News from the April 25th Denali West Buttress Team

The Team at 370 feet elevation; Camp AMS, before heading to the airport.
Guide, Pat Ormond with Dean, Reid, Dana, Jack, Hal and Guide Nick D'Alessio.

AMS Guide Pat Ormond called in from 11,000' camp today. All is well with our first West Buttress team of 2011, they enjoyed a tasty pancake breakfast at 11:00am. They have been traveling in the afternoons to take advantage of the best weather conditions.

Today they plan to back carry (go down a few thousand feet) to pick up their extra food, fuel and equipment that they cached in a deep snow hole a few days ago. This caching technique helps the Denali climbers carry all of the needed equipment up the mountain while helping them acclimatize to the altitude. Gradually traveling between low and high elevations helps the body regulate to higher altitudes.

More to come!

Cheers,

Caitlin