denali

Rest at Camp 4 No amazing climbs today, or rescues, or bodies being transported. Today (and all of last night) was marked by high winds and snow; we probably got a foot or more snow altogether. The high winds helped carry some of it off. A blessing and a curse.

Rest at Camp 4 09:45 - These puffy pants are amazing. If I combined them with my parka (which is presently serving as a pillow), I could probably forego a sleeping bag entirely. It's an interesting thought. Maybe use the goretex sleeping bag cover to stay dry?

Back carry from 13,500 to Camp 4 10:30 - We woke up late, as usual. I guess if waking up late is usual, then we woke up on time. As usual. Like previous nights, I slept warm up until the last few hours, and then I couldn'

Rest at Camp 4; build walls / kitchen / crapper 10:45 - Mike had told us the previous day that the sun will hit camp around 10am. I was lying in my sleeping bag, waiting. It never happened. It was over-cast and breezy. Neither Wes nor I had any desire to

Camp 3 to Camp 4 09:45 - Wes fired up the stove and got the water going while I started packing things up and digging our Camp 3 cache. We're moving to Camp 4 today - along with several other teams that have a couple hour head

Cache at 13,500 09:45 - Like clockwork Wes awoke with a powerful need to make water and cook breakfast. More power to him. When I shortly later became uncomfortably warm in my sleeping bag (due to the sun heating up the tent), I gradually emerged and joined him.

Back carry from 10,000 to Camp 3 12:00 - We back carried from 10k, which was a good thing since we were down to just a few snacks remaining. It took about 25 minutes on snowshoes to get down to the cache and maybe 1.25 hours to

Camp 1 to Camp 3 Friday the Thirteenth! Too bad I didn't bring that movie. 09:00 - Wes burst out of bed like we were tragically late for something. I asked if the tent was on fire. He said, "if the tent were on fire, I&

Cache at 10,000 09:00 - We woke up gradually this morning. The inside of the tent was coated with a fair bit of ice, but my hand crafted sleeping bag cover kept the moisture out. Wes cooked up butter-toasted, cheese-covered bagels for breakfast. They were delicious but ultimately

Stuck at Camp 1 13:00 - It was continuously windy last night. Aside for these brief lulls it just kept going. We started this trip with about forty-seven pounds of food each, and when the wind wouldn't relent today we determined to just hang out, reinforce walls,