Denali Report for May 25th, 2018

Currently there are 949 climbers registered to attempt Denali. Of those, just under 400 are currently on the mountain. Thirty-eight attempts have been completed, with only two people reaching the highest point on the continent. That makes the current summit rate five percent.

Nine people have registered to attempt Mt. Foraker. Two climbs are underway, and six have been completed. No one has summited Mt. Foraker yet this season.

With the late start due to weather delays, no National Park Service patrol has been to high camp near 17,000 feet yet. Second-hand reports from high on the mountain say the traverse to Denali Pass is in good shape, and the fixed lines are now free of ice.

Earlier this week, the wind had died down at Fourteen Camp with little new snowfall. Parts of the West Buttress remain wind-scoured from weather earlier in the spring.

Rangers and volunteers conducted two evacuations for injured climbers this week. On Sunday, a climber was flown out of the Alaska Range after being struck by falling ice and rock on Mini Moonflower and breaking an arm. Also on Sunday, a pair of climbers fell on the West Buttress route near 16,500 feet. The climbers were roped together, and a witness saw at least one of them slow the fall 700 feet to the Peters Glacier. Initial rescue attempts were delayed by poor conditions.

The injured climber’s partner managed to walk to Fourteen Camp to give rescuers the location of the other fallen mountaineer, who was too badly injured to move at the bottom of a crevasse. Rangers and volunteers were able to remove the injured climber from the crevasse, and she was taken by helicopter to Fourteen Camp, then to Talkeetna. She was then taken by air ambulance to a hospital for spinal injuries.