Guides: Andrew Yasso, Mary Harlan, Paul Rosser
Climbers:
Geoff Strommer (Oregon), Jennifer Logan (UK), Paul Davies (UK), Steven
Hart (Florida), David Chambers (Texas), Brian Roark (Texas), Virginia
Cross (Australia), Swati Olebe (New York), Selina Dicker (UK)
Andrew called at 4:50 pm PST on 6/13 with the following dispatch:
“After our rain delay yesterday, we traveled for another 2-3 hrs through
variable conditions. We were about 45 mins outside of camp 1, when one of our climbers, Swati, was traveling down the trail and suddenly doubled
over in pain with a potentially torn thigh muscle. We were able to
build a camp at the site of her injury. The other team members were
awesome about setting up the camp and getting her in to a tent very
quickly. Swati was able to communicate with us about her injury and we
started to make plans to bring her back to base camp. On a lighter
note, once things settled down a little bit and we had dinner, we were
treated to blueberry cheesecake for desert last night because it was
Geoffry’s 50th Birthday. We even had candles for him to blow out.
We have pretty good weather now and were able to make a plan to
transport Swati back to base camp. There were some engineers in the
group so they were able to cut two sleds and tie them together, so she
could be transported. Paul and Mary as well as Geoff and Virginia are
currently traveling back to Basecamp w/ Swati, but as weather is moving
in, she won’t be able to fly until tomorrow. As soon as the
weather clears and Swati is headed back to Talkeetna, the four climbers
will travel back to camp where we are eagerly awaiting their return.
Right now, everyone is fortifying camp and we are calling this camp 1
for now. As soon as they get back, we will continue with the
expedition. We are sorry to see Swati go, and hope for a speedy
reccovery and to see her back in the mountains soon.”