This is the Denali Report for Friday, May 31st, 2019.
Currently, there are 1,165 climbers registered to attempt Denali. As of Thursday, 557 attempts were underway, with 158 attempts completed. There have been thirty-five summits thus far, making the summit percentage twenty-two percent.
Eleven of the twelve climbers registered for Mt. Foraker have completed their attempts, with none making it to the summit.
On Monday, a plane crash in Whitehorse claimed the lives of two National Park Service employees. Charles Eric Benson and Jeffrey Brian Babcock were on a multi-day trip from Minnesota to Alaska after purchasing a Cessna 170.
Babcock oversaw the National Park Service’s aviation program in Alaska, and Benson was the Park Service’s regional safety manager for the state. Their trip was not work-related.
In the latest Denali Dispatches blog, Denali National Park and Preserve spokesperson Maureen Gualtieri says both men had impacts on the park’s aviation and rescue safety programs, both directly and indirectly.
This week also saw a sluggish summit rate begin to climb. Weather mid-week was described as “gorgeous” with blue, sunny skies and calm winds. The good weather was accompanied by a relatively low number of medical incidents, according to the National Park Service. Aside from one evacuation due to frostbite injuries, the medical tent at Fourteen Camp was described as relatively calm.
Denali National Park and Preserve staff post updates throughout the week on the Denali Dispatches blog.
