Denali Climb at Camp III Pictures

It is almost 1:30 a.m. on the 21st but must write day down before they all blend together. There is only enough light in the tent to barely write this. We got up planning to do at least 1 cache. Ended up moving camp to 11,000 camp. A lot of people are up here. On our first shuttle we passed several groups. We were able to get a good spot because of it. The last hill into camp was a killer pulling a sled. We dropped back to our 9,700 camp and ate dinner. Around 5 p.m. we took off with our camp on our backs and sleds and made the final push to 11,000 in a light snowfall. Unfortunately the weather report is not so good for tomorrow so we plan to rest, hence why were up so late. We dug a large snow cave to eat and cook in. The Korean team next to us got a kick watching us dig it. We even let them film inside it with their video camera. We sat inside till 1 a.m. drinking fluids and filling water bottles. Well I feel 100 percent at 11,000 feet. Even with a heavy pack and sled the altitude did not affect me like it might running up to Muir. We are now done with the sleds, thank gosh. Motorcycle Hill and the end of the West Buttress are above us. We still hear only 3 have summited. We met several people coming down who were at 17,200 forever.

It is 11:15 p.m. Since yesterday was a double carry, everyone (except maybe River) wanted to sit a day since the weather was bad. Around 12 or 1 p.m. the sun broke out and we were above the clouds in great weather. I kept nudging at a carry to at least the top of Motorcycle Hill. It finally worked with Rivers backup and around 5 we left. We heard it takes an hour up to the top so that seemed easy. Our plan is to depo a load up above Motorcycle Hill today, tomorrow take half of camp to 14,200 and the next day take camp up. We started up the hill and got to the top in half an hour. It was easy since we are all very acclimatized. We decided to go on, mainly because of no good place to cache our stuff. Blue Ice was everywhere or just underneath a layer of newer snow. We figured the higher we went the less we would have to come down from 14,200 when we pick up the cache 2 days from now. We climbed all the way to 12,600 feet. We could see up to Windy Corner and tons of people coming back from a carry. We finally found a place with sufficient snow to make a stash. It was very windy and cold and most of us did not wear our full Gore-Tex because we thought we were only going to the top of Motorcycle Hill. Coming down we stopped at 8 p.m. to listen to the forecast. Great news, better weather tomorrow, and then clear weather for 5 days after. Perfect, this will allow us to move to 14,200 camp and get all supplies there, and then supplies up to the 16,000 and 17,200 levels. Today we climbed for the first real time using ice axes, crampons and full packs. No more snowshoes and sleds! Last night one of the seracs near this camp (11,000 feet) fell and rolled besides the camp about 80 yards over. The sound was amazing, crack-BOOM-blang-boom-boom-szz. Another smaller one fell right before I started writing. Yesterday, we built a snow cave in our camp that we cook and eat in. It is the coolest place in camp.

Almost 2:30 p.m. (got to vent). The weather is not perfect blue so the guys do not want to go. The 14,200 camp is above the clouds, here at 11,000 we are mostly in the sun with a few clouds coming in every few minutes. The thing that ticks me off is how all 3 of them are sitting in the snow cave wasting time or outside of it. All are stalling until oops, its too late to go now. Darn it is ticking me off. We are going way to slow. We have fewer days to summit the more we sit here. Once we hit 14,000 and especially 17,200 I go alone. I can only imagine how freakin lazy they might be up there. The weather will never be good enough for them up their. Maybe River will go but Bruce and Cortland will be lazy. Now I'm frying in my tent. I know I could double carry and reach the summit myself. I somewhat understand why some groups split up. Unfortunately there are a lot of crevasses up at Windy Corner. I am currently melting snow in my sled outside, it is real hot now. I CANT GET IT OUT OF MY MIND, WHY ARNT WE MOVING? You know, there has not been one day where we have not had a large window of blue sky. I think I will plan next years trip if these guys screw this one up. It is in the back pages of this journal. Well it is now 10 p.m. on 5-22. We sat here all day with perfect weather. Only a few interesting things happened. A guy was taken by helicopter off the Northwest Buttress. The copter flew by with a rescuer hanging about 150 feet below on a rope. We talked to all the people in the camps around us. One solo guy from the Republic of Czech, the rest European, Swiss, etc. They all got a kick out of our snow cave, some even filmed it.

11,000 Foot Camp III