Heading home!

The weather cleared and the team has been descending rapidly. It seems they are heading home quite quickly, here's a quick update from IMG blog:

After several days at High Camp, IMG Partner Phil Ershler called in to let us know that he and his team summitted! They were at 14,000ft on their way down when he called. IMG Guide Greg Vernovage’s team tagged the top alongside Phil’s team.

Phil said there was rough weather on summit day but it all worked out.

They are all heading to the NE Fork tonight hoping to get flown out tomorrow in a small window of forecasted high pressure.

Nice work everybody – the few extra days at High Camp were worth it!

George Dunn

Waiting game...

According to the Alaska Mountaineering blog there are strong winds up on the mountain and that keeps Heli and the team grounded at High Camp at 17,000 feet at least for now. It seems they were really lucky in being able to summit yesterday as the weather has turned worse since then. Well, better this way.

Summit!

Congrats to Heli and the team! It seems based on the satellite tracker they summited just a moment ago! Woohooo!

On the way to the highest mountain in North America!

We suddenly got another blip Heli's tracker indicating they are now on their way to the summit! It could be that the device is just too deep inside Heli's pack. Great news anyways, let's keep our eyes open for the tracker to say they are on the top later tonight! :-)

Waiting game at High Camp at 17,000 feet...

We only received one ping from Heli's satellite tracker today and it is not moving, so it appears the team is hunkered down at Camp V at 17,000. They are most likely just waiting for the weather to improve.

Next up - the summit?

Great news, the team has moved into Camp V at 17,000 feet today. I must assume they are now waiting for the weather window to make the summit bid. Here's what the mountain weather forecast says:

...ABOVE 14 THOUSAND FEET...
.FRIDAY NIGHT...PARTLY CLOUDY.
LOW AT 17 THOUSAND FEET...NEAR 5 BELOW.
WINDS FROM 17 THOUSAND FEET TO THE SUMMIT...SOUTHEAST 20 TO 30 MPH.
.SATURDAY...PARTLY CLOUDY.
HIGH AT 17 THOUSAND FEET...NEAR 10 ABOVE.
WINDS FROM 17 THOUSAND FEET TO THE SUMMIT...SOUTHEAST AROUND 30 MPH.
.OUTLOOK SUNDAY THROUGH TUESDAY...
LOW PRESSURE WILL CONTINUE TO REMAIN TO THE SOUTHWEST OF THE
MOUNTAIN THROUGH TUESDAY. AREAS OF MOISTURE WILL ROTATE AROUND THE
LOW AND PRODUCE A CHANCE OF SNOW AT TIMES. SUMMIT WINDS...MAINLY
SOUTH TO SOUTHEAST 20 TO 30 MPH.

Rest day at 14,000 feet

The Alaska Mountaineering blog (http://alaskamountaineeringschool.blogspot.com/) that Heli's group is taking a day off from climbing and resting at Camp IV at 14,000 feet. I was a bit worried when Heli's tracker too a significant side step earlier today but I guess they were "sightseeing in the neighborhood" :-) The last update is from the Camp IV area again, so all seems to be well!