May 6th

Here's a couple shots from our last Moose's Tooth climb. Kevin Mahoney is all packed up and scheduled to fly in tomorrow to climb Ham and Eggs in the afternoon with Dale and his son Benjamin.


















According to Steve Brown's SPOT, Melis and Joey's team made a carry to the 16 ridge today. Now, most likely, they will take a rest day tomorrow and then start looking for a weather window to move up to high camp in. The picture below was taken on the 16 ridge, this section of the route is considered by many to be the prettiest and most spectacular part of the West Buttress.

Mike Janes called in today from 9,800 feet. They were taking a break on their way to 10,500 feet where they were putting in a cache of food, fuel, and extra belongings that they do not need on the lowest parts of the mountain. They had snowy weather yesterday and ended up breaking trail today. Trail breaking is more difficult, but generally only for the first few climbers on the rope team, unless the wind is cranking, then the trail is filled back in by the time the 2nd, 3rd, 4th climbers come along and so on and so forth.

Assuming the weather is good tomorrow they plan on moving up to 11K camp. It's nice to get past the 10,000 foot basin and established at 11K, as that section of the route can harbor bad weather, often while the rest of the mountain is bluebird. Sounds weird, I know, but it's true.

rg