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)
AAI lead guide Paul Ivaska called at 1:45pm Pacific Time.
The team climbed up to high camp yesterday. And if the winds die down, the plan is to go for the summit tomorrow.
It was clear at high camp when Paul called, but a bit breezy. The lower Kahiltna was socked in and there were thunderheads off to the west. Paul said that the foul weather in the distance made it extremely pretty at high camp.
Paul had a number of comments from people for their friends and family:
From Andrew: I’m on top of the world.
From Sky : Sky to Karl. I lied about the loads.
From Steve: Love and Hi to Katie. Have a great time in Grastenbury. Say hi to everyone. P.S, I lost lots of weight.
From Luke: To Abby you would be proud. I’ve been picking up trash along the way. Tomorrow is the day. If we succeed you’ll see it on the dispatch. Wish me luck. I miss you.
We were able to get the well-wishes through. But before we were able to get any more detail on tomorrow’s plan, the phone cut out…