Well another expedition over. I will be posting and adding pictures over the next few days. Thanks to everyone who was watching, and for the encouraging comments.

May 31 - Talkeetna

The travelers managed to get down to Base Camp and also get a flight out to Talkeetna. They are planning to spend the night there, and visit the authorities tomorrow to close out the expedition.

After that, a ride back into Anchorage where they will either hop right on a plane or spend one night before catching a flight home Thursday.

So, they will be home sometime late Wednesday or Thursday. Who needed a trade for Friday?

This will be my last post on the expedition. Lucille will post more once she gets back to civilization.

Thanks for following.

Back at Basecamp

We arrived at Camp 3 - below Motorcycle hill - at 8pm last night and put up the tent. The plan was to get up early so that we could safely get to base camp. Since Denali has had very little snow this year, the snow bridges over the crevasses are almost non-existent so the only way to make it through safely is while the bridges are frozen in the middle of the night. Our friends the French Canadian team of 6 showed up at 11pm in a blizzard. We slept until 0130 when Domhnall woke up noting that the blizzard was over and visibility was good. We quickly packed up and started heading down. The difficult part was keeping the two pulks (sleds) with about 200lbs of stuff on them tracking down the slope.

This was the view of the sunrise.

We arrived at base camp at 9am after almost 7 hours of non-stop moving. Once we arrived we waited about 5 hours for the sky to clear so that we could get picked up. This is a photo of Domhnall resting while we waited for our flight out.

May 30 - Back to Camp 3

Yesterday, the team made it all the way down to Camp 3 at 11,000', collecting all of their gear and extra food on the way.

The plan for today is to get a really early start, descend all the way to Base Camp, and with any luck, get a flight back out to Talkeetna. You might think it is all downhill from here, and you would be mostly right, except for Heartbreak Hill, which is a 690' rise just before they arrive at basecamp.

Then they will reschedule their return flights for home. All I need to know is....what time should I pick them up at the airport tomorrow?

Check-in/OK message from Go Spot Go SPOT Personal Tracker

Go Spot Go
Latitude:63.07439
Longitude:-151.14659
GPS location Date/Time:05/31/2011 09:50:07 NPT

Message:Denali Eh OK.

Click the link below to see where I am located.
http://fms.ws/4wx6k/63.07439N/151.14659W

If the above link does not work, try this link:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=63.07439,-151.14659&ll=63.07439,-151.14659&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Down to Camp 3

Today was a long day. We got up and packed up which took about 2 hours then headed down to basin camp at 14,000 feet. I took these pictures out our tent flap before we left. This is where we were only 24 hours ago, making our way to the summit. I counted over 40 people heading up.

We are feeling good after our summit yesterday, but we are moving slower than usual. We headed down the ridge to the fixed ropes. We stopped to speak with many people on our way down, and they were all asking the same questions.....had we summited and how did it go? The temperature was hot and sunny, and were we ever glad to be going down instead of up. At basin camp Domhnall dug up the cache we had left behind, and fried up some cheese sandwiches for us. After about an hour we continued to head down, but now with a sled. Everything was going well until we reached Windy Corner......not sure why it is called that.....other than it is always WINDY!!!!! Just beyond the weather deteriorated and visibility was significantly decreased. I sometimes lost sight of the next wand that is used to keep us on the right track. Eventually we made it down to Camp 3 just below Motorcycle hill.

May 29 - Camp 5 - Summit - Camp 5

Lucille phoned on the Sat Phone after summitting, and with quick breaths described how she still has an in with the weather gods. Despite concerns early in the day about high winds possibly stopping their attempt, she says they had a sunny blue sky with no wind at the summit.

They returned to camp 5 to sleep, but over the next couple of days you can expect a rapid descent. Probably camp 3 today, and base camp tomorrow. They will probably be sleeping in their own beds by Friday night.