspot.com

Loads up to 16,400 ft

Heidi called tonight after the team carried their loads of food and fuel up the fixed lines to the ridge leading to high camp. The team continued to do great, and made good time up to the cache spot. They woke up this morning to a frosty -26 f day, but it warmed up as the sun came around the mountain, and had another nice day. Heidi did report that there were some frantic trades going on amongst the group as someone ran out of toilet paper already... the problem was solved. They are in good spirits, and everyone is strong and healthy again.

14,200 ft Camp 3

They moved on up to Camp 3 at 14,200 ft yesterday. Zach isn't yet 100% but feeling better ( he must be doing alright to get on up to C3 ). Everyone else is doing great, and that extra day at Camp 2 is paying off as they were all well acclimated and feelig good when they moved up to the new altitude. The views continue to get more stunning the further up the mountain they climb, but C3 is a particularly beautiful spot with great views out across the Alaska Range as they have climbed above most of the other peaks in the neighborhood. Today they have a relatively easy day, they'll sleep in a bit and go back down to retrieve the cache they left at 13,500 a couple of days ago.

Carrying Loads

Heidi called last night from Camp 2 after returning from a day of carrying loads up to around 13,500 ft. Zach is on the mend, and they should be moving on up to Camp 3 at 14,200 ft today!! They continue to enjoy nice weather, and with Zach feeling better everyone is doing great. The extra day of acclimating to the altitude, and a bit of rest was great for everyone, although they are excited to be moving again.

Rest Day at 11k

The team is doing great, but Zach has had a bit of a cough for a couple of days, and hasn't been feeling great. They decided to enjoy a rest/acclimitization day today at Camp 2 in hopes that everyone will be rested and strong tomorrow. We'll be sending Zach good thoughts tonight and hope he kicks the cough.

They plan to carry a load of food and fuel up to 13,500 ft around Windy Corner tomorrow.

Camp 2

Today was another beautiful day, and the crew is still moving right along. They are all doing great and slept at Camp 2 at about 11,000 ft last night. Today is sort of an "active rest day." They'll sleep in a bit, eat a big breakfast of bacon and eggs or french toast and then go back down the hill to pick up the cache they left 2 days ago. It should take them about 30 minutes to get to their cache and somewhat over an hour to carry everything back up to camp.

Camp 2 is situated in a relatively small basin, flanked by a rock and snow ridge to the north a snow and ice slope to the south, punctuated by huge seracs (ice blocks and towers) and ice cliffs. Looking southwest the 12,600 foot Mount Crosson and its neighbor the 17,500 foot Mount Foraker form your horizon, while to the northwest you get a glimpse of the tundra which stretches off to the coast, almost 500 miles away.

Tomorrow is a big day, as the crew will climb up "Motorcycle Hill" right out of camp, ascend a few more steepish bits and then (hopefully) make their way around the infamous Windy Corner. This part of the route can definitely live up to its name, so they will need a pretty good day to make it around the Corner. The plan is to make their cache at about 13,500 feet and then return to Camp 2 for the night.

Carrying Loads

The team carried a load of food and fuel yesterday from their 1st camp at about 7800 ft on the Kahiltna glacier up to around 9800 ft. In order to protect their food and supplies from the tenacity of the Alaskan ravens, they dug a pretty deep hole in the snow, piled in their gear, and covered it back up before returning to camp for the night. This process is called "climbing high and sleeping low" and helps the climbers acclimatize to a new altitude before moving up to a higher camp.

They are enjoying continued beautiful weather and are moving up right on schedule. Today they plan to move their camp about 4.5 miles up glacier to Camp 2 at 11,000 ft.

Camp 1

The weather was beautiful again in the Alaska Range today and the team moved on up to Camp 1. There has been a lot of snow in the last couple of weeks, so the trail breaking was a bit grueling today, but they got the job done. Heidi called tonight from camp as they were finishing dinner and enjoying a perfect evening.

Base Camp

Looking at the mile high Moonflower Buttress of Mount Hunter from base camp.

Heidi called on the sat phone from base camp on the S.E. Fork of the Kahiltna glacier tonight. They flew in this morning, established their camp, and got everything together to start up towards Camp 1 in the morning. It was a beautiful day up in the Alaska range today.

Beautiful Morning in Talkeetna!

The crew made it to Talkeetna yesterday, but the weather was a bit cloudy and they weren't able to fly in to base camp. They spent the night in Talkeetna and are at the airstrip in Talkeetna loading into planes right now!!

On Sunday they met in Anchorage for the pre-trip meeting and gear check. I'll post a few pics taken from that day, and their drive to Talkeetna in our fancy new Mt Trip van.

Welcome to Mountain Trip's April Denali Climb Dispatch Blog!

In the far north lies one of the most magnificent ranges of mountains in the world. The Alaska Range stretches 400 miles across southcentral Alaska. It is a wild place, covered in glaciers and punctuated by rugged peaks. The crown of the range is Denali, at 20,320 feet (6194 m), the highest peak in North America. Located so close to the Arctic circle, Denali can present some of the most challenging and rugged conditions of any mountain on earth.

Each year a relatively few climbers from around the world migrate to test themselves on the slopes of Denali. Mountain Trip has been assisting these climbers achieve their Denali dreams since 1976. We love what we do and are happy to help provide you a taste of what these climbers are experiencing by updating their progress in this blog. Following the expedition, we will post numerous photos from the expedition, so please keep checking in.

On April 26, 2009, a small team of climbers will arrive in Anchorage. They will be accompanied by two Mountain Trip guides:

Heidi Kloos from Ridgway, CO, USA
Zach Johnson from Anchorage, AK, USA


The three climbers on this team are:

Mike Clapis from the USA
Ryan MacLean from Scotland
David Rehm from the USA

This expedition is extra special because David is climbing the daughter of a friend who was born with a difficult condition called mitochondrial disease.

Riley is a beautiful little girl who is learning to live with this challenge. David is climbing to raise awareness and hopefully funds to help support the Joseph Sams School. This school, founded in 1984, is a private, non-profit, fully-accredited school that provides educational and therapeutic services to children with mild to severe intellectual, physical and developmental challenges, ages 18 months through 15 years.

We encourage you to follow the team's progess and please visit David's website to learn more about this special girl. If you have a little extra, please make a donation on his page titled "The Chalenge." www.climbforriley.org