May 24, 2011
Guide Sheldon Kerr called in from Mt. Bona Basecamp at 2:30pm AKDT. Everyone is happy and healthy. They did a carry up to Camp 1 at 11,800 feet today. No crevasse falls for the team or incidents during the climb. The weather is holding good and they will move up to Camp 1 tomorrow if all are feeling up to it after a good night’s rest.
George Dunn
May 23, 2011
IMG Guide Austin Shannon called in at 3:20 AKDT (Alaska Daylight Time) to report on the Bona Team in Alaska.
They flew onto the mountain today, landing at 10,000 feet on the Klutlan Glacier. It is a gorgeous day, warm with no wind.
Austin says they just finished setting up camp at the landing site, Sheldon is off on a glacier walk with the team and everyone is feeling strong. If they are up to it they will do a carry tomorrow to the next camp at around 12,000 feet. Everyone is happy and feeling strong.
George Dunn
Mt. Bona, Alaska
May 20,
IMG Bona Base Camp from a couple years ago.
The group gear has been checked and the duffels have been packed.
IMG Guides Austin Shannon and Sheldon Kerr are off to Alaska tomorrow to meet up with our Mt. Bona climbers. On Sunday they’ll drive to Bush Pilot, Paul Klaus’ airstrip for their flight to the Wrangell/St. Elias Range. Their absolute destination will be determined by the weather, but their primary goal will be the Klutlan Glacier with Paul’s lodge as their back-up until weather clears for landing.
While the first ascent of Mt. Bona was made by Alan Carpe, Terris Moore & Andrew Taylor in 1930 this will be everybody’s first summit, minus Sheldon, who summitted a couple years ago.
Have a great climb guys!
Tye Chapman
June 2, 2010
It turns out the team made it to within 250 vertical feet of the summit this time before being shut down by the weather. They descended back down to high camp in white out conditions. The group rested, packed up camp and headed down to base camp at 3:30 pm, arriving in the late evening. Mark says the whole team gave it their very best throughout the trip and all are in high spirits.
They awoke to clear skies this morning, called in to the IMG office with a weather report and we passed it on to Paul Claus our bush pilot via email. Paul emailed back at 9:42 a.m. Alaska time to let us know the group was safely off the mountain and in flight to Chitina. They’ll drive the 4 hours from Chitina to Anchorage (hopefully stopping enroute for showers) and should arrive in Anchorage late this afternoon.
Congratulations to the Bona team for a job well done!
George Dunn
June 1, 2010
Mark called in this afternoon with a brief update:
The team left High Camp for the summit this morning around 7am. After a few hours of climbing they pulled the plug and turned around as another storm rolled forcing them back to camp in whiteout conditions. Everybody is doing just fine and had a blast throughout the climb. After a well deserved break they’ll pack up and head downhill to the landing strip this evening and wait for their pick-up tomorrow.
We’ll have some more details and photos from the trip in a later post, but that’s it for now.
Good effort guys!
Tye Chapman
June 1, 2010
Mark Allen called in this morning to report that they were stalled at High Camp overnight, but will give it one more go today keeping in mind they need to be back at BC tomorrow for their rendezvous and flight out.
More to come…
Tye Chapman
May 31, 2010
Mark Allen called in this afternoon to report that the team has enjoyed their rest day after getting shutdown on their first summit attempt over the weekend. After dinner this evening they plan to leave High Camp (~9pm) with hopes of reaching the summit in the early morning (~6am). If all goes as planned they’ll get all the way back down to Base Camp tomorrow night (June 1) with their first available pick-up in the morning of June 2.
Don’t forget these guys are working with almost 24 hours of daylight.
More to come…
Tye Chapman
May31, 2010
Mark Allen called in late yesterday afternoon to report that the team gave the summit a go but were shut down 400ft shy of the summit.
They left camp at 2am in map and compass visibility but after an hour they got above the marine layer of clouds to find some great views. From there they switched from snowshoes to crampons and continued on until team member Larry took a 20ft crevasse fall. After just a few minutes in the “blue room” the team executed a perfect extraction. With nobody hurt and the weather still on their side they continued up to the shoulder of the summit ridge where they encountered 30-40mph winds and sub-zero temps which turned them just 400ft shy of the summit. The team returned to high camp and will take a rest day today. Weather permitting the team will give it another go early tomorrow morning.
The team is still in excellent spirits and is looking forward to round 2 here soon.
Tye Chapman
May 28, 2010
Just off the phone with Mark Allen and the Bona Team. They’ve made their push to High Camp and are “diggin in like ticks” even though the weather continues to be borderline perfect!
They’ll take another full rest day tomorrow before their summit attempt. And should weather come in on the team they’re prepared to hang at High Camp for a few days and wait it out.
More to come…
Tye
May 28, 2010
IMG Guide Mark Allen called in last night from C1 (12,080ft) on Mt. Bona. All is well.The team is enjoying some superb weather under some solid high pressure. The plan is to do a single carry to C2 (14,200ft) today and as Mark put it “dig in like ticks” which means digging some tent platforms and building some bomber tent walls so they’re all set for a few days at High Camp.
Everybody is in great spirits after a solid rest day and some cheesy quesadillas!
More to come…
Tye Chapman