Denali Expedition: Bond & Team Retrieve Gear from Kahiltna Pass
Posted by: Andy Bond, Grayson Swingle, Ben Luedtke
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 11,200'
Tuesday, June 21, 2022 - 8:49 pm PT
The weather couldn’t make up its mind today- it was cold, it was hot, it was sunny, it was cloudy, it was clear, it was snowy, it was windy, and it was still. It literally couldn’t make up its mind from minute to minute. This of course necessitated putting on and taking off layers, putting on sunscreen, and opening and closing the vestibules. Our heads are still spinning.
Today was what we called a reverse carry day which means we headed down hill to retrieve our cache from 10,000' and hoofed it back up the hill to camp. Andy called this a rest day. His idea of a rest day is a little demented in my opinion. On the Appalachian trail, we would have called this a Nero day (translation- nearly a zero day).
We also prepped for tomorrow by deciding what we are going to carry up to 14,000' Camp for caching. The strategy is to split our load so no one day is heavier than the other.
Camp life today involved consuming large volumes of food while we still have an appetite which also means we don’t have to carry it. Many of us are finding out that we packed way too much food and are excited when anybody is willing to eat some of it. We also tossed around some deep questions like -if you could go back in any period of history when would it be? My answer was the future, specifically the day we summit this massive mountain. You may have also heard that one member of our team is carrying a hula hoop up the mountain. After a little research project from our followers, we learned that if our team member is successful in hula hooping for 30 seconds on the summit, they will break the record for the highest hula hooping. The current record is on Kilimanjaro at 19,300'. Stayed tuned.
RMI Climber Mary-Beth
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Comments (3)
David & Mary Marker you two continue to become some of my favorite humans after that research (no surprise since you are the reason why one of my absolute favorite human’s exists).
Steve - of course YOU would take something that could lead to you breaking a world record (which I’m certain you’ll succeed at doing). So go get that summit then celebrate with your hula hoop and then continue onto goal #1. :)
Posted by: Melanee Strootman on
Keep it rolling Hydeco!
Posted by: Clyde on
Found an article https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/manitoba-lawyer-hula-hoops-on-mountaintop-to-help-poor-break-world-record-1.3357648#:~:text=CBC%20News%20Loaded-,Manitoba%20lawyer%20hula%20hoops%20on%20mountaintop%20to%20help%20poor%2C%20break,on%20Mount%20Kilimanjaro%20in%202010. about a Canadian group in 2015 that broke the Kilimanjaro record on Mt. Chacani in Peru. But that mountain is 19,872’. So Denali would indeed break that record too. Go Steven!
Posted by: David and Mary Marker on