14,000 feet

Steve and Rich are at the 14,000 foot camp on the West Buttress with 3 other Mountain Trip teams tonight.  They are obviously moving right along, and will spend a few days at this camp making some trips up higher on the mountain to get well acclimated before dropping back down to the NE Fork of the Kahiltna glacier to begin the approach to the base of the Cassin Ridge.   (I know that's a long sentence...)  We will keep tabs on their progress and plans from our other groups on the mountain, and update if we have any other news.

Getting Started

Steve and Rich are on the glacier.   This will be their snowy reality for the next couple of weeks.  They plan to ascend the West Buttress route to acclimate up to around 17,000 feet, and then descend to the base of the Cassin to begin their climb.  We will be getting updates on their progress from other teams on the mountain, and will update the dispatches as we get new info.

Welcome to the dispatch site for Mountain Trip's 2008 Expedition up Denali's Cassin Ridge

The Upper Cassin Ridge as seen from Mount Hunter
Zach Schlosar photo

Perhaps the quintessential technical route in all of Alaska and one of the world's greatest alpine climbs, the Cassin ridge rises 9,000 feet from the depths of the Northeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier to a point just below the summit of Mount McKinley. It is the line that draws your eye when you look upon the immense South Face of Denali. It is the route that sends chills of anticipation down my spine as I think about it's steep snow and ice, interspersed with bands of gray and orange granite. A thing of sublime beauty, it cleaves the South Face as if carved by a laser.

I can't help but wax poetic about this route, as it is all of the above and more. We are thrilled to have a team of two attempting this challenging route this season.

Veteran Denali guide and world renowned alpinist Steve House of Terrebonne, Oregon will join Richard Peterson of Brooklyn, New York for an attempt of the Cassin in late May and early June of this season.

While our guides carry satellite phones on most of our Denali expeditions, the sustained and difficult nature of the Cassin puts severe weight restrictions on its climbers, so Steve and Richard will not carry one on their climb. They will keep in contact via radio with our teams and with the National Park Service Rangers on the mountain. dispatches could, therefore, be less frequent than on our other expeditions. We will post updates as we receive them, but please keep in mind the essential mantra of receiving news from Alaskan expeditions: "No News is GOOD NEWS!"

We cannot guarantee that all comments to this blog will reach the climbers, but we will do our best to relay them. If you are a friend or family member and would like to most up to the minute information that we have, please do not hesitate to call our office at 970-369-1153.