Camp II - Kahiltna Pass

I heard from Scott last night and he was in great spirits! He and Aaron made it to Camp II yesterday, which is at 9,700 ft., so they are right on track with their itinerary at this point. He told me he was lying in the tent looking at the "late afternoon" sun on the ridge of "Big Mac"! It is light ~16-18 hours each day at this time of the year, so "late afternoon" was really more like 7:45pm Alaska time (8:45pm PT). He said it's been very cold in the morning, but warm in the afternoon. When I asked him how cold, he said your nose hairs freeze! Nice visual for you!

He said they have been having fun setting up camp and using the snow saw to cut blocks to build snow walls that protect the tent from high winds. Not everyone's idea of fun but it is for these two guys!

Scott also said that they were very fortunate to make it up to Base Camp on Sunday morning because they left at 8am and were the first plane to land on the Kahiltna Glacier with another plane landing just behind them, and then they shut down all the other flights for the rest of the day due to snow and lots of clouds, so that gave them a chance to get settled at Base Camp and now they are at Camp II with only one other climbing group, so they have successfully avoided a crowd of climbers so far.

Thanks for all your continued support! For everyone who has sent me messages (Shane, Beate, Curtis, Chris, Jared, Mike), I passed on your thoughts to him on the sat phone last night! He appreciates it.