Tejas

Hear Vern's Call from Denali

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Already, in just a little bit of clearness, and we can see lots of activity on the mountain. Seventy different people have moved up from 14,000 heading for either 16,000 or right here at 17.2. New groups are moving in, building snow walls, setting up their tents. We've got a little bit of an advantage in the fact that we've now had three or four days of acclimatization at 17.2. So we're going to take off bright and early in the morning if everything holds. We hear there is a high-pressure system coming in and, if it does, that generally means clear skies for awhile. And that'll give us the shot that we're looking for.

From where I am standing right now, I can look across the south side of Denali and I can see the Messner Couloir, which is a very large basin that shoots up at about a 45 to 50 degree angle up the face, the southwest face, of the mountain. And two climbers have just took steps from 14,000 up to about 18,000. We've been watching them for the last couple hours and they're moving towards the summit. Looks like they're starting to slow down though at that altitude. They've put in a real good hit already, but at that altitude I am sure they're starting to feel the—the fatigue that's starting to set in. A couple Russian climbers went up a route that very rarely gets climbed, known as Fantasy Ridge, and they should be hitting the football field at 19,500ft here fairly soon.

So, there's a lot of activity, people are getting psyched. Our people, of course, have had a wonderful day of gourmet-type food consisting of more oatmeal than even a horse could eat. And then we followed that by working on stabilizing the kitchen tent in which I've been sleeping for the last three or four days during the storm. Not exactly what I'd call secure, but at the same time there's no home like the dome home.

Anyway, this morning, after we had breakfast, looking at another day of no books to read because they've all been read and no more walls to build because the wind was starting to die, we opted for foot massages all-the-way-around. This was quite a change of pace and one that we all embraced and enjoyed quite readily here on the mountain.

So, as I look over my other shoulder, I see more mountaineers coming into camp nearby and I actually see the blueness heading out to the west, off over towards Russia. So, we're looking good. We just hope that the weather going to hold for another 36 hours and give us time to at least attain a high point on this mountain and then we're heading out of here.

Bye-bye for now.

— Alpine Ascents Guide Vern Tejas, MountainZone.com Correspondent

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