Climbing Denali, Day 4
Post categories: Denali
| 11:54 UK time, Saturday, 6 June 2009
Friday 5th at 5.30pm Alaska time. At the higher camp of Motorcycle Hill.
It has been a really tough day, the toughest yet. It rained all Thursday night at Ski Hill camp rather than the expected snow. Still raining when we got up at 3.30am and it was a miserable start packing up in the rain. The weather cleared up by 6.30am then it was like being inside a ping pong ball with misty fog making flat light and no differentiation between the ground and sky. We were roped up in two teams of four and as we got higher it started to sleet then turned into proper snow. Could have stopped at the Upper Kahiltna Glacier camp at 3000m after 2.5 miles where kit was cached on Thursday, but all were feeling fine and we decided to go on another 1.5 miles to the Motorcycle Hill camp at 3,400m.
Arrived here about 3.30pm exhausted but fine. It then took 2 hours in the cold, high winds and snow, to build snow walls and put up the tents. Now, inside the tents warming up with some soup, the sun came out and the view of Motorcycle Hill is spectacular!
The plan now is more food then off to sleep to be up again at 3.30am and walk back the 1.5 miles to the Upper Kahiltna Glacier to bring up the cache - so a shorter day tomorrow, then Sunday is an acclimatisation and rest day at Motorcycle Hill camp.
Comments