Expedition climbing unfortunately requires climbers to spend rather long times away from friends and family. Big mountains just take time... In an effort to help our climbers feel more connected to their counterparts at home, we are happy to publish expedition dispatches as well as satellite phone podcasts for our teams in the field.
On May 30, 2010 a team of climbers from around the world will join some Mountain Trip guides for an attempt on Denali, the highest peak in North America. Also known as Mount McKinley, Denali has a higher vertical relief than Mount Everest, and soaring 20,320 feet (6194m) above the level of the sea, dominates the impressive Alaska Range in central Alaska.
Denali is a mountain of superlatives, home to legendary storms, devastating winds, brutal arctic cold and its high northern latitude makes it "feel" like a mountain a thousand meters higher. Perhaps not as "sexy" or legendary are the beautiful blue skies and the absolutely stunning views granted to climbers quite regularly. Temperatures can soar to t-shirt hot during the day and plunge to sub-zero during the night. It is an amazing landscape to travel in and we are fortunate to be able to share this place with others.
Let's meet the team!
Guides:
Dave Staeheli of Wasilla, Alaska
Sebastian Grau of Santiago de Chile
Eric Gullickson of Washington State
Climbers:
Nick Bunch
Adrian Vinken
Christopher Weeks
Stuart John Leonard
Joseph Ceurvorst
Kevin Farebrother
Gavin Attwood
Mark Howard
Nick Lauters
We have a lot of fun with these dispatch blogs and hope you enjoy them as well. Please keep in mind that we will post as soon as possible after we hear from the team, but due to time zones, changes in daily on-mountain schedules, etc, we might not post until the following morning. Also, please heed the age-old axiom of "No News Is Good News!" For some reason we always hear when something unexpected happens on the mountain, but occasionally the team is just busy making dinner and dealing with the chores at hand, and does not make the evening call to our office. Also, there are some places on the route where high ridge lines prevent the team from good satellite phone connections, and making daily calls can be challenging.
Lastly, we will try to pass along comments, but this is generally not an easy task to orchestrate. We encourage you to post comments, as the climbers will really appreciate reading them when they get off the mountain. Their knowledge that you all are supporting them and wishing them well is very important, so please do post your thoughts.
If you ever need to contact a friend or loved one, don;t hesitate to call or email our Colorado office at: 970-369-1153 or info@mountaintrip.com We are in The Mountain Standard Time Zone, which is GMT-7 for all you folks in the UK and beyond.
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Hello to my "brilliant big bro" Gavin Attwood, will be following you as always, this time on Denali,but dont understand how you could miss England win the World Cup!! xx Regular texts from mum to make sure you are wearing a wolly jumper!
ReplyDeleteNicola, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx