143 posts, 2012 to today.
For our last day, Pat has arranged a rental car so we can travel around Anchorage. We rent the most outrageous pickup truck the 2017 Ford F150, it is simply awesome! Pat has spotted the best hike around Anchorage, flat top mountain a 20. Knitted drive from downtown. We are all getting ready, get out […]
Xav and I get dressed in our running gear and hit the pavement for an 8 km beautiful run & trail in Anchorage. REI has memorial days sale and we simply can’t resist. We also go to AMH and the hoarding marmot, 2 Mountaineering stores in the neighbourhood. In the afternoon I have 3 conf […]
(Featured photo: testing beers before picking one, its a brewery after all, might as well taste the beers!) We drive to Anchorage in the afternoon with Tom who totally messed up our pick up and departure time. He forgot he had to pick us up but in the end it all works out. Anchorage, amazing […]
Visibility has improved and we hear Kai shouting "pack your tent guys focus on your own gear, then on the common gear, we might be flying out soon, they are sending a probe plane to test the visibility and conditions" We are psyched and rush to gather all our stuff. Probe plane lands on the […]
(Click picture below to view Base Camp video blog)
Weather: snowstorm We wake up to zero visibility. That’s not good and it means that no Otter ski planes will be able to land today. We hope for a clearing it in the afternoon, but it won’t come today. We want out now that we are at base camp. Easy day in the tent apart […]
Weather: cloudy It’s the long march we are going to walk down all the way to base camp from camp 4. Atmosphere is not great, Abdul and Daniel have turned quiet and distant. I guess we all react differently but it’s important to put things in perspective, we are safe and that’s what matters. Denali […]
(Featured Photo – credits Daniel Forbes: The Crevasse – Bergschrund after the fixed ropes) Weather: -38 night, -30 day As we wake up slowly and desperately wait for the sun to ’warm our world’ as Kai puts it, we take a look at the summit ridge. It is in the clouds, it looks windy. It […]
(Open post and click the picture below – in the body of the post – to access the video blog) Save Save Save Save Save
Altitude: from 4900 to 5200 This section is difficult. Ridge is not wide, crampons hit some uncovered rocks and become slippery, some sections have fixed ropes that are hard to clip into with very heavy packs, altitude is rising. All 3 of us are now quiet and fully focused no joking now, it’s a 2-3 […]
Altitude: from 4300 to 4900 / Weather: very cold, cloudy As a team-member of this expedition, I have been spared the back and forth discussion between lead guide Kai Girard and second in command Scott – Patch. It does not mean, however, that I do not know what is going on and that I have […]
(Click the picture to play video blog) Keep in mind that this happens only at high altitude after being bored out of our minds playing the waiting game for summit attempt…why team Shrimp? well actually we needed to find a name to yell ’Anchor’ and ’Climbing’ for the fixed ropes section the next day. So […]
May 18 / Weather: storm on mountain top / Altitude: 4300m / Temperature: -15 We are stuck in the tent at camp 3 to wait for better weather. We are getting bored and trying to keep busy by reading our kindles, chatting and listening to music and spending a lot of time in the kitchen […]
May 17 / Weather: cloudy and snowy / Altitude: 4300 -> 4900 -> 4300 We can’t make the summit push for now so instead of staying in camp we have decided to head back up to the col at 4900m where the cache is so we can train and keep in shape and acclimatized. On […]
(Featured picture: large expedition with sleds arriving at Camp 3, Mount Foraker in the background) May 16 / Weather: high pressure but storm coming The forecast announces a low pressure system and snowstorm from Wednesday so guides decide to change plans, we won’t go up to high camp today. We are going to wait […]
(Featured picture: Xavier going up the fixed lines) May 15 / Weather: bluebird, -38C morning / Climbing: 6h30 / Altitude: 4300 to 4900 to 4300 (below: morning temperature inside the tent at 9am) Our first technical climbing day of the trip, it’s very exciting, we are all gearing up for a 11am departure. It’s […]
May 14 Weather: phenomenal ’bluebird’ Altitude: 4300 (stationary at Camp 3, Basin camp) The day starts on a roll. Its 1 am, I wake up to the wind blowing the tent around. I immediately wake up Xavier the ask him if he and Pat tied their backpacks down in the snow. There is not enough […]
(featured photo: one of the many meals in the Kitchen tent, dug right into the snow, with snow/ice benches, snow/ice counter, snow/ice cooking surface) May 13, Altitude 4300 -> 4000 -> 4300 Weather: sunny, around -20 morning, prob -15 afternoon The night at camp 3 was incredibly cold, it went down to -32 degrees. […]