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 6:00 PST on 6/15 with the following dispatch:
Hi guys it’s Andrew Team “Camp 3/4” calling in to say hello. After all the excitement yesterday of safely getting Swati back to basecamp and getting our team members back, I forgot to mention that it was one of our guides birthday – Happy Birthday to Mary Harlan! We had some blueberry cheesecake and a little wine and blew out some candles – it was really fun.
We decided that since everyone was feeling really well, we decided to move camp, and since we love these 3/4 camps, we’ve now moved up to 9600′ in a single carry and we’re calling this “Camp 7/4.” But the team name still stands as “Camp 3/4” so don’t get any ideas.
Regardless, today was an absolutely gorgeous day. I think Denali’s nickname should be changed from “The High One” to “The Hot One.” I know that sounds insane, but I don’t think I’ve ever been anywhere hotter in my life. I don’t know if it is these black pants or the long sleeves, but this glacier really reflects the sun and really does a number on us.
So now we’re brewing up some water, and digging out a cook tent, and getting ready for dinner. Our plan is to make a single carry from here to the real Camp 2 tomorrow at 11,200′ and take a much deserved rest day, which should work out well with the weather because it looks like there might be a little something moving in that day.
Paul is on cook duty, cooking up some pesto pasta, full of some much-needed carbs to fuel us up for the next push tomorrow. We’re getting super efficient about setting up camp and we’re excited about continuing up the mountain, and also happy to be off the lower Kahiltna. We’ve been blessed with really good weather and hope that it continues, although a little bit of a breeze would be nice right now. Thanks for all the support from home. We’ll check in on our rest day and try to respond to some of your comments then. Bye for now!