Minggu, 03 Mei 2015

Mountaineering Course Update

The weather today has been a mix of rain and snow.  Things have been really busy here at AMS.  Guides Leighan Falley, Wes Bunch and Robert Wing spent the day preparing for a Denali West Buttress to launch in a few days.

We have both a 6 Day and 12 Mountaineering Courses out in the field.  The weather has prevented the air taxis from flying.  The instructors Alex Strout (MTC12) and Dustin English (MTC6) checked in earlier today and every thing is good.  They are enjoying an extra day in the field.

We have also welcomed our interns this week.  Rebekah and Jake arrived on Friday and immediately went to work.  We are happy they are here helping out!

 Jake checking tents

Rebekah

AMS- Expedition and Course Availability

We have a few additional DenaliForaker and mountaineering course  positions positions still open.  If you have previous experience, we invite you to apply for one of our 2014 Alaska Range big mountain expeditions.  Join AMS to climb to the top of North America.  Please contact us with any questions and for more information.
 

Denali West Buttress, 21 days, 6 climbers, 2-3 guides, $7,000
May 9 - May 29, 1 climber positions available, Guide: Tom Torkelson
May 11 - May 31, 2 climber positions available, NEW: special small person team: 4 climbers, 2 guides, $9,500 USD, Guide: Todd Passey
June 24 -July 14, 3 climber positions available, NEW expedition date! Guide:Josh Hoeschen

Foraker, Sultana Ridge, 21 days, 4 climbers, 2 guides, $8200
May 17 - June 6, 2 climber position availableGuide: Melis Coady



Mountaineering Course- 6 Day
May 13th- May 18th, 5 participant positions available, Instructor: Nick D'Alessio
June 18th- June 23rd, 8 participant positions available, Instructor: 
Mountaineering Course- 12 Day
May 6th- May 17th, 3 participant positions available, Instructor: Alex Stroud
July 8th- July 19th, 7 participant positions available, Instructor: 
Mountaineering Course-15 Day
June 18th- June 23rd, 8 participant positions available, Instructor: 





12 Day Mountaineering Course- English & 6 Day Mountaineering Course- Stroud: Return!

AMS guides Dustin English, Adam Fabrikant, and Alex Stroud return to AMS headquarters today and yesterday with smiles, glacier tans, and brains full of great mountaineering skills knowledge. The 12-day group really melded together throughout the time as they moved around quite a bit on the Pika glacier, up close and personal to the Alaska Range beauty. It is hot in town and hot on the glacier, but everyone stayed well protected and are excited to go try out their new skills!

AMS 12 Day Mountaineering Course student led unnamed peak ascent.

AMS- 12 day Mountaineering Course enjoying a team meal together in the Pika.

Where's AMS crew? Find the 12 day campsite in the shadow. Fly over picture of the Pika.

AMS 12 day course- English back safe and ready to go out for a celebratory meal.
Left to Right: Daryl, Lori, Daniel, Peter, Dustin, Adam, and Megan. 






Lots of updates.

I got a spot message from Steve Brown who is on Melis and Joey's expedition. At some point today they were at 14K according to the SPOT. That either means that they did a front carry all the way to 14K and are heading back to 11K now or that they moved to 14K and carried yesterday. Usually we do not carry all the way to 14K, but with a really strong crew that could have happened. Like I said earlier, all of the climbers in the group have their own personal Satellite phones and I don't think they are going to waste their time on calling me. I'll try to put some photos of places they have been recently for the friends of theirs who may be checking the blog. Above is a picture of some climbers travelling around Windy Corner. Only one climber in this photo even has a sled. Not everyone carries a sled above 11K. The terrain gets steeper and trickier to the point where if you do bring a sled it needs to be lightweight and very low profile, as seen in this picture.

Seth Hobby just called in a bit ago from the true summit of the Moose's Tooth. They climbed the Ham 'n' Eggs route in just over 9 hours. He said the route was in great shape, the climbing was good and Michael had a great day. Seth said it was as good a day as you could ever have in there and that there was not a breath of wind. They were going to eat and drink a little and start rapping, like the person in the above photo. This was taken last year or the year before on another of our expeditions on the Moose's Tooth. Wx permitting they are planning on flying back to Talkeetna tomorrow.

Greg Collins also called in today on the advanced Mountaineering course. They climbed Radio Tower Peak on their first day of the course and they are planning on heading out of Base Camp tomorrow toward the East fork of the Kahiltna Glacier. Radio tower peak is located just East and North of Base camp for Denali. That is a cool forst objective of this course. they would have had to do a little bit of route finding to navigate around some crevasses and a minor icefall just to get to the base of the route, then a bit of steep snow climbing and some corniced ridge climbing.

This is one of the views that they get from the top of Radio Tower Peak. These two photos were taken by Dan Corn on the April 12 day Mountaineering Course.











Mike Janes, Chris Wright and the rest of the May 3rd Denali Expedition just flew into the mountains this afternoon. They were all super stoked and ready to work hard. They all looked really fit and had really good attitudes about the whole experience. We'll keep you posted when we know more.

later.

Denali, Upper West Rib - 5/5, Tumolo

AMS guides, Todd Tumolo and Dustin Horton departed yesterday with participants Brent and Dave with the goal of the Upper West Rib on Denali. They flew into base camp on the Kahiltna glacier at 7,200' and will follow the West Buttress route up to 14,200'. At this point they will traverse to the West Rib route. Everyone left AMS headquarters with plenty of sunscreen and excited to be getting out into the Alaska Range.


AMS van getting packed up for heading out into the Alaska Range



AMS Guides Todd and Dustin with participants Dave and Brent


Ruth Glacier, Hoeschen

AMS guide, Josh Hoeschen departed yesterday on a bluebird day in Talkeetna with participants Alex and Steve. They have goals of routes on London Tower, Barrill, Moose's Tooth in the Ruth Glacier area. These routes provide a variety of mixed climbing: snow, ice, and rock. We will be looking forward to updates on the conditions they find. As it is hitting an unusual high of 67 here in town today, they should be nice and warm during the day. Steve and Alex departed with the local flight service late afternoon excited and in good hands with Josh as their guide.

AMS guide: Josh Hoeschen having fun with participants: Alex and Steve...amped!



Sabtu, 02 Mei 2015

Expedition Avaialiblity Update



We are cranking along along at AMS! 

Below is the updated availability of AMS Denali, West Buttress 2013 expeditions.

All below climbs will have 6 climbers: 2-3 guides, $6800, 21 days

May 10 - May 30    FULL
May 20 - June 9     FULL
May 25 - June 14    2 spaces available
May 27 - June 16    FULL
June 3 - June 23      FULL
June 10 - June 30    FULL
June 14 - July 4       2 spaces available
June 17 - July 7       FULL available
June 23 - July 13     6 spaces available
June 27 - July 17     FULL