A birds eye view of 14 camp.
Christian March called in with a bit of an update. They did there back carry yesterday and are taking a rest day today. They were about to head out to the "edge of the world" for a view and some light exercise. Even on rest days it is good to get the heart pumping a bit. At altitude the idea is to keep the respiratory and heart rates somewhat elevated to keep the O2 levels up. The more you breath the more O2 you can get on board and with light exercise your heart rate will increase and deliver that oxygen where it needs to go, like to your brain and muscles.
Marchy said the weather is nice today and as long as it continues they will make a carry up onto the ridge and get established for when they are all rested up and well acclimatized to move up to high camp when they get a weather window to do so.
Mark Postle and crew are on there way to high camp right now. Christian said they have a great day to do so. Robert left mid morning this morning to make his way down to base camp. He will either get down tonight late or more likely sometime tomorrow morning.
Marchy thought that Kevin and David were probably attempting the summit today. He could see a little evidence of wind up high, but that's pretty normal to have little wind plumes first thing in the morning and have the wind die down as the day goes on, so we're wishing them the best of luck. There are probably quite a few parties attempting the summit today since there has not been to many opportunities in the last week or so.
We expect Mark to be rolling into high camp sometime around late afternoon. They will either take a rest day tomorrow or because they had so many days at 14, they may be up for an attempt tomorrow. The move from 14 to 17 is a hard one and is often just as hard as a summit day.
Christian was going to teach all the necessary classes this afternoon to get folks ready and refreshed for ascending the fixed lines and traveling safely on the ridge. All in all they will have a pretty mellow day today, but they have a lot of material to cover. It should be review for everyone but we like to make sure everyone is efficient with their systems before they get up any higher. They'll be going to bed early and getting up early to try tpo beat other crews out of camp so they don't have to wait in line to get on the fixed lines leading up to the ridge.
Christian wanted me to let everybody know he thought he was lucky that he had a girlfriend that still loved him even if he spends all his time guiding up on Denali. He will be heading right back up there for another trip when he's done. He wanted me to tell Courtney he loves her too. He just wants brownie points so she won't send him down the road for a guy that works in town and comes home to her every night. :-)
Climbing and guiding on Denali is blue collar manual labor climbing to say the least. Everyone one on every team up there is working hard and doing their best. I'm sure everyone up there sends their best to all their friends and family. If the guides let everyone call everybody they wanted when they wanted they would not have battery power when/if they need it.
All is well and everyone is moving or carrying somewhere on the mountain. Jared and Chris's team should be making a carry to somewhere at the top of ski hill today. And I'm sure Greg and Sam's Upper rib trip is at the base of ski hill by now and will be continuing on there way in some fashion tomorrow, whether thay are moving up tomorrow or just making a cache.
The mountains were wide open this morning. Check out the link on the side for the south side denali web cam.
Later, Rob
