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TODAY'S STATS - 5/26/23 |
Denali |
Mt. Foraker |
|
Registered Climbers |
959 |
8 |
|
Climbers Currently On Mountain |
484 |
6 |
|
Completed Climbs |
57 |
2 |
|
Number of Summits |
10 |
0 |
|
Summit Percentage |
18% |
0% |
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The Walter Harper Talkeetna Ranger Station also maintains an almost daily automated statistics phone line, so if this blog is lagging behind and you need up-to-date registration numbers, call (907) 733-9127. |
Mountain Weather
7K --Early riser Gabby texted at 6:45 am "Two inches of new light snow. 27 F, calm, scattered clouds ~14k. overall pretty nice out there! But then a little over an hour later at 8 AM, Kakiko reported "The fog got us and we are in the ping pong ball at BC" Then by 8:30 it was snowing.
14K Galen at 14K likewise reports about 2 new inches of snow, lightly snowing, but bright. Windy higher on the mountain, but calm at 14K.
Ruth Gorge/Base of Mt. Dickey - Alan at 8:30 AM -- "Enjoyed a nice night of heavy rain. Sunny for a couple ol hours this morning now in a ping pong ball."
Online weather data brought to you courtesy of the weather station at 14K. (NPS Photo / Galen Dossin)
Weather station telemetry data from 7K and 14K are transmitted hourly to the MesoWest website, including temperatures, wind speed, wind direction, snowfall, and solar radiation. MountainWeather.com compiles a Denali Weather page, complete with links to the MesoWest data, the NWS Denali Climbing Forecasts, as well as links to FAA webcams.
The National Weather Service publishes their mountain-specific forecast here: Denali Climbing Forecast
The FAA webcam on the Kahiltna Glacier has yet to be installed for the 2023 season, but we'll let you now when its up and operational.
Conditions Reports
West Buttress (May 26) per NPS Ranger Chrissie Oken
Lower Mountain: Snowpack is still robust from Base Camp to 11,000' (Camp 3). Normal precautions with roped travel should still be followed as this is the most cracked up part of the route, but overnight travel may not be necessary as of yet.
11,000': More cracks than normal are open on Motorcycle Hill. Roped Travel is recommended, and we have already seen an unroped crevasse fall that resulted in an injury this year.
Windy Corner: Things have filled in a bit and steps are good. Between Windy Corner and the cache site is a bit cracked up and there was an overhead crevasse fall in this area about a week and a half ago. Treat snowbridges as suspect and use caution.
Fixed Lines: A few inches of snow really improved conditions on the fixed lines. Thanks to several guided groups, steps are very well-defined and the fixed lines are about as smooth as they get!
16 Ridge: Running protection is looking good. Plan to bring your own non-lockers.
Also, an upper mountain report from guide Sam Hennessey: "Normal scoured conditions. Autobahn is picketed at 30 meter intervals"
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There are currently 42 permitted climbers and skiers in the park's glaciated backcountry, distributed as follows:
4 on the Peters Glacier
23 in the Upper Kahiltna
10 in the Upper Ruth
3 on Mount Hunter
2 in Little Switzerland
Little Switzerland (May 19-25) "Throne - heavy snow coverage, cornices, ice in cracks. Royal Tower - Snow on routes, heavy spindrift and avys on routes. Trolls - Snow on common routes, ice and snow in cracks. The good rock climbing is at Hobbit's Footstool (dry and sunny). Ski conditions are great. Crust until noon, strong snow bridges." ~ Team 'Go Easy On Me'
Search and Rescue Activity
The night of May 23, one member of a two-person team that rapidly ascended the mountain in 6 days began showing signs and symptoms of HACE at 19K. They made it down to 17K, where they were medicated, sheltered, and attended to by guides from both Alaska Mountaineering School and Alpine Ascents teams. NPS rangers ascended the ridge from 14K the following day, and assisted the team down to the 14,200 foot camp. With improvement due to medication, food and water, and an elevation change, the team descended to 7K without further assistance. A huge thank you goes out to the guides and their teammates for diverting from their own mission to help these climbers in need.
On the evening of May 24, two nights after a rapid two day ascent from 7K to 14K, a climber with HAPE came to the ranger camp at 14,200 feet in need of medical assistance. He was treated by the NPS patrol with medication and treatments in the hyperbaric chamber. The patient was evacuated to Talkeetna Thursday morning.
Ranger Reports
14K Patrol #2 (Oken) Following a slow descent from 14K to 7K due to limited visibility, the team gratefully flew out to Talkeetna yesterday, just before a weather system moved in.
14K Patrol #3 (Dossin) Patrol #3 reports they got their best night of sleep last night since flying onto the mountain. Most days of the patrol have either involved all night shoveling during windy snowstorms or ascending/descending several thousand feet a day to help climbers in need, yesterday's big rescue involved walking clear across 14 camp to notify a party that their InReach was inadvertently activated.
14K Patrol #4 (McBrayer, Dalpes, Ramey) Patrol #4 is now officially situated at 14 camp, spending their first 24 hours treating then evacuating a sick climber with HAPE.
14K Patrol #5 (Ramos-Leon) The fresh faces of Patrol #5 traded places with the sun-darkened faces of Patrol #2 yesterday morning. The fifth patrol is lead by NPS ranger Kakiko Ramos-Leon, accompanied by VIP Roz Reynolds, VIP Madelyn Ferdock, VIP Andrea Tupy, and VIP/nursee paramedic Ben Lantow. This is Andrea's third upper mountain Denali patrol -- welcome back Andrea! Also, just learned, Madelyn Ferdock is a visiting General Ranger from Olympic National Park, welcome to Denali, Mads. (NPS Photo)
From left to right, NPS ranger Kakiko Ramos-Leon, VIP Roz Reynolds, VIP Madelyn Ferdock, VIP Andrea Tupy, and VIP/nursee paramedic Ben Lantow (NPS Photo)
7K Patrol #4 (Mock) Volunteers Steve Mock and Jon Politis have been actively and enthusiastically greeting climbers and rangers and volunteers going to and from from the busy Kahiltna International Airport this week. Chrissie's patrol was particularly grateful for a hot pasta dinner waiting for them as they pulled into Basecamp Wednesday night.
Ruth AKR Patrol (Davis) Ranger Alan Davis and mountaineering volunteers Michael-Anne Myrvang and Grayson Swingle flew into the Ruth Gorge on Wednesday, May 24 to spend some quality time patrolling the Ruth. Today's climbing objective will be weather-dependent.
Volunteers Michael-Anne Myrvang and Grayson Swingle join NPS Ranger Alan Davis for 4 or 5 day patrol of the Ruth Gorge peaks. (NPS Photo)
Photos of the Day
Two Jakes maintaining the fixed lines on a sunny early season afternoon. Ranger Jake Kayes on the left, and Volunteer Jake Ephron on the right. (NPS Photo / Jonah Olson) 
A room with a view. Inside and outside of the the NPS 'Comms Tent' at 14,200-feet, looking out on Mount Foraker. (NPS Photo / Jonah Olson)