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), Caitriona 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 on Tuesday, June 22nd, at 4:30pm Pacific time with the following update:
“We’re at 14,000 camp. We spent the day practicing on fixed lines that we set up in camp. Everyone seems to have a good handle on it (literally!), and we’re looking forward to using the skills tomorrow. Today, we were going to go check out the Edge of the World, but the clouds came in and there wasn’t great visibility. That’s actually a good thing because it has been so hot and we needed a break!
For the most part, we’ve just been taking a rest day and hanging out in camp. The international participants seem to be enjoying the food on the trip, which is fun. They’ve really taken a liking to beef jerky, lucky charms, and cliff bars in particular. The brown bread from a can was a surprisingly big hit as well! It is really good when you fry it up.
Tomorrow we will head up to the fixed lines and put in a cache below 17,000. The loads we carry should be pretty light, as Dylan’s team left some gear for us up above. This will be really nice for acclimatization purposes.
Here are some messages from us to you:
From Luke to Abby: It was awesome talking to you. Pray for good weather, and we will talk again in a wekk. I miss you! 1434
From Sky to Hugh and Bridie: Thanks for the message. Wish you were both here seeing what I am seeing!
Collin: Thanks for the note Cary, and much love to my family.
Ryan to DD: Thanks for the message you are in my thoughts.
Walt and Ann: Hello to Maria, Joe, Iman, Zak, and Amir.
Steve: Thanks for all the messages. Hugs and high fives to the kids. It is definitely too cold to wash as always. Lots of snowballs like Santa’s message.
Richard: Hello to my little monkey, and all my love to my lovely lovely wife!
Andrew: Thanks for the continued support from friends and family, you guys make this all worth it. Natasha, you are beautiful and I love you!
Thats all for now! — Andrew