Denali Day 11: Moving to 17 Camp

Exceptionally cold this morning, but we’re moving.

Mornings up here run on the mountain’s clock, not ours. It’s nearly impossible to get going before 11 AM because that’s when the sun finally hits the tents enough to dry things out. Try to pack a wet sleeping bag earlier than that and you’re carrying a problem with you uphill. So our target is out of camp by 11, maybe 11:15 (knowing our group) and that’s not a complaint, that’s just honest planning.

Chris was up early getting water ready for everyone, which, again, is exactly the kind of quiet, unglamorous contribution that keeps this whole operation running. Everyone else has been breaking down tents and packing the Starlink so we can keep these dispatches coming once we’re up at 17.

Another team is ahead of us and already clear of the fixed line, which means (hopefully) minimal waiting for us on the way up. After the crowding we hit a few days ago, that would be a welcome change.

Once we’re at 17, the work isn’t done. Sandro and I will back-carry to retrieve what we cached on the way up, bring it the rest of the way to camp, then it’s dinner, an early sleep, and an early wake-up with one goal in mind: making the summit happen on the 18th.

This is the stretch where it all comes together; every cache, every rest day, every conservative call we made on the way up. We’re close.

Send the prayers, the good thoughts, the warm thoughts. We’ll take all of it.

Something to think about today:

Everything that happens today is the payoff of decisions made days ago; the caches, the rest day, the early calls that didn’t feel dramatic at the time. The summit push doesn’t start today. It started a while back, one unglamorous decision at a time.

— Jenn & team, climbing higher