June 8th Expedition, led by Tate Hughes, Emma Russell, and Nick Bakken-French:
This team is moving to high camp at 17,200 feet this afternoon. The team is doing great, and all are feeling strong.
This is a difficult and challenging day as they will ascend 3,000 feet with all the weight on their backs. The sleds are left behind. Once there, they will build a camp with fortified snow walls to block the wind and blowing snow. However, they were able to arrange a tent swap with the June 2 expedition since they are heading down. That helps save weight and less wall building!!
Once they are settled in, they will take a one day rest at high camp. On Saturday, they will make a summit attempt, weather permitting. Stay tuned!
Here are a few photos taken yesterday as the team ascended the fixed lines. Photos by Guide Emma Russell: (someone at 14K has Starlink)
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| 16K Ridge. |
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| View descending the fixed lines looking at the 14k camp. |
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| Two team members on the fixed lines... hard to tell who that is! The sun is strong up there. |
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| Guide Nick Bakken-French taking a break at the 16,200-foot cache site. |
June 16 Peaks for Pia Expedition led by Nickle Wood and Luke Piatt:
They are moving gear higher up the Mountain. The lower glacier gets warm on these long summer days, so they are on a night schedule. This evening they will take food and fuel up about 9,500 feet and then return to their lower camp at 7,400 feet.
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| On these nice days you can cook en plein air. Climbers need to eat 4-5000 calories a day. |
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| We have some pretty nice meals up there. Cheese filled pasta with pesto is on the menu (May 2025 photo) |
The June 16 Custom Denali Expedition, led by Ben Olwell and Will Plovanic
They camped at 7,800 feet yesterday and will rest today and move this evening to 9,600 feet. Again, best to travel at night out of the "heat of the day." Firmer snow means faster travel.
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| Climbers on the main Kahiltna Glacier around 8000 feet. (AMS archived image) |
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