Resting at High Camp

The guys are safely back at High Camp and are trying to get a lot of fluid in them. They did not get back to camp until 1:30 am. Coming down was an adventure. Apparently they got stuck behind a Mountain Trip group going up to the summit and then coming down the guys were accused by this same group of stealing their carabiners. Coming down Denali Pass not all of the pickets had carabiners for some reason. Since the guys were in front of this group they got accused of stealing the carabiners. Curtis would put one of his carabiners in the picket and then when Wes got to that point he would pick it up and they would continue down the Pass that way. Anyway, the group behind them ended up falling on Denali Pass. Luckily they did not get hurt. However, Wes and Curtis ended up climbing back up to the top of Denali Pass to try and help the group. Once back in camp they could hear the guides talking about Wes and Curtis (not nicely), still going on about the carabiners.

Three nights ago a group from Alpine Ascents decided to go for the summit at 6:30 p.m. The weather was decent at that time. At midnight the weather turned. The group was trying to get down Denali Pass. Apparently there are two routes to go down. The original route was not picketed. The new route for this season had the pickets on it. The guide ended up take the old route by mistake. The team of four fell 1,500 feet down Denali Pass. One climber and the guide died. Another climber was critically injured. A helicopter came in at 5:30 a.m. at High Camp to rescue the climber. Wes said it was pretty amazing that a helicopter was able to get in to High Camp because the weather was really bad. The last climber ended up without a scratch. Each time Wes climbs it is always an epic adventure - all this turmoil going on around him but he still manages to be safe and unhurt.

Today the plan is to head down to 14,000, pick up their cache, and then head down to Camp I at 7,800 feet. They will the rest and hopefully fly off the mountain tomorrow.