Mike and Leighan called in from the tippy top. All 8 of them made it to the summit. They were getting ready to head back down to 17 a few minutes ago. Everything is going well. I didn't talk to him for long. I'm not sure how long it took to get up to the top, but it usually takes about 1/3-1/2 of the time it took to get up to get back down to high camp. They roll back into camp and start heating up water for hot drinks or soup and Dinner if folks have the energy to eat. Quite often after a summit day, people just go to bed as they are super tired. I can here it now... "you can go to bed, but just try to at least have a little soup and another liter of water". "Don't forget to bring your boot liners into your tent and put them in between the sleeping bags or inside your bag so they won't be frozen in the morning."Congratulations gang!! They will be heading down to 14 tomorrow in the early afternoon most likely. They'll rest up and wait for the temperatures to drop so the traveling will be in good condition on the lower glacier.
A view of Mt. Huntington from the summit ridge.
Pat Ormond and Tim Brown's crew in front of one of TAT's Dehavland Beavers getting ready to fly into base camp yesterday afternoon. They had a really nice group. They will have a good time up there. The lower glacier is still in amazing condition. Night time temps are still dropping well below freezing at and above 7,000'. I probably won't be hearing from these guys more until they get higher up on the mountain and start getting a cell signal.
The really old school analog cell phones are still the best mode of communication up on Denali. We have a lot of satellite phones as well, but they aren't nearly as reliable and they drop more calls and the reception is still fuzzy at best.
That's all for now.
rob
