Tucked in at 11,200 feet

Henry called in last night to report that the team pushed up glacier in near whiteout conditions. This is a classic example of Kahiltna Glacier weather. The team looked up into thick clouds, but experience told them that the chances were good that the clouds were a relatively thin layer, streaming in from Kahiltna Pass, a low point between the West Buttress of Denali and the Northeast Ridge of Kahiltna Dome, a 12,000' peak on the east side of the Kahiltna Glacier. They felt they had a good chance of pushing through the thick soup and climbing above it when they turned the corner at the head of the Kahiltna and climbed up into the beautiful basin at 11,200'.

Sure enough, the weather at 11,200' was clear and sunny, and they could look down on the thick layer below as they set up their camp.

Thew basin is a stunning place, ringed with big ice cliffs to the southeast, a moderately steep snow field called Motorcycle Hill to the east and dark rock bands interspersed with snow gullies to the north. The basin opens out to the west with views of the heavily glaciated Kahiltna Dome and Mount Crosson to the southwest. Towering above Motorcycle Hill is the true start of the West Buttress, rising as if a pyramid of ice and granite. The north summit of Denali is almost visible around the left side of the Buttress.

The team will spend four nights at this camp, back carrying today, carrying loads up and around the infamous Windy Corner tomorrow, and then moving up to the big camp at 14,200' the following day, if weather permits.

Today's back carry involves dropping back down to their cache site at about 10,000' with empty packs and sleds. This is a quick hike of about 20 minutes. They will dig up the supplies they buried in a deep snow pit the other day, load them into their packs and sleds and move it back up to their current camp, involving a hike of a bout an hour. All in all, today is sort of an "active rest day," allowing the team to better acclimatize through light effort and get all their supplies in place at the same time.