Denali Report for June 3rd, 2022

This is the Denali Report for Friday, June 3^rd, 2022.  As of this week, there are 1,107 people registered to attempt Denali.  Just under 500 of those are currently on the mountain, and 221 climbs have been completed.  Of the finished attempts, there have been 134 summits, which makes the current summit rate sixty-one percent.

Fifteen climbers are registered to attempt Mt. Foraker, with ten attempts underway.  Three attempts have been completed, with no summits of Mt. Foraker thus far in 2022.

The weather has been sunny in recent weeks, though high winds kept many teams waiting into the Memorial Day weekend.  As those winds diminished, it allowed a steady stream of climbers to make it to the summit and back down, resulting in the summit rate jump of twenty-five percent versus last week.  According to reports from a ranger team on the mountain, the winds returned late Monday and forced many teams to turn back before making it to the summit.

The consistently sunny weather is also causing some seasonal shifting of logistics at base camp.  The Denali Dispatches blog, which is maintained by National Park Service staff in Talkeetna, says the runway for planes arriving at and leaving the Kahiltna Glacier is being moved to a higher elevation.