D'Alessio 5/20 at the Summit!

Guide Nick D'Alessio just called in from the summit!  The group is enjoying the moment!
The team is healthy, strong and all smiles today.

Each expedition member sends a message to their families:  "Thanks for all of your love and support we have received from you!" 

The weather has been great and the team has made great time.  We are proud of this group for their hard work and dedication.

Climbers on Summit Ridge

High Camp

AMS Guides Peter Anderson and Nick D'Alessio thier team are all doing well at high camp (17,200') . They are holding tight waiting for their perfect weather window. The weather hasn't been all that bad lately, but it hasn't been perfect either. They are not in any hurry right now so they are going to wait for a good weather pattern. Peter called in and sounded as though he was in the next room when he called, crystal clear, if I didn't know better I would not have guessed he was at 17K on Denali. It was blowing about 30 to 40 MPH earlier and it was about 20 below zero last night. Calm for most of the day, from noon onward. So I am sure they are getting in some good rest in their tents (even with the winds it can be pretty warm in the tents) and walking around in camp to get their blood moving.

That's pretty normal for this time of year. These guys are completely acclimated to the altitude and cold by now. Minus twenty Fahrenheit will feel just a little cold, with all of their gear on. Although, it was cold enough for Peter to at least note that it was their coldest night so far. It was lightly snowing off and on when I was talking to him.

AMS Guides Brent and Todd and the May 23rd Team are hoping to make a carry tomorrow to the top of the fixed lines. They did a back carry today to retrieve the rest of their kit at 13.5K. I got that update from Peter, so no new news directly from Brent or Todd. No new news is always good news, truly.

I know everyone out there tracking friends and family are keen to know everything that's going on up there. Keep in mind that it's pretty darn nice to just disconnect from us low landers for a short while. They are in their own little world up there. They call in occasionally, but they are in constant contact with guides and other climbers at various locations on the "hill".

The photo above is the view from 17,200' (high camp) looking at climbers climbing up the ridge, towards high camp. The climbers are at aprox. 16,800' in this picture.

Post by:
Rob
and a little bit from Caitlin

Coady 5/17 Foraker

We are all really happy about "Team Coady's" successful summit.  We received some awesome photos from TAT pilot Tyler.   These are of the team descending.

Gettin' Ready!

Guides Russell and Kirby help with gear checking.

Each member of the team will pack food for their lunches--that way we know they'll bring food they like.

Ice Screws....check

Guide Leighan gathers ice screws needed for some technical climbing on Mount Dan Beard

Guide Leighan talking gear with Kim

Leighan, Ben and Kim are headed out for a climb of Mount Dan Beard, located in the Ruth Amphitheater. Dan Beard is a 10,260-foot peak entirely encircled by the Ruth Glacier. It was named in 1910 for the founder of the Boy Scouts of America. Doggie, Rueben is staying behind.

The Smith Family and Guides are Jumping into their Expedition

Knolan, Joe, Greg, Dan, Roland, Justin and Anders practice their crevasse jumping skills before they head to the airport.

Denali, West Buttress 5/26: Holmgren & Denali Traverse 5/25: English

We just received a late night text from 11,000' camp.   AMS teams lead by Larry Homgren and Dustin English have arrived at 11,000' camp on Denali.

They traveled to camp today in whiteout conditions, following GPS coordinates to get to camp.  They reported that the post-holed (punching though the snow, even with snowshoes) along much of the route up today. Punchy snow means either warm temperatures or deep fresh snow up there, I'm sure they are looking forward to some clearing so the temps will drop and snow will stop for a while.  That sounds like a long day and lots of work.

Congrats to these hardworking teams.

AMS guide crew at 14,200' - last week

It was sunny on the mountain last week and here's the photo to prove it!

AMS guides Postle, Nadav and Passey (in this photo), and their Denali teams from 5/11 and 5/12 continue to wait for better weather in basecamp and are awaiting to return to Talkeetna.

Billy Haas, Mark Postle, Lisa Vansciver, Adam Fabrikant, Jeremiah Phelps, Pat Ormond,  Jenna Malone (NPS), Nadav Oakes, Todd Passey

AMS HQ Happenings

 Here's a sampling of activities on a sunny day at AMS HQ last week.

Sayre swooping in and planting flowers pots. Sayre is: family, AMS graphic designer, amazing chef and a total all around superstar, thanks for coming to help at AMS!

Gear checking!

A well organized equipment pile for gear check!

Guides repairing to the drying lines

Foraker: Sultana Ridge, Coady

The AMS Sultana Team led by guides Melis Coady and Josh Hoeschen texed in this afternoon:

" Sultana team doing well, last night we took shift digging out tent every two hours in teams of two.  Today we improved camp for less snow drifting.  All is well...we are ready to climb again."

Great photo taken from mt. hunter of the complete Sultana ridge climb.  They are established on the the " horizontal ridge" portion of the route.

D'Alessio's 5/20 at High Camp on Denali

AMS guides Alex Stroud and Nick D'Alessio just phoned in from the 17, 200 foot camp on Denali. They are enjoying dinner with the balmy temperature of 15F! That is quite warm for that elevation. Tomorrow they will make a summit attempt, weather permitting.

Panorama photo of high camp.

High camp taken from an airplane.

Denali, West Buttress: 5.26 Wagner

The 5/26 custom West Buttress Team lead by Forest Wagner texted in to us today via satellite phone.  They both report that all is well, it's a "little breezy" and they are cozy in their tents. 

Below are some photos of weather that is snowy and at least somewhat what our climbers are experiencing out there!

Foraker Summitted by AMS Team

Mission Impossible: Completed

We are really EXCITED to announce that Melis Coady's and Josh Hoeschen's team just summitted Mount Foraker.

Craig is quoted as saying, "I don't know where else to go...the altimeter says 17,400 feet"
(This was Craig's third attempt on Foraker.) The summit attempt took them about 11 hours.
The weather today is clear and calm.

Well done Nick, Mike Dan and Craig. They are now descending to their high camp for a well deserved rest.

It was great to see lots of people out enjoying great rock climbing conditions on Ben Nevis today. There were teams on Titan's Wall, Centurian, Bullroar, Castle Ridge, Tower Ridge and I went up Ledge Route with Sarah, Scott and James. Having been up Ben Nevis before by the Pony Track and CMD Arete they were ready for the next step and we got a cracking warm sunny day for it.

There is still a great depth of snow in the narrows of Number Five Gully which was soft enough for kicking steps into. Once on Ledge Route there is no snow at all until on the plateau, just lots of dry grippy rock. Despite a little loose rock this is a great route to go up Ben Nevis, cutting through the north face crags with quite straightforward scrambling. On the way we looked at how you can use a group to make it more secure fro everyone by moving together, hooking the rope around blocks and anchors as you go.

We wandered up to the summit and made the most of the day by going round the CMD Arete. With great visibility it was nice to see many other perspectives of Ledge Route as we went round. A top day and more sunshine forecast tomorrow.

AMS Team Denali Updates Today

AMS Guide Mark Postle with the May 27 Team phoned in from 11,000' today.  They moved into the 11,000' camp today from the camp at 7,800'.  He reported warm temperature on the Mountain.  The team did very well on the move and everyone is doing great. 

AMS Guide Nate Opp's May 25th Team is carrying to the Windy Corner area and are doing well.

AMS Guide Todd Tumolo's May 24th custom Taiwanese Team is also carrying to Windy Corner today.

Everyone AMS is doing well on Denali!

AMS Team Foraker going for it today.

AMS Guide Melis Coady checked in today.

It is a beautiful day again today, and they are making a bid for the summit today.  They are in for a lot of hard work today and they have the weather to take their time!

The view from the top of Mt. Foraker at 17,400' is a rare and fabulous view.  They are having a great day and everyone is excited to be making their way upwards. 

Holding Pattern

It's cold and windy all over the mountain right now. The report from 14K is, hanging out and waiting. None of the AMS crew are moving from 14 to 17 as they had all hoped to do today. -14 degrees f. last night at 14K.

Brian McCulough and Todd Passey's group went down toward the Corner to retrieve their cache. Lots of folks from around the 14 camp are going up the fixed lines and to high camp on the West Rib to pull food and fuel so they will have stocks to wait out another storm.
Video footage of a little wind, snow event a couple weeks ago. Probably pretty similar to what everyone is experiencing right now.

rob

Pat Ormond's Team

Weather depending, AMS Guide's Pat and Lisa and thier crew will be heading up to 14K today. They made a carry yesterday afternoon to 13.5K, around Windy Corner. It was super balmy (warm) yesterday. He said that his entire group was doing awesome!

First photo is a recent picture of 14,200 foot camp. I'm sure by now there are way more people in camp. In the back of the photo is "the edge of the world". Climbers usually go over there on a rest day. If the weather is clear they can see into the NorthEast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier. You can see a trail over there in this photo.
Pat Ormond with crazy glacier hair below.

Denali, West Buttress: Passey and Postle

AMS teams lead by Todd Passey and Mark Postle are in base camp.   They are awaiting the weather to fly back to Talkeetna.  The weather needs to be better and without icing conditions to safely fly in and out of the Alaska Range.

This weather system has a persistent presence, luckily it's not particularly tough on the climbers and the temperatures are mild.  So the teams are just in waiting mode at base camp, I'm sure there is quite a bit of socializing going on and teams are making the best of it.  If there is one thing we can not change it is the weather, the only thing we can change is our attitude toward it.  The AMS teams have extra food and fuel at base camp so they have plenty of supplies and they are all fine.

...Rumor has it that over 100 climbers are waiting to fly into Kahiltna base camp and I bet about 50 are waiting to fly out of base camp.  Luckily there are some excellent base camp mangers and air services that can get everyone in and out of the mountains efficiently, once the weather clears.

Kahiltna base camp on a very busy and partly cloudy day.

mass exodus

Photo of a little back log at the fixed lines.

I think 14K is about to become a ghost town! Mike Janes just called in and his crew is planning on heading up to 17K as well tomorrow, wx permitting. Sounds like Mike, Greg, Leighan, Greg, and Lhawang will all be moving up along with all their new best friends that they have been hanging with at 14K for the last several days.

I doubt that there are too many people in high camp right now. There are going to be a bunch of groups hoping to be able to move into already built walls up there. The move from 14 to 17 takes up to 10 hours. It is a very hard day and the first part of the move can be very cold. The sun hits 17K camp way before it hits 14. So everyone ends up eating and packing up and climbing the first hill out of camp in the shade. From here on up most everyone will be wearing their overboots and crampons.

A crew heading up and around Washburn's thumb on the 16 ridge.

I'll tell you right now, that judging by the amount of walls that I saw in the photos of high camp, I'd say quite a few folks are going to have to start from scratch. That's another 3-4 hours of work to tag on at the end of a long hard day. Denali is a blue collar mountain. It is hard work and there is a lot of tough jobs that need to be taken care of by all of the team members.

Brian, Todd, Alex, Ken and Carlos rolled in to 14K a few hours ago. They said it is cold! I asked how cold and Brian said "you know, the usual". They are hanging out in the shade for sure right now. It can be quite pleasant one minute and as soon as the sun goes behind the 16 ridge it gets COLD fast.

11K with the top of the Kahiltna Dome in the background.

Tork will be singling (Denali speak for single carrying) to 11K tomorrow.

That's all folks. Other than we have 3 more Denali Expeditions packing here in town and another 2 starting tomorrow along with another Mt. Huntington climb. There is about 15 guides kicking around here tonight.

Here's a picture of one of Pat and Elliot's sweet camps from their send of the Cassin.

rfg

Daily Update

AMS Guide Nick D'Alessio  with the 5/20 Denali WB checked in today.   The weather on the Mountain is great and the team is doing well.  They carried to 16K today,  and now they are back in camp at 14,200. They will take a rest day tomorrow, and weather permitting will move to the high camp 17,200' camp on Friday.

AMS Guide Melis Coady, leading our Foraker 5/17 expedition also called in.  Her team is happy and enjoying the climb and this great weather.  The horizontal ridge to the base of the Sultana is a climbing feat it itself with several interesting terrain challenges and this team is making the most of it.  The team is planning to moving to their high camp today and have hopes of making the summit in the next few days.

AMS team approaching Mt. Crosson

coming home

Talkeetna Air Taxi just picked up our gang who has been waiting for a pick up from base camp. Mark Postle is the only one we are missing at this point and he should be on his way back right now.

Tim Hewette called in from 9,600 feet a bit ago, he was actually hanging out with Torkelson. Tork is moving to 11K tomorrow.

Hewette was doing a carry and they are on their way back down Ski Hill now to camp. The camped about a mile prior to our normal camp. They travelled from Basecamp to camp in a total white out. Postle just said that the lower Kahiltna Glacier is very well wanded.

Lhawang from AMS Mountainlink called in a few minutes ago. Sounds like the weather is clearing up a bit. Lhawang's, Greg Collins's, Leighan's crews are planning on heading up tomorrow if the weather keeps improving.

Pat and Elliot are back in Base camp as well and in line to come out.

that's all i've heard today.

Mt. Foraker, Sultana Ridge: Coady

The Foraker team is hanging tough! they texted in tonight.

" Day 2 of storm,... we believe we are in for several more days of stormy conditions.  High winds but we are cozy in our tent and spirits are high. We still have lots of time to climb the Sultana Ridge.  Eight inch rime ice is building on equipment outside. "

There are some super cool photos and explanations of rime ice from Mt. Washinton here: http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-blogs/clarkb/rime-ice/14803

It is especially interesting to note that rime ice builds INTO the direction of the wind, not in the same direction as the wind is blowing, as one may think at first.  The Sultana Ridge is notorious for it's exposure to the weather, and this team is prepared for it.  The temps are not super cold, so they have that in thier favor, as well as plenty of supplies on hand.

Lenticular Clouds over Mt. Foraker, indicating very high winds. Photo taken from 14,200' on the Wet Buttress. Copyright: Brian Okonek

Denali, West Buttress: 5/11- Passey and 5/12 - Postle

AMS teams lead by Mark Postle and Todd Passey are heading back to base camp.  After many days awaiting the weather to clear up in order to reasonably climb to high camp, storms on Denali continue to be uncooperative.

What a crazy season it has been so far.  The spring in Alaska was unusually warm and sunny yet with persistent strong winds, causing stout icy climbing conditions in early and mid May.  Currently, snowstorms are adding to the mix.  From what we hear,  there are very few climbers at high camp and no climbers moving higher from 14,200' currently.

Hopefully the high pressure over the Bering Sea will make it's way to to Alaska soon.

Here's a link to the Noaa Weather site: http://pafc.arh.noaa.gov/tvwx.php?img=tomorrow

AMS building camp in a storm

And the storm is still coming in, this shows you how fast the weather can move in, and how visibility is effected by it.

I'll bet the teams on their way down have experienced a day or two like this. They sure have earned their chops!

Denali Traverse, 5/25: English, and West Buttress Teams: 5/25 AG/AMS Japanese Team: Stroud, 5/26:Wagner, 5/26 Holmgren

AMS Guide Alex Stroud leading the AG / AMS Japanese team phoned in today.  They are at the  first camp at 7,800' on the Kahiltna Glacier.   It is snowing and warm there and all is well.  He reports there is no wind at the 7,800' camp.  Today the carried some of their extra food, fuel and equipment higher on the glacier to 9,800'.  They might make a move upward tomorrow or may rest in camp and move on Friday depending on how everyone feels after the trip to higher elevations today.

AMS guide Forest Wagner's custom team also carried higher today and is well.

The May 26 team lead by Holmgren and the May 25 Traverse team lead by Engish are also at the 7,800' camp. Alex believes that they rested in camp today and will make their carries higher tomorrow. He reoports atha ll are doing well!

All AMS teams at 7,800' are well and enjoying a rest after the big move out of base camp and out onto the glacier.

This is the terrain they are travel ling though on the Kahiltna Glacier, this is a previous AMS team is traveling in pretty good weather, but you can see the visibility isn't great.  The teams up there now have less visibility then in this photo.

An AMS team taking a rest break at about 8,000'.  If it were clear today, this would be their view down the Kahiltna Glacier.

Denali Update

Guides Todd Tumolo, Dusty Eroh and Team Taiwan checked in from the 11,000 foot camp. They say the weather is great. Tomorrow they will do a back carry to 9,600 feet.

Todd said that Nate Opp's 5/25 team is also at 11,000 camp.

Meanwhile, just a little lower on the mountain, AMS guide Mark Postle's 5/27 team is already at the base of ski hill at the 7,900 foot camp. They flew in yesterday evening, set up camp, caught a little sleep and probably set off down glacier sometime in the wee hours this morning. Now that the weather has warmed up people will travel during the night as the conditions on the glacier are better. Keep in mind we have about 21 hours of daylight now. The temperature at 7,200 foot base camp is 35 degrees F today!

Kahiltna base camp is at 7,200 feet but you descend about 500 feet to the main Kahiltna then ascend to your first camp; 7,900 foot camp. The distance is only five miles but it is done in a single carry. Meaning you carry everything with you in one go; pulling a sled and wearing a backpack. After this camp teams will do 'carries' of their gear. They will carry some of the gear to a higher elevation then descend to the lower camp to sleep. The following day they take the rest of the gear up and make camp at a higher elevation. This also allows climbers to acclimate to the elevation.

Here are some prior year photos from 7,000 to 11,000 feet.

Building camp at 11K

What the teams have to look forward to...11K camp is below. This is called Motorcycle Hill.

Teams resting along the main route near 7900 feet

Teams ascending to the 11K camp.

Snow walls around tents at the 11K camp.

Busy Bee Hive

AMS Guides Nate Opp, Larry Holmgren, Brian Skean, with climbers Ken & Dan are all now back in Talkeetna, trying to avoid sunburn. It's 70 degrees F in the shade!

While they unload and sort dirty laundry, AMS Guides Kirby Senden and Russell Hunter are preparing for their May 31 West Buttress Expedition. They will have a team of 4 climbers. Lead AMS guide Greg Collins has a West Buttress team that launches on May 30, so the guides are deeply into packing mode today.

AMS Guides Brent Langlinais and Todd Tumolo, with climbers Chad, Ed, Jason, Tary and John called in just as I was writing. Today they carried to 13,500 feet, going back down to 11,000 feet to sleep. They report that "everything is going perfect and everyone is doing well". They plan to move to 14,200 feet tomorrow.

The weather is great today.

~Blogger Julia

Ping Pong Ball

This is a photo looking down the S.E. Fork of the Kahiltna toward the main kahiltna glacier. Cloud level is about 8,000 feet. This is probably pretty similar to the conditions Tim is traveling in now. White out above them, but not so bad where they are, but too much cloud for planes to fly in.

Ever wonder what it's like to be stuck inside of a ping pong ball? That is the best description I can give you so you can understand what is going on in the mountains right now.

It's still a white out all over the mountain as far as I know. I just talked to Leighan a few minutes ago,. She said she is glad they didn't head up to high camp! When ever you have nasty weather at 14K you can usually plan on it being much worse at high camp.

I believe this photo was sent out via a satellite phone connection from base camp from one of our climbers up on the mountain, it was from Mike Jane's group.

Mark Postle is still stuck at base camp and will be until the weather improves enough for the airtaxis. Keep your eye on the webcam link off to the right for a real time look at the weather.

I'm sure there are lots of climbers gathered up at Base Camp waiting to fly out as well as lots of climbers all over the mountain waiting for the weather to clear up a bit to travel down the mountain.

photo of some climbers taking a rest break on ski hill with 7,800 foot camp in the back ground.

Tim Hewette has left base camp headed toward the camp at the bottom of ski hill.

That's all for now.

rob

May and June are fantastic months to be going up Ben Nevis. Long daylight hours, snow on the summit and often good weather mean it is about the best time to experience the highest peak in the UK. There are many reasons to climb Ben Nevis and, since it is such a big challenge, many people like to take the opportunity to raise money for a valuable cause. Nyree and her small team did just this on Saturday with the help of our guide Connor. They all showed great determination on a day with heavy rain and hail showers and they all made it up and back down safely. Well done to them all and please make a contribution to support research into cancer treatments here

Abacus Mountain Guides also assisted a bigger group from the Lease of Life Cancer Support There were about 30 of these guys raising money to help young people with cancer through their treatment. Well done to all of you.