Denali Team 1: May 1 – 21
Guides: Kurt Hicks, Dan Otter, Aili Farquhar
Climbers: Izabela Smolokowska (Warsaw, Poland), James Haydock (Dublin, Ireland), Ardeshir Yaftebbi, Iwan Irawan, Fajri Al Luthfi, Martin Rimbawan, Popo Fajar Sidik, and Nurhuda (all from Indonesia).
Kurt called with a dispatch at 12:47PM PDST:
“Yesterday was a phenomenal day! It was consistently clear which was great, but this led to colder temperatures. I think our daytime high was about 20 degrees Fahrenheit. With the sun out though, it was really comfortable, and we were able to work on glacier travel and crevasse rescue skills all day. We wandered behind base camp while traveling on the glacier, right in front of the beautiful Mt. Francis. Everyone got the gist of glacier travel and crevasse rescue really fast, which allowed us to touch on additional subjects.
After a successful day of skills we had a delicious dinner of chicken curry, which suited the team perfectly – it went over really well needless to say. Everyone is feeling strong and well, but we got to bed fairly early at around 8PM. Currently we are on a day time schedule, but as we start thinking about moving up the glacier, we are going to switch to a night schedule. By traveling at night, we will be able to take advantages of colder temperatures which make the glacier more stable. Also, there is something about traveling at 3AM in full light that is just kind of exciting!
Today it is slightly overcast, not too hot and not too cool. It is actually snowing lightly, and it is perfect conditions for a movement day. As such, we are going to move to Camp 1 today and put in a cache. We are going to stay at Camp 1 today, and then come back to base camp tomorrow in preparation to meet the rest of the team. That’s all for now, time to move! Talk to you guys again tomorrow.”