July 2, 2011

Spoke with Greg Vernovage this afternoon, the 2^nd, by sat phone.  The group had a serious carry yesterday to Washburn’s Thumb, well up on the West Buttress.  Another big milestone.  They cached gear for their summit attempt there, at around 16,500 ft.  Then, it was back down to 14,000 ft.  Today was a rest day at 14K.  They visited with several IMG guides who are also working with AMS on Denali.  Mike Hamill and his one climber had summited the day before as had guides Aaron Mainer and Ty Gimenez and their one climber.  Nice.  Peter Anderson was leading a regular AMS West Buttress trip and he had also been to the summit the day before.  Nice little get together and nice to see everyone so successful.

Washburn's Thumb. (Photo by Michael Bellamy)

Weather is a big ‘iffy’ right now.  But, 14K is the absolute right place to be when waiting out some marginal weather.  When you think about it, Denali is basically a week long approach and a 3 day climb.  Greg’s team is in the perfect position.  They’ve done the approach and they’ve made their carry up high.  Now they wait for a break in the weather.  When it clears, they need 1 day of good weather to get to high camp and another to summit.  So now they wait patiently and pick their shot.  The carry to Washburn’s Thumb is a tough day but everyone is doing well and still in the game.  As Calvin Coolidge famously said, “persistence and determination are omnipotent”.  The team needs a bit of both now and a bit of luck with the weather.

We’ll keep you posted.

Phil Ershler

June 29, 2011

Camp at 14,000 ft. with Mt. Hunter in the background. (Photo by Peter Spagnoli)

Spoke with Greg Vernovage this evening.  The team moved into camp today at 14,000 ft.  It’s often called Genet Basin.  Nice part was that there were minimal winds around Windy Corner the day they carried and also today during the move.  Tomorrow’s an easy day.  The crew walks down for less than an hour to their 13,500 ft. cache.  That gets dug up and carried back to the 14K camp.  Sort of an ‘active rest’ day.  Bottom line is that all is good.

We’ll likely hear from Greg again tomorrow and will keep everyone up to date with the news.

Phil Ershler

June 27, 2011

West Buttress Route

Greg Vernovage called in from 11,000ft on Denali where he and his team continue to wait on improving weather. High winds and heavy snowfall were reported on the upper mountain. IMG Guides Mike Hamill, Ty Gimenez & Aaron Mainer are up at 14K Camp hanging tight as well.

Everybody is doing fine; avoiding boredom is their biggest obstacle at the moment.

George Dunn

June 26, 2011

Spoke with Greg Vernovage today.  Another super productive day on the hill.  The team moved up to the 11,000 ft. camp and are ensconced there now.

They even had enough time to drop down after getting camp organized and picked up their cache at 10,400 ft.  That means all members and all gear/food/fuel are at 11K.  That’s a nice milestone.

Weather is a bit iffy.  If things clear, the group will make a carry up past Windy Corner tomorrow, the 26^th.  If not, they’ll hang at 11 and enjoy a forced rest day.  Either works just fine.

Very good progress, so far.

Phil Ershler

June 25, 2011

Denali

IMG Senior Guide, Greg Vernovage, reported in yesterday from Denali.  The group carried from the confluence of the main and northeast folks of the Kahiltna Glacier up to about 10,400 ft.  After dropping their cache, they returned to the confluence.  Next move is up to 11,000 ft., returning the next day to pick up the cache at 10,400 ft.  Weather, according to Greg, is “splitter”.  That means really good.  Pretty much perfect for anything.

IMG partners with Alaska Mountaineering School for our trips to Denali.  They’re good friends and hold a concession contract to operate on Denali.  Many of our guides climb for AMS during the Denali season.  Great to be partnering with such a good company.

Phil Ershler

June 22, 2011

Denali Team Loading up at Talkeetna Air Taxi. (Photo by Greg Vernovage)

July 6, 2010

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

July 1, 2010

Denali West Buttress Route

Phil just called in from Camp 3 (14,000ft.) on Denali … The team carried to High Camp yesterday and is enjoying rest day today. They plan on moving up to High Camp (17,000ft.) in the morning.

The weather is ok with some winds up high on the mountain – “nothing too bad though”.

Fellow IMG Guide Greg Vernovage and his Czech Republic team have found themselves on the same schedule as Phil and will head up to High Camp tomorrow as well.

IMG Guide Eben Reckord and his team summitted yesterday.

Nice work everybody!

Tye Chapman

June 29, 2010

IMG partner Phil Ershler called down on the sat phone from 14,000 to say that everything was going well for our team on Denali.  Tomorrow they are planning to do a carry up to 17,000 feet.   We have a couple other IMG guides, Eben Reckord and Greg Vernovage, also on the mountain right now, guiding trips for AMS, while Aaron Mainer and Mike Hamill came off recently with their Denali teams.  Mike mentioned that he had just caught a 23 pound king salmon on light gear during his post-climb fishing expedition!

–Eric Simonson