That's it

After a few days in basecamp the expedition caught a plane out to Talkeetna and are safely in Anchorage.

Change of plans

The team has moved to basecamp to reevaluate the objectives of the climb; after a few days spent at the base of the West Rib couloir in bad weather, Jared and Greg were forced to come to the decision to abandon their hopes for a West Rib ascent and change the focus of the trip to climbing other peaks around the Kahiltna glacier area. Weather and route conditions often ruin even the most carefully laid mountain strategies, and while waiting the team used up their supplies for the route between the base of the route and their high camp cache. A team is in a vulnerable position between when they cache most of their supplies elsewhere and when they can reach those supplies, so even though Jared reserved several extra days of food and fuel for just this scenario, the weather and resulting route conditions had other ideas and prevented them from moving and consequently the team found themselves without adequate supplies to continue upward.
As we say in the mountains, weather is king- moving despite bad conditions is bad style, so I sent sixty pounds of food to basecamp yesterday with another MT group and the West Rib crew has reached them and are eating happy right now. The plan for the remainder of the trip is being formulated as I write this, and when I know more you'll know more.

Waiting for conditions

Jared called yesterday afternoon, the team was waiting for conditions to be right and remained in camp. Mountaineering is all about timing, and it can be difficult to wait for things to be optimal, but Jared is a patient guide and will stick it out in camp until climbing conditions line up that allow for efficient travel. From their current position at the base of the couloir to their high camp at 16,000' is just under 6,000' of climbing, so they have a few big days ahead to be in position for the summit day.

Entrance couloir fixed

Greg called last night for a weather report and to say that the guides had climbed the initial couloir of the West Rib and fixed ropes for the team to move up today if conditions allow. The couloir is steep and usually icy, so Jared and Greg clipped a separate rope into ice screws or snow pickets which the team can clip their rope ascenders into as a backup as they climb to prevent any slips from becoming falls- this will allow the climbers to move quickly and safely onto the West Rib proper. Greg said 'all is well' and the climbers got a rest day as the guides fixed rope- their camp is in a sheltered spot of the northeast fork looking right at the couloir and is well away from the crowds of the West Buttress. Tonight's phone call will tell if everything went well in the couloir, so stay tuned tomorrow for more updates..

In the NE Fork!

Greg Nappi left the following message from the seldom visited, Northeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier at about 9"30 pm, Alaska time. It sounds like they had an exciting day yesterday!

at, 7,800' plan to move up the NE fork Kahiltna

Word from the MT radio network yesterday evening was that the team cruised down to 7,800' camp in perfect weather from 14, and moved right into an old camp to sleep. The range has been blessed with a stable high pressure; the Talkeetna Air Taxi webcam (www.talkeetnaair.com will get you started) shows the range to be in fine form. High pressures don't always mean perfect weather, although they generally mean a lack of systemic storms and precipitation they can also mean high winds. The weather report calls for light winds today clear through to Sunday, so our team plans to move up the Northeast fork of the Kahiltna today and will try for camp at the base of the route; with any luck, they will have a beautiful windless day and move as efficiently as they have been on the rest of the trip.

You know the old adage, "Better living through technology?" Well, this is a case in point...

Mark called in again and it seems as if the satellites were not quite lined up, as his transmission is fairly garbled. I'll post it anyway, as it's nice to hear his voice and especially to hear the enthusiasm in it.

Enjoy:

Carried high, sleeping low

Jared reported in last night- they carried a cache to 16,400' on the West Rib yesterday from their camp at 14 on the West Buttress in preparation for their ascent. Carrying a cache high on the route means the team will have lighter loads and be more acclimatized than if they had traveled up the Northeast Fork of the Kahiltna right away to start climbing the Rib. Of course, heading to 14 means extra travel distance and elevation gain, but Jared's strategy puts the expedition in an excellent spot and the team is stronger for it. Jared and Greg walked to the edge of the 14 camp basin yesterday as well to look down into the Northeast Fork for routefinding information as the NE fork is notoriously crevassed, and Jared was pleased to see a trail leading from 7,800'camp on the Kahiltna up the NE fork towards their route. A trail, if it's a good one, and if it sticks around for a few more days, will allow the expedition to move efficiently to their camp near the base of start couloir of the West Rib.
Today the climbers are taking a rest day to do the normal mountaineering rest day camp activities (eat, drink, nap, chat with neighbors, maybe write in a journal); tomorrow they will descend the West Buttress route and end up back at 7,800' camp.

Call from Mark at 14,200 feet

I had the pleasure to meet Mark Schmude after he and some mates from the UK had been climbing themselves silly in our neighboring town, Ouray, CO. We had a nice evening swapping stories and tipping back a couple of pints and it made my night to hear his voice come through on our podcast line this evening.

Enjoy!

Denali Weather Forecast

I just found the following weather forecast widget, which is pretty interesting. I think it will update daily, so you can refer back to this post as the expedition goes forward:

Weather by meteoexploration

Jared called in from 14,200' camp

Jared just left the following message on our podcast line about three minutes ago. They moved up and around Windy Corner today in what sound like windy conditions. They have a strong team and pushed around and are nestled in at camp in a large basin bordered by the West Buttress to the... you guessed it- west! And the West Rib to the east.

Here's the call:

Message from the team!

Hi All,

We've had some satellite phone issues that we were just able to resolve. Here is the first of a number of podcasts we are pleased to bring you from the team on the mountain. Enjoy!

At 11k camp, waiting...

Jared calls it 'hurry up and wait' scheduling, when the entire team gets ready to move and the weather looks just bad enough to give pause. The group got up this morning with the intention of carrying around Windy Corner but called a delay waiting for winds to slow down overhead. After a few hours Jared sagely turned the delay into a rest day, so now folks are sitting back, eating big and drinking liter after of liter of snowmelt to take advantage of the break. A rest day at 11k is something everyone can use to acclimatize and get stronger for the carry to 13,500k; because the group carried to 11k from 7,8ook they actually put themselves ahead of schedule by not having to bcakcarry like most other expeditions, so now they will be back on the original plan and carry ahead tomorrow, weather permitting.

Moving to 11k on the West Buttress

Jared reported in last night from 7,800k camp. The team carried a heavy load of food and fuel to 11k camp and reported that the team was strong and moving well. Most teams carry to just before Kahiltna Pass and then move past the cache to 11k the next day, but all plans are relative to the strength of the group; Jared and Greg recognized that they could ask their team to work a little harder. A strong group is a good thing for a route like the West Rib. Their plan was to move to 11k today on the West Buttress route and dig into a safe spot for camp.
There are several ways to approach climbing the West Rib, Jared's strategy involves acclimatizing at the West Buttress's 14k camp and carrying a load of supplies up high on the Rib before moving back down to 7,800k camp where the Northeast fork of the Kahiltna meets the main flow of the Kahiltna. From there they will move up the Northeast fork to start climbing the Rib proper. Having acclimatized and carried supplies up higher on the route means they will be able to move more quickly and comfortably. The TAT web cam (www.talkeetnaair.com/web-cam) shows some beautiful weather this morning, so our team should be hitting the trail in the next few hours.

They made it in!

Our West Rib expedition is sitting happy at basecamp on the southeast fork of the Kahiltna after a false start yesterday afternoon. Jared called last night from Talkeetna to say they had dressed in their glacier clothes, booted up, sunscreened up and loaded the entire expedition into the plane and were flying to basecamp when the clouds rolled in enough to make flying any farther into the range unreasonable, which is not uncommon. They did an about-face and landed back in Talkeetna- Greg reported that no one was too disappointed as it allowed them one more night to eat big at the West Rib pub and enjoy the fruits of civilization for one more night.
Good luck favors the prepared so Jared had the expedition ready to go this morning bright and early, and after a little time sitting on the tarmac at Talkeetna Air Taxi waiting for some scud clouds between Talkeetna and basecamp to clear they flew and landed on the glacier in beautiful weather. Right about now they are most likely settling into their down bags with stomachs full of hot food looking forward to getting up, eating a big breakfast and getting on the trail to move up the Kahiltna. More soon...

Welcome To The West Rib Dispatch Blog!

Thanks for joining us as we follow a diverse team of climbers as they join Mountain Trip for an attempt on a beautiful line of ice, snow and rock that ascends over 9,000 of technical terrain to the summit of North America.

First climbed in 1959 by members of the famed Dartmouth Mountaineering Club, "The Rib" sees very few ascents each season, compared to the 1300+ climbers on the neighboring West Buttress route. It is a beautiful, steep ridge line that rises steeply up from the Northeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier. This is one of our favorite climbs, and Mountain Trip has a long history of fascination with the route, as Mountain Trip founder, Gary Bocarde, is pretty sure he led the first guided ascent in the 1980's and our senior guide Dave Staeheli made the first solo winter ascent of the line in ____.

Let's meet the climbers!

Guides:

Jared Vilhauer of Telluride, CO
Greg Nappi of Hope, AK

Climbers:

Jonathon Walters of the Bahamas
Nicholas Baldock of the UK
Mark Schmude currently residing in London
John Bodley of California

We will do our best to post updates on a daily basis, but please keep in mind that any number of things could interfere with any given update being posted. The climbers are excited about calling in, but they need to keep their focus on the task at hand, and might not break out the satellite phone each evening, weather and terrain features could conspire to prevent phone calls from going through, etc, etc, etc...

Bear in mind the age-old axiom, "No News Is Good News!" For some reason, sup-optimal news always seems to get out from the mountain, while the exciting update of lounging in the sun, eating reindeer sausage quesadillas sometimes takes a day to filter through to our office.

Lastly, we highly encourage you to post comments to our dispatches. We cannot always pass these comments along to the team members, but we have heard time and again that the climbers really appreciate reading back over these dispatches and seeing all of your support and encouragement. It means a lot to them as they process their experience after the fact, so please post away! If you do need to contact a friend or loved one on this climb, just call or email our office and we'll get your message through to them.

Enjoy the posts!