Denali Team 5: June 13-July 3
Guides: Paul Ivaska, Richard Riquelme, Kristen Looper
Apprentice: Andrew Yasso
Climbers: Walt, Ann, and Luke Hampton (Canton, Connecticut), Caitraiona Strain (Burnfoot, Ireland). Brendan McDyer (Glenties, Ireland) Skye O’Donnell (Sydney, Australia), Colin Stalnecker (Chicago, Illinois), Ryan Derrigan (Rickmansworth, England), and Stephen Williams (Oxon, United Kingdom)
Andrew called at 12:18 Pacific Time with great news. The team summitted yesterday!
The team woke up yesterday to six inches of new snow on the tent, but other than that it was a beautiful day with not an ounce of wind. The team got moving at 11:00am.
The first part of the route was very difficult. Paul did some exhausting trailbreaking. The team encountered chest deep snow at times!
The difficult snow conditions made for a long and exhausting day. The group summitted at 9pm and then began their descent.
Andrew said that they were above the clouds all day and that the views on the descent were stunning. On one side of the mountain was the full moon and on the other side of the mountain was the setting sun. “It was as if we were on the line between night and day. And it was like we were there for hours. It was beautiful,” he said.
When we received the phone call, people were just getting up. They will be tearing down camp and heading down to 14 camp soon. It sounds like they could be off the mountain as soon as Wednesday if the weather holds. If not, it might be Thursday or Friday.
We were able to give Andrew everybody’s well wishes. I could hear him moving from tent to tent as he roused people with the comments from their friends and family.
Everybody is very excited!