A Season on Denali
Dispatch Index
14,000' - Thursday, July 10, 2002
Team 11: ...So if the weather cooperates we'll be able to fly out tomorrow morning...
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Summit - Wednesday, July 10, 2002
Team 11: ...The team made the summit and called in to say hi before they head back to high camp...
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17,200' - Tuesday, July 9, 2002
Team 11: ...The Good, the Bad, the Ugly has made it to high camp, and will attempt the summit tomorrow in good conditions, according to the forecast...
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14,200' - Sunday, July 7, 2002
Team 11: ...Eric Larson reports that team 11 hopes to move to high camp tomorrow, leaving a 3 day window for a summit attempt...
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14,200' - Sunday, July 7, 2002
Team 10: ...After 11 days at 14,200' camp, Matt Szundy reports that conditions will just not permit a summit attempt for team Da Fine Dieter. They're headed back down to Base Camp...
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14,200' - Saturday, July 6, 2002
Team 10: ...we are enjoying some beautiful views here from the edge of the world, looking down on the valley of death and the riblet and the lower west rib...
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14,200' - Friday, July 5, 2002
Team 11: ...The weather forecast does not look promising. Looks like more of the same, high winds and lots of snow...
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14,200' - Friday, July 5, 2002
Team 10: ...We had probably about 60-80 mph winds, that's right, 60-80 mph winds, consistent winds, not just gusts. And we had to build up our walls in those conditions....
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14,200' - Thursday, July 4, 2002
Team 10: ...We are still pinned down at 14,2 with one of the most amazing storms I have ever seen on this mountain...winds today up above 17,2 have exceeded 130 miles an hour...
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14,200' - Wednesday, July 2, 2002
Team 11: ...Not much fun at 14,2 right now, according to Dave Bangert. "Everybody's doing well, spirits are high, we haven't killed each other yet, so we're doin' alright"...
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14,200' - Tuesday, July 2, 2002
Team 10: ...I'm calling to report in that we had a foot of new snow and winds up to 57 miles per hour this morning. So we are engaged in a full-on Denali storm at this point...
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14,200' - Monday, July 1, 2002
Team 11: ...we did a carry up to 16,2, up the fixed lines, and it went pretty well, except it dumped about 6 inches of fresh snow at 14 camp here. The forecast is saying another 6-12 for tonight and another 6-12 for tomorrow. Tomorrow, we're going to be doing a rest day...
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14,200' - Monday, July 1, 2002
Team 9: ...we will be moving down to 7,800' on our way to Kahiltna Base Camp. So we expect to be there tomorrow, sometime around 8am or 9am, and then if the weather bodes well, we're going to fly out of here as soon as possible...
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14,200' - Monday, July 1, 2002
Team 10: ...we are getting slammed by a whole lot of snow here at 14,2 and the forecast, the outlook is not very good, but so it goes for Mount McKinley. You gotta suck it up and deal with it...
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7,000' - Sunday, June 30, 2002
Team 8: ...The Dalai Lamas are safely back at Base Camp and pondering epicurean delights, according to Vern Tejas...
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14,000' - Sunday, June 30, 2002
Team 9: ...Team vegeMIGHT is doing fine, and preparing to head down to the airstrip. They expect to be there by Tuesday afternoon...
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14,200' - Sunday, June 30, 2002
Team 10: ...Everyone's feeling really strong, and it's kind of hard to keep them from wanting to move to high camp at this point...
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14,200' - Sunday, June 30, 2002
Team 11: ...Lots of little things, practice on the ropes, back carries, and tasty Thai peanut sauce...
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17,200' - Sunday, June 30, 2002
Team 9: ...Matt Walker reports that the team is safely back at 17,200', but with the weather changing the trip to 14,200' may take a little while...
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14,200' - Saturday, June 29, 2002
Team 11: ...Tomorrow we're going to go back to 13,5 and pick up the rest of our food and fuel, and then practice on the fixed line. And we'll be watching the weather and hopefully have a summit attempt here within 5 days...
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Denali Summit - Saturday, June 27, 2002
Team 9: ...Team vegeMIGHT has become team vegeDID. Here's their dispatch from the summit....
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Denali Summit - Friday, June 28, 2002
Team 10: ...Things are going great, we moved up to 14,000' camp yesterday. Everyone is feeling very strong and doing very well...
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17,200' - Saturday, June 27, 2002
Team 9: ...We've awoken to a perfect day...and we're making our last preparations to head up on a summit bid...
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Denali Summit - Friday, June 28, 2002
Team 8: ...It's a summit call, full of celebration, poetry and song, the way only Vern Tejas can do it....
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14,200' - Thursday, June 27, 2002
Team 9: ...Today team vegeMIGHT has made it safely up to Camp IV and are contemplating their summit options....
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14,200' - Friday, June 28, 2002
Team 11: ...Despite a very difficult transmission, we can detect progress, a solid carry up to 14,200' today. ....
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14,200' - Thursday, June 27, 2002
Team 9: ...Today team vegeMIGHT are heading up to Camp IV at 17,000'. The winds have reduced enough to allow to make this a feasible option. The upper mountain from 18,000 to the summit is still getting buffeted by very strong winds. ....
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Kahiltna Pass, 10,000' - Thursday, June 27, 2002
Team 11: ...We're going to be doing a carry to 13,5 tomorrow. Right now we're at Kahiltna Pass at 10,000', picking up our cache. We're going to be chillin' out at 11,2 today, a bit of a rest day, get everybody's fuel tanks tanked up and ready to go....
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17,200' - Wednesday, June 26, 2002
Team 8: ...So we're dug in right now, behind walls that are 5, 6 feet high made out of snowblock that we've been working on to make sure that we don't get blown away. So we're resting and we're waiting, hoping that the weather is soon going to calm down....
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10,000' - Wednesday, June 26, 2002
Team 10: ...Matt Szundy calls in with news of an incredible summit by a team of Russian paraplegic climbers and explains how team 10 came up with their moniker...
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14,200' - Wednesday, June 26, 2002
Team 9: ...Team vegeMIGHT had a false start this morning, as high winds on the upper mountain cancelled their move up to camp 17,200...
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14,200' - Tuesday, June 25, 2002
Team 9: ...Team vegeMIGHT has time for reflection and personal messages to family members on an easy day, reports Mike Roberts...
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17,200' - Tuesday, June 25, 2002
Team 7: ...Forrest McCarthy reports that 3 of the Magnificent 7 made the summit, and are back safely at 17,200'...
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11,200' - Tuesday, June 25, 2002
Team 10: ...Great group, funny name: Team Da Fine Dieter moving up to Camp 11 and doing fine, reports Eric Remza...
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9,800' - Tuesday, June 25, 2002
Team 11: ...everybody's doing really well: strong, solid, consistent, which is what you need up here...
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14,200' - Monday, June 24, 2002
Team 8: ...John Colber reports that the team is has gear cached at 16,000' and is preparing to move up to Camp V and their summit push...
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Camp III, 14,200' - Monday, June 24, 2002
Team 9: ... we climbed 45 degree ice for about 800 vertical feet, a section which ends on an exposed ridge...
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Camp I, 9,800' - Monday, June 24, 2002
Team 10: ...Matt Szundy calls home from 9,800': we're having a blast in a complete whiteout up here...we haven't seen anybody at all in our last two days of traveling...
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Talkeetna Airstrip - Sunday, June 23, 2002
Team 11: ...Eric Larson reports in as he and Dave Bangert wait for the plane to take them up on to the glacier with the last AAI team of the season...
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17,200 - Sunday, June 22, 2002
Team 7: ...Forrest McCarthy reports in from the Magnificent 7. They're basking in great weather at 17,200' and hoping to head for the summit tomorrow...
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14,200 - Saturday, June 22, 2002
Team 9: ...the final section to 14,200 contours a glacier of spectacular crevasses and seracs, that is reminiscent of a frozen ocean. On our arrival at Camp III, we were in low visibility and increasing wind. The light snow was being blown around, it seemed, in all different directions....
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14,200 - Saturday, June 22, 2002
Team 8: ...we were coming into camp here and we ended up trying to pitch our tents in with raging winds and whiteout conditions, snow flying everywhere. However, the team pulled together quite nicely and within three hours we were underground...
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14,000 - Friday, June 21, 2002
Team 7: ...we did go out for a hike today...and we're hoping tomorrow we'll be able to move up...
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14,000 - Thursday, June 20, 2002
Team 7: ...we've probably gotten about 3' of fresh snow in the last 48 hours. Report has it up at 17,200 they got even more, there's about 5' of fresh snow up at the camp at 17,200...
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Windy at Windy Corner
13,500 - Thursday, June 20, 2002
Team 8: ...It's very windy today, it's living up to its namesake...We've got most of our clothes on today, and we're carrying sleds with food and fuel around the corner...
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Valley of Death
14,000 - Tuesday, June 18, 2002
Team 7: ...we're perched on a rocky outcrop looking down thousands of feet below to the Valley of Death named for the crevasses and the hanging glaciers that loom above it....
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Above the Smoke
11,200 - Tuesday, June 18, 2002
Team 8: We have now moved our campsite 11,200 feet above sea level, on the west Buttress. And talk about the views, we finally got above the smoke. There's a huge forest fire to the northwest...
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Threatening Cloud or Smoke?
Kahiltna Pass - Tuesday, June 18, 2002
Team 9: Forest fires north of here are definitely having an effect on the weather...it's kind of hard to tell what's a threatening cloud and what's just a bunch of smoke coming over.
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A Dastardly Escape
9,500 Feet - Monday, June 17, 2002
Team 8: So tomorrow we are planning a dastardly escape up to camp 3 at 11,000 feet and hopefully we'll avoid getting trapped...between Mount Foraker and Mount McKinley...
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Wonderful Weather at Camp 14
14,000 Feet - Monday, June 17, 2002
Team 7: We did our carry today up to 16,200 feet on top of the fixed line and then we're hoping in the next couple days to take advantage of this good weather and move up...
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Single Push from 17
Talkeetna - Monday, June 17, 2002
Team 6: ...we got off the mountain yesterday after a very long descent from 17 in one push with a single stop at 11,000 feet for a quick brew...
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Fire on the Horizon
10,700 Feet - Monday, June 17, 2002
Team 9: One of the notable things about Denali is we do have a lot of smoke on the horizon as the forest fires have started up....
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Magnificent Seven Minus One
11,000 Feet - Saturday, June 15, 2002
Team 7: She decided this wasn't the year for her, but her spirit is still with us so we're going to stay as the Magnificent Seven...
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Around Windy Corner
11,000 Feet - Friday, June 14, 2002
Team 7: ...we carried up around Windy Corner which was windy, but not too bad.... A little bit of hard work; everybody's feeling the altitude a little bit...
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Long Time Coming
Summit - Thursday, June 13, 2002
Team 5: ...we did in fact summit today. This is a long time in coming. We had been up at 17, or 17,200-foot camp, for several days with a weather forecast that looked downright non-promising...
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Everybody Made It
Summit - Thursday, June 13, 2002
Team 6: We're all on the summit together; we had a beautiful climb. I've never seen it so clear in my life up here...
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Top of North America
Summit - Thursday, June 13, 2002
Team 5: Howdy folks, this is Dave Bangert with team Das Boots. We are on the summit of North America...
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Balmy at 19,300 Feet
19,300 Feet - Thursday, June 13, 2002
Team 5: Our next little scheduled break will be at the Football Field, then we'll hit Pig Hill, then we traverse the summit ridge and summit...
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Steep and Deep
11,000 Feet - Thursday, June 13, 2002
Team 7: We made it up to camp 11 yesterday, it was kind of a big day, real steep, but at least snow was deep.
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Forced to Descend
14,200 Feet - Wednesday, June 12, 2002
Team 4: After a horrendous period of weather, Alp 4 team, the Dozy Bonkers, is forced to descend and will be making its way down to base and out to Talkeetna, in good spirits but a little dispapointed.
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Teams Evacuating 17
17,200 Feet - Wednesday, June 12, 2002
Team 4: Seventeen camp is being evacuated by a number of groups. Eric Larson's group is right behind us, they're staying as well....
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-50 Windchill
17,200 Feet - Wednesday, June 12, 2002
Team 4: It's been about 0, but what what makes it worse is these 30-knot winds that make the temperature drop to -50 with the windchill.....
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Living in a Hurricane
17,200 Feet - Tuesday, June 11, 2002
Team 6: They're calling for 20-40 mile-an-hour winds tomorrow and then 40-60 mile-an-hour winds for the next three or four days after that so we'll see what happens....
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Rallying the Troops
17,200 Feet - Tuesday, June 11, 2002
Team 5: The weather is not great, but tomorrow looks like one of our best bets so we're going to try and rally the troops and try and make the summit....
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'Pretty Intense Up Here'
17,200 Feet - Tuesday, June 11, 2002
Team 4: ...based on our assessment in the morning we're looking for a summit attempt tomorrow morning. We will definitely call you several times during the day on our summit bid...
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Mostly Whiteout Conditions
16,200 Feet - Tuesday, June 11, 2002
Team 7: Today, day three, we carried up to a cache here at about 10,200 feet; just made our cache here in mostly whiteout conditions, we get a nice view now and again...
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Happy Anniversary Pam
16,200 Feet - Monday, June 10, 2002
Team 6:
Hello, this is Marshall, I'd just like to say Happy 29th Anniversary to my wife Pam and to my two oldest daughters, I hope your sonograms turn out as perfect as you all are...
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The Real Transition Point
14,200 Feet - Sunday, June 9, 2002
Team 6:
This is where we really get on the mountain, the approach up to this point. We, two days ago, made a carry along the fixed lines up a 40- to 50-degree slope to 16,200 camp.....
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Waiting for Our Weather
14,200 Feet - Sunday, June 9, 2002
Team 6:
We're just waiting for our weather and we should be able to get up to 17 camp within the next couple days no problem....
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Third Igloo on the Right
14,200 Feet - Sunday, June 9, 2002
Team 4:
Denali has given us some of its best, zero visibility, low temperatures and high winds. With that much fun, we've been waiting out the weather here at 14.2....
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Gusts to 45
14,200 Feet - Saturday, June 8, 2002
Team 5:
We are sitting out a storm; we have blowing snow, wind gusts up to about 45 miles-an-hour max, averaging 20-30....
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Riders On the Storm
14,200 Feet - Saturday, June 8, 2002
Team 6:
We're at 14,200-foot camp, we have about 30 mile-an-hour winds, about six inches of fresh snow....
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Unable to Fly
Talkeetna - Saturday, June 8, 2002
Team 7:
Right now the weather is kind of socked in there at base camp so we are not able to fly. We're hoping the weather is going to improve....
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Fortifying the Camp
14,000 Feet - Friday, June 7, 2002
Team 4:
The forecasted winds for the next two days range from 50-70mph at 17,000. This morning showed the winds increasing on the ridge and a forming lenticular on the summit....
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Edge of the World
14,000 Feet - Friday, June 7, 2002
Team 6:
Tomorrow's itinerary looks like we're going to walk out to the edge of the world, it's about a 4,000-foot overlook looking down at the Northeast Fork, and the West Rib....
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Slow Climb to 16.2
16,200 Feet - Friday, June 7, 2002
Team 6: We were behind another group that kind of slowed us down a bit, but got them down the fixed lines safely and have our cache in place...
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Fortifying Camp at 14,000
14,000 Feet - Thursday, June 6, 2002
Team 6: It's been unseasonably warm, although the weather report is calling for 40 mile-an-hour winds....
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Hello to Family and Friends
14,000 Feet - Thursday, June 6, 2002
Team 5: We're going to be passing the phone around here so everyone can say hello to friends and family....
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Conditions are Excellent at 14,000
14,000 Feet - Wednesday, June 5, 2002
Team 6: We're moving at a pretty fast pace and we're having to hold everyone back in order to acclimatize....
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Sweltering Days and Cold Nights
14,200 Feet - Wednesday, June 5, 2002
Team 4: Nice sweltering days and down to a good negative 5 at night so we have nice ice crystals growing from our bags....
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Team Das Boots Moves to 14,200
14,200 Feet - Wednesday, June 5, 2002
Team 5: We're all at 14 although minus Dave. He decided that his new wife of two weeks is a bit more important than Denali...
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The Dozy Bonkers Take a Rest Day
14,200 Feet - Wednesday, June 5, 2002
Team 4: We put in a beautiful camp here in the basin and did a back carry this afternoon and went through some of our technical skills...
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Team Das Boots is Sitting Pretty
13,500 Feet - Monday, June 3, 2002
Team 5: We're sitting pretty right now, if we have to take a rest day we'll go ahead...
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Heading to 11,000 Feet
11,000 Feet - Monday, June 3, 2002
Team 6: We are passing our cache at 10,000 and heading up to 11,000 feet...
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Heading to 11,200 Feet in Fresh Powder
11,200 Feet - Sunday, June 2, 2002
Team 5: ...Right now we're going through a foot of fresh powder on our way up to 11,200...
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Carrying to 10,000 Feet
11,200 Feet - Sunday, June 2, 2002
Team 6: The weather's looking pretty good, there's low level clouds on the lower Kahiltna...
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Preparing to Descend
17,200 Feet - Saturday, June 1, 2002
Team 3: The plan is to go to 14 and then if people are into it, continue on to 11...
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A Warm and Wind-Free Summit
The Summit - May 31, 2002
Team 3: John Race... and four of his expedition members are standing on top as I deliver this message....
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Traffic Jam on the Kahiltna
Talkeetna - May 31, 2002
Team 6: Its been beautiful in Talkeetna but the air strip in the Kahiltna Glacier has been socked in with clouds so planes can't land...
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Safe in Talkeetna
Talkeetna - May 31, 2002
Team 1: We all made it out of the Alaska Range yesterday and everyone flew to safety and landed beautiful downtown Talkeetna...
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Looking Forward to Zero 'Vis' Days
Camp 2- May 30, 2002
Team 4: The team is in high spirits and we are definitely looking forward to more zero vis days....
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Snow and Wind Hamper Summit
17,200 Feet- May 30, 2002
Team 3: We've got plenty of food and fuel, so we're just going to wait it out and watch for a window...
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On Our Way to the Summit
16,200 Feet- May 29, 2002
Team 3: Perhaps the biggest challenge of [May 30] is a 1300-foot continuous ascent to Denali Pass at 18,500 feet....
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Night Moves
Camp 2- May 29, 2002
Team 4: We have moved to a night schedule and we have
done that because the glacier is in pretty thin shape for this time of year....
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Team 2 Hello & Goodbye
Talkeetna- May 28, 2002
Team 2:...these guys
did a great job of it with only a few little whimpers and whines and I think
two fistfights that only lasted two or three blows apiece.
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Flags Fly from the City of Ice
14,000 Feet- May 27, 2002
Team 3: Flags from many countries fly from the city of ice: Korea, Netherlands, USA, Germany, Brazil and France, making our city probably one of the most international cities in the world...
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Long Summit Day Yesterday
17,000 Feet- May 27, 2002
Team 2: We've got a team here just rolling out of bed after a long summit day yesterday, the 26th, Sunday. Everything went very well...
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Great Day for a Summit
17,000 Feet- May 26, 2002
Team 1: We are heading down now to our 11,000-foot camp and then we will be out to Talkeetna for burgers and beer tomorrow...
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Plan for Sunday Summit
17,000 Feet- May 25, 2002
Team 2: There's a lot of cumulus clouds building up on the lower mountain, but we've got a really good forecast for tomorrow so we are planning on heading up...
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On to 16.2
14,200 Feet- May 25, 2002
Team 3: And our plan from here is to climb tomorrow to 16.2 and leave a cache and then take a rest day the following day....
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Team 4 Leaving Talkeetna
Talkeetna- May 25, 2002
Team 4: So it's a bluebird day here in Talkeetna, it's Saturday morning and we are really enjoying a spectacular weather window here...
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Going For It Again
17,000 Feet- May 24, 2002
Team 1: We did make an attempt. We got up to Denali Pass and it was just way too windy for our taste and big lenticular cloud forming over the crown of the summit...
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Load to 16
16,200 Feet- May 24, 2002
Team 2: Flags from many countries fly from the city of ice: Korea, Netherlands, USA, Germany, Brazil and France, making our city probably one of the most international cities in the world....
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Hope for Summit Tomorrow
17,000 Feet- May 24, 2002
Team 1:... if things look pretty good up there, we're going to make our way up to Denali Pass, kind of poke our heads
around and see if things keep on looking good we might go for the summit...
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Wind Beat Down on Camp
14,000 Feet- May 22, 2002
Team 2:...it was a beautiful day until we got around Windy Corner and then we got some pretty significant winds as we moved into camp. We had probably about 25 mile an hour winds, with gusts up to 40, 45...
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Driving With the Brakes On
10,200 Feet- May 21, 2002
Team 3: One of the funnier moments
of the day was when one of the team members discovered that he had been
walking for quite a while with the brake rope on his sled....
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Caching in on Washburn's Thumb
14,000 Feet- May 21, 2002
Team 1: We got a pretty good start this morning and went up the fixed lines and put a cache up above Washburn's Thumb. Everyone did really well...
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Messages to Family
Windy Corner- May 20, 2002
Team 2: It's just absolutely remarkable, we've been really
thankful for the weather we've been having and everybody's having a great
time...
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All Set Up at 14,000 Feet
14,000 Feet- May 19, 2002
Team 1: We're doing a full rest day today, the 19th. And we will be doing a day hike over to the Northeast Fork, up above the Northeast Fork, what is known as the edge of the world....
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Living Large at Camp 11
11,000 Feet- May 18, 2002
Team 2: I've been hearing that these guys have been getting a lot of sympathy from their wives and girlfriends because they were going to be eating porridge the whole time...
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The Kahiltna Beach
9500 Feet- May 17, 2002
Team 2: We've just returned from caching at 10,200 feet. It's a beautiful day; all day it's been perfect. We've had few light winds early on this morning, but it's like a beach on the Kahiltna today...
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960 Pounds of Gear Takes Off
Talkeetna- May 17, 2002
Team 3:...we spent the day packing, getting organized, doing what other groups do and we are planning to fly on to the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier within a half and hour...
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New Digs at 11,000 Feet
11,000 Camp- May 16, 2002
Team 1: ... things are going good, we had a little bit of weather move in last night, but a little bit of fresh snow fell, really light, fluffy, champagne powder snow....
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High Cirrus Clouds
7,800 Camp- May 15, 2002
Team 1: We're are just around the Kahiltna Pass and there's some clouds coming up and over the pass right now....
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Half-Carry to 10.5
7,800 Camp- May 14, 2002
Team 1: ...we're going up to around 10,500 feet, we're going to put in a cache...and bury all the stuff we're not going to need to spend a night down at our 7,800-foot camp...
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Liftoff From Talkeetna
Talkeetna- May 14, 2002
Team 2: The weather looks like it's just about to start coming in so we're looking to load up these planes and get out of here as soon as possible...