Denali Expedition: Hahn and Team Move to 11K Camp
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Dominic Cifelli, Seth Burns, Tatum Whatford
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Denali
Elevation: 11,200'
Thursday, June 23, 2022 9:41 pm PDT
We made the big move from 8,000 to 11,000 ft today. This was on mostly familiar terrain for us, of course. But the unfamiliar parts brought us into a whole new world. We set out at 5:30 AM from the base of Ski Hill in perfect conditions for mountain climbing. It was cool, shady and calm and the snow surface was frozen up nicely. We cruised right on past our food and fuel cache from yesterday and reached the head of the 46-mile long Kahiltna Glacier. What remained was a little steeper terrain on a feeder glacier, but we managed that hard work without any trouble and pulled into camp at 11 AM. Things had clouded up a little, which was a good thing, keeping the sun off us as we did the hard pull into camp. It was nice to be greeted by Andy Bond and his RMI team, enjoying their rest day at 11K. We set into the hard work of building a new camp at a new elevation. The clouds began to fade, and we were stunned at the beauty of our surroundings. Whereas the scenery from within the valleys has been great, now that we are getting up a little, we can start to see out. The glacial ice surrounding us is endlessly fascinating with giant walls and towers pitched at impossible angles. We napped away the intense sun that came with the afternoon. Dinner in a new camp with a new view was excellent.
Tomorrow we’ll go back down for our supplies.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team
