Summit Photos

Photo taken as these three were arriving on the summit. I can only presume it is Greg Runyan with 2 climbers. Be sure to click the photo to enlarge it. Note the orange ropes. AMS climbs with Orange ropes. I'm kind of amazed I was able to get this photo of them on the actual summit. We were flying by at well over 200 mph.

Greg is about one shadow length from the actual summit. Melis is just out of view further down on the summit ridge. She and her crew were at the top of Pig Hill when we finally split to come back to town.

I'm pretty sure they left camp close to noon, which put this first group on the summit in about 8 hours. That is a perfectly good time. They have the4 upper mountain to themselves right now. They are the only two rope teams up there. That is freacking awesome!

As you can see there is not a cloud in the sky to worry about. Tonight is one of the nicest nights I have ever seen. Check out the West Ridge of Hunter in this photo. This is a good profile of the route that greg and Brian just guided. Melis, Greg, Pat and Elliot are soooo lucky today and tonight! The pilot did say that it was -21 degrees at 21,000 feet. In the first photo though I can see Greg with his Green AMS Patagonia vest on, so I think they're doing alright. He didn't even have his puffy pants or jacket on.



We flew over Huntington, where Greg is right now. They bumped over to the Tok tonight. They are planning on jumping on the route tomorrow, bivying in the cave at the top of the couloir and summitting the following day. Huntington looks to be in really good condition right now. I saw a bunch of blue ice on the summit slopes, which is a good sign.
This second photo shows the French Ridge with more of a side profile of the West Face, which they will be climbing tomorrow. I see no reason to believe that the weather will be any different tomorrow.









Here's a few other random photos from tonight. I took quite a few, so I'll try to post some more soon.
Top photo, the summit ridge from an angle seldom seen.
Second photo, summit of denali with arch deacon tower to the right casting a shadow and the third photo, Greg and 2 on their way to the zenith.