Currently, 1,094 people have registered to climb Denali this season. There are 388 climbs underway, and 584 have been completed. Of those, fifty-three percent have made it to the summit.
According to the National Park Service, the weather has begun to turn. After a sustained high-pressure system, colder temperatures and snow have returned to the Alaska Range. Reports from one Park Service patrol describe chest-deep snow on the way to Fourteen Camp and high winds on the upper mountain.
Also this week, longtime base camp manager Lisa Roderick was honored. She has been working base camp for Talkeetna Air Taxi and K2 Aviation for nearly twenty years. Each year, mountaineering rangers present special pins to climbers who exhibit “exemplary expedition behavior,” with one or two of those each year receiving the Mislow-Swanson Denali Pro Award. Each year, the pins feature a peak in the Alaska Range. This year’s featured mountain does not have an official name, but most people who head into base camp know it as “Lisa’s Peak.” In addition to having her name on this year’s pin, Roderick was given the Mislow-Swanson award in 2015.
