Denali Team 3: May 15 – June 4
Guides: Kevin Hogan, Tom Kirby, and Matt Erpelding
Climbers: Allen Borgardts (Missouri), Robert “Alex” Borgardts (Missouri), Jonathan Fischer (Colorado), David Haimsky (Virginia), Jeffrey Gephart (Michigan), Helle Dam Sorensen (Denmark), Brandon McNalley (Washington), Ryan Canfield (Washington)
Lead Guide Mat Erpelding calling in at 1:55pm on May 20 with the following dispatch:
“Hey guys, we are currently stuck in our tents at 11,000 feet. The winds up here are so bad that we actually took down our cook tent and moved all of the cooking stuff into the guides tent. We got here yesterday and are going to stay here all day due to the wind. As soon as the weather clears up we are going to dash back down to our cache at around 10,000 feet and pick it up. That will probably be tomorrow.
After we grab our cache, we will likely remain in a holding pattern until the weather allows us to move up the mountain. We are all doing well, and hope that we are just getting our Denali weather out of the way early on this trip! Right now the wind is blowing at least 60 MPH, so there is no lack of white noise as we lay in our tents! Hope to speak with you guys soon!”
We were able to relay a message to Brandon, but the Sat phone cut out early. With the weather the way it is, the team is unable to get a proper charge for the batteries and we will have to keep communication brief. This is normal, and we can assure you all members of the team are well.