Wednesday, April 30, 2008
The team is camped at Browne's Tower
Zach called this evening. He said everyone is doing well and that the weather has been good for the past couple of days. They are camped at Browne's Tower at 14,600 feet and plan to move to 16,000' tomorrow.
Friday, April 25, 2008
2008 Sourdough Expedition
Greetings and welcome to the dispatch page for Mountain Trip's inaugural "Sourdough Expedition" to the north side of Denali.
In 1910, a group of miners from Fairbanks, AK decided that they would make the first ascent of the mountain to the south that they had been looking at for years. They loaded up their dogsleds with supplies and forged their way up the route which we now know as the Muldrow Glacier route. These "Sourdoughs" made amazing progress and reached the summit of the north peak of Denali, which they mistakenly thought was the higher of the two summits.
for 2008, Mountain Trip offered a modern version of the Sourdough Expedition and two returning MT climbers signed on board, Maria Alonso and Lianne Noble. Maria summitted Mount Vinson with us in 2006 and Lianne got high on Denali in 2007, but was stymied by foul weather and di not get an opportunity to reach the summit. Maria and Lianne met our guides, Zach Schlosar and Sam Magro in Anchorage on April 7, where they had a gear check and then drove up to the small community of Healy, north of Denali.
Due to technical difficulties, we were unable to get this live for the start of the expedition, so here is a brief recap to catch everyone up with what has been happening.
Maria and Lianne spent two nights at the Dome Home Bed and Breakfast while they were instructed in the art of mushing dogsleds by Jon Nierenberg, owner of Denali Dogsled Expeditions and the Earthsong Lodge.
The three of them then mushed across the northern part of Denali Park for four days until they reached Wonder Lake. On April 12, Zach and Sam flew in to the snow covered airstrip at Kantishna, AK, where they were met by Jon and his team of sled dogs. Jon towed the guides back to Wonder Lake, while they ski joured behind. All the climbers were shuttled fairly close to McGonnagal Pass by the dog sled teams and then said goodbye to their canine companions, who returned to Healy.
The climbers had a tough day going over McGonnagal Pass, as their was about 1.5 feet of new snow, which made for difficult trail breaking. After cresting the pass, they dropped down onto the Muldrow Glacier and opened up a cache of supplies that had been dog sledded in a couple of weeks earlier. Thus re-supplied, they began their ascent of the mountain.
At this point, and for some days to come, they were the only climbers on the mountain. Travel up the Muldrow was in variable weather, with clouds swirling and some new snow to hike through. As they got higher in elevation, they encountered firm snow called "neve" which made for much easier going.
Our last report from the team was on April 23, when Zach called to say that they were camped at 11,000' at the base of the steep, Karstens Ridge. Yesterday they planned to back-carry down about 600' to pick up some supplies that they had cached. Today's plan was to carry a load of supplies up Karstens Ridge to a small plateau at about 12,500'.
Everyone is reporting good health and they are moving exceptionally well. Zach says that they have really benefited from a warm air mass that moved across Alaska this past week. The temperatures have been very moderate with daytime temps pushing 30 degrees.
In 1910, a group of miners from Fairbanks, AK decided that they would make the first ascent of the mountain to the south that they had been looking at for years. They loaded up their dogsleds with supplies and forged their way up the route which we now know as the Muldrow Glacier route. These "Sourdoughs" made amazing progress and reached the summit of the north peak of Denali, which they mistakenly thought was the higher of the two summits.
for 2008, Mountain Trip offered a modern version of the Sourdough Expedition and two returning MT climbers signed on board, Maria Alonso and Lianne Noble. Maria summitted Mount Vinson with us in 2006 and Lianne got high on Denali in 2007, but was stymied by foul weather and di not get an opportunity to reach the summit. Maria and Lianne met our guides, Zach Schlosar and Sam Magro in Anchorage on April 7, where they had a gear check and then drove up to the small community of Healy, north of Denali.
Due to technical difficulties, we were unable to get this live for the start of the expedition, so here is a brief recap to catch everyone up with what has been happening.
Maria and Lianne spent two nights at the Dome Home Bed and Breakfast while they were instructed in the art of mushing dogsleds by Jon Nierenberg, owner of Denali Dogsled Expeditions and the Earthsong Lodge.
The three of them then mushed across the northern part of Denali Park for four days until they reached Wonder Lake. On April 12, Zach and Sam flew in to the snow covered airstrip at Kantishna, AK, where they were met by Jon and his team of sled dogs. Jon towed the guides back to Wonder Lake, while they ski joured behind. All the climbers were shuttled fairly close to McGonnagal Pass by the dog sled teams and then said goodbye to their canine companions, who returned to Healy.
The climbers had a tough day going over McGonnagal Pass, as their was about 1.5 feet of new snow, which made for difficult trail breaking. After cresting the pass, they dropped down onto the Muldrow Glacier and opened up a cache of supplies that had been dog sledded in a couple of weeks earlier. Thus re-supplied, they began their ascent of the mountain.
At this point, and for some days to come, they were the only climbers on the mountain. Travel up the Muldrow was in variable weather, with clouds swirling and some new snow to hike through. As they got higher in elevation, they encountered firm snow called "neve" which made for much easier going.
Our last report from the team was on April 23, when Zach called to say that they were camped at 11,000' at the base of the steep, Karstens Ridge. Yesterday they planned to back-carry down about 600' to pick up some supplies that they had cached. Today's plan was to carry a load of supplies up Karstens Ridge to a small plateau at about 12,500'.
Everyone is reporting good health and they are moving exceptionally well. Zach says that they have really benefited from a warm air mass that moved across Alaska this past week. The temperatures have been very moderate with daytime temps pushing 30 degrees.
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