Mount Hunter, Nate Opp

AMS Guide Nate Opp and his entire Mt. Hunter crew are back in their high camp safe and sound and probably quite tired after a "20-something hour" SUMMIT day.  They are resting today and are going to start heading down the route tomorrow, which will take 2 to 3 days.  We will keep you posted.

Nate said the temps were warm and the snow conditions were perfect.  They stopped for awhile last night and hung out and rested while they waited for it to get a little lighter out.

The terrain was such that they didn't need to do any rappelling or ascend and fixed lines or anything like that, but it was just tricky enough that they wanted to have full light for some of it.

This time of year in the AK range it's still getting a little bit dark.  We still aren't really needing head torches on the mountain and it's getting lighter and lighter every day.  Pretty soon, you'll be able to read a book in your tent with out a light on at any hour of the night.

I've been calling around a bit this morning trying to find out the history of guided ascents on Mount Hunter.  When we hear, we'll try to let you know.

AMS successfully guided the West Ridge of Mt. Hunter in 2009.  That expedition was guided by AMS lead guide Greg Collins and Brian Skean.  At that time we were told by several of the old schoolers that, if it had been guided successfully it was a very long time ago.

Congrats to everyone on this Mount Hunter Expedition.  Once again, you just did what very few people have done.

Here's an example of some of the terrain on Mt. Hunter that Opp's team was waiting for more light to tackle.