Mt. McKinley: Upper West Rib Team Flies onto the Mountain
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Sunday, May 31st 11:17 a.m. PDT
The Upper West Rib team covered some serious mileage today. We had a casual morning in Talkeetna with a big Roadhouse breakfast and then strolled to the hangar to put the final touches on our packing and preparations before flying into the range. With such warm temperatures (Talkeetna was as warm as 77 degrees) we pushed our fly time back to the afternoon to accommodate our night schedule on the lower Kahiltna Glacier. We loaded our DH Otter at 3:00 PM and shortly thereafter were flying. The flight into the Great Alaska Range is one of the most spectacular mountain flights I have ever experienced. As our small plane maneuvered through the peaks and up the the glaciers, everyone's eyes were glued to the windows. After landing at base camp we began rigging our sleds and getting ready to move. With such good weather we wanted to take advantage of the cooler temperatures in the evening for our move to 7,800' camp. We left BC just after 8:00 PM and soon found ourselves walking past beautiful peaks like Mt Francis, Foraker, and Crossen. Despite the heavy packs and sleds, the team moved very well . We arrived just before 1:00 AM and set camp, had some dinner and racked out. Everyone is climbing very well and excited to have the expedition underway. That's all for now.
Thanks for following along with us as we make our first steps toward Denali.
RMI Guide Geoff Schellens
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Comments (3)
Have a great climb
Posted by: Marilyn Frank on
Best wishes for an outstanding trip!
Posted by: Leia Simmons on
Have a great climb everyone! Wishing you fair skies.
Posted by: Derek Freeman on