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Expedition Dispatches
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 Darsney
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A 31-Hour DescentMonday, July 5, 1999 — 4:18pm(PST)
"It took us 31 hours to descend from 17,000ft. It was a long 31 hours. The biggest problem was the lower glacier had melted out incredibly and there were a lot of crevasses..."
Team SummitsWednesday, June 30, 1999 — 8:49pm(PST)
"I'm on the summit of Denali. We summited about a half hour ago, we're on our way down...."
Team at 19.2 and Still GoingWednesday, June 30, 1999 — 4:28pm(PST)
"We're probably an hour from the "football field" and probably three hours from the summit. So hopefully, we'll do it here...."
Headed For The SummitWednesday, June 30, 1999 — 10:51am(PST)
"Bill and I just rousted the troups and we're roping up as we speak. It's 9:30am and we're headed up...."
Worst Year Since '94Tuesday, June 29, 1999 — 1:32pm(PST)
"The forecast hasn't been that great. This has been the worst year on Denali I've seen since '94...."
Lenticular Clouds Swarm SummitMonday, June 28, 1999 — 12:46pm(PST)
"The weather was just too squirrelly and these big lenticular clouds were coming off the summit..."
Reflections On DenaliSunday, June 27, 1999 — 10:56pm(PST)
"Well if you guys can hear that wind out there that's what's keeping us from moving up today at 17...."
The Winds of DenaliSunday, June 27, 1999 — 1:28pm(PST)
"And the more time I spend on it the more I appreciate the aesthetic line and the beautiful serpentine route up the mountain..."
Letters from 17,200ftSaturday, June 26, 1999 — 10:34pm(PST)
"I've got a few other things to read from some of the other folks on our team here..."
Darsney Takes Over PhoneFriday, June 25, 1999 — 9:37pm(PST)
"You guys probably heard from Vernon on the summit yesterday, he got all five of his people up and Vern and Tom are psyched about that. We met up at 16,000ft..."
Summit Call: Atop North America
Thursday, June 24, 1999 — 6:15pm(PST)
"Vernon Tejas, with Alpine Ascents, broadcasting from the top of North America..."
Hoping To Tag The Top
Wednesday, June 23, 1999 — 9:36pm(PST)
"...we're tucking in so we're ready for a big day, going to the summit tomorrow..."
Tickled Pink
Wednesday, June 23, 1999 — 10:43pm(PST)
"And we were putting ourselves in position today climbing up the ridge, the West Buttress ridge, through whiteout and spindrift and then were greeted by a stunning evening...."
Paragliders, Skiers, and Wind
Tuesday, June 22, 1999 — 9:04pm(PST)
"If he skis that it'll be pretty impressive especially with all this new snow. I think there might be some wind slab..."
Lovely Solstice
Monday, June 21, 1999 — 11:58am(PST)
"We had some tired,and slightly dehydrated folk, but they are all doing great now. They are all well rested. We have a little window here at 14, it's quite lovely and it's solstice day..."
What a Trip
Sunday, June 20, 1999 — 9:04pm(PST)
"The wind is blowing 45 knots...ground blizzard...what a trip, you can hear the wind in the background...several groups are holed up..."
50 Knot Winds
Saturday, June 19, 1999 — 6:01pm(PST)
"Jim Williams has a group at 17,200 feet and they're in a holding pattern. Today there were 50 knot winds up on the summit. They tried for it anyway..."
Pre-Solstice PartyFriday, June 18, 1999 — 5:11pm(PST)
"Tonight we're going to have a party, a pre-solstice warm-up... we'll be having a great dinner followed by dessert and dancing..."
Swappin' Stories At 9,800ftThursday, June 17, 1999 — 9:30pm(PST)
"We're at 9,800ft, a little bit above Camp II, just around the corner from the 11,000ft camp..."
Sean's Final DispatchWednesday, June 9, 1999 — 1:22pm(PST)
"...we had a great trip, been fun reporting in to you..."
Summit Made For Breast CancerTuesday, June 8, 1999 — 2:26pm(PST)
"...it's been a really kind of an emotional, emotional time up here. John brought up some prayer flags..."
Three Climbers SummitMonday, June 7, 1999 — 8:30pm(PST)
"Martin, from our team, brought two of our climbers to the summit today, Hans and Jorma...."
Ready To Go At 17Sunday, June 6, 1999 — 7:39pm(PST)
"We'll give you a call from the summit, if everything goes well...."
Final Rest Day At 14Saturday, June 5, 1999 — 6:55pm(PST)
"Our team is out here at the edge of the world looking down on the Kahiltna Glacier and Foraker and Mt. Hunter..."
Load Carried to 17Friday, June 4, 1999— 9:45pm(PST)
"...we hiked up the, up the Headwall today and carried a load to 17,000ft...."
Singing Climbers At 14Thursday, June 3, 1999— 9:54pm(PST)
"We rolled into 14 yesterday just in time for the eight o'clock weather report and to witness a gathering of over 100 climbers..."
New Team AscendsThursday, June 3, 1999— 12:43am(PST)
"And we hope to follow in Vern's footsteps and see what we can do as far as surpassing his heroic efforts..."
Team Heads HomeTuesday, June 1, 1999— 12:10pm(PST)
"We gave it our best after six days of waiting at 17.2...."
Bridge And Broeren Reach 19Monday, May 31, 1999 — 7:24pm(PST)
"We made it up through the Autobahn with everybody to Denali pass..."
Hoping Clear Weather HoldsSunday, May 30, 1999 — 7:52pm(PST)
"So, all of our hopes are high that tomorrow morning will be the time that we head for the summit...."
Building IgloosSaturday, May 29, 1999 — 5:13pm (PST)
"The only time that we can venture out is to make this phone call and also to build block walls out of snow blocks that we cut with our carpenter saw..."
Whiteout At 17.2Friday, May 28, 1999 — 7:02pm (PST)
"Man, it's blowing 40 to 50 knots out here—our own whiteout...."
Preparing For The SummitThursday, May 27, 1999 — 10:54pm (PST)
"...getting up at 6 o'clock, and hopefully climb to the top of this mountain...."
Vern's Team Takes Over PhoneWednesday, May 26, 1999 — 1:01pm (PST)
"I'll be signing off for Alpine Ascents One, now. Vern's got the phone, got a good looking crew...."
Berg's Team DescendsWednesday, May 26, 1999 — 9:52am (PST)
"It is clear that we need to try to get down, if we can. It looks to me like we can. Our expedition team up here, with 21 days of food, full resolve to try to get up this mountain, if it was our time...."
Team Witnesses FallTuesday, May 25, 1999 — 11:22am (PST)
"A few moments ago, we watched a Korean climber, who'd climbed up from 14 on his own, fall down a good section of the stretch; the slope leading up to Denali pass, which is, you probably know, commonly called the Autobahn...."
Socked In for Another DayTuesday, May 25, 1999 — 11:22am (PST)
"I would be pretty comfortable in saying nobody's moving in any direction on this part of the mountain, certainly not up or down from here at 17,000ft...."
Wind ScreamingMonday, May 24, 1999 — 12:02 pm (PST)
"Weather has deteriorated up higher — definitely no kind of summit day, high winds. It’s really screaming up there, but I’ve got a little bit of sun now so I don’t have to worry about freezing off my fingers to do a dispatch..."
Weather Imposed Rest DayMonday, May 24, 1999 — 10:57am (PST)
"I’ve decided to have us take a rest day now. I’m looking up at the summit and it is far out of condition actually, up there at the summit, and my judgement is in the next 12 hours that’s not going to change. We’re just hoping, sometime in the next 36 hours, we get our shot at it...."
The Importance of the Snow CaveSunday, May 23, 1999 — 11:06pm (PST)
"We had a good night in that snow cave last night. Very cold up here, colder temperatures than we've seen, but the consensus in the group was, being in that snow cave and spreading out a little more was preferable to our tent situation..."
Cozy Snow Cave at 16.2Saturday, May 22, 1999 — 7:06pm (PST)
"Not very good weather as we came up today and this crew was suffering under some heavy loads, as we moved our camp and all our climbing gear up to attempt our summit. So we have stopped here at 16.2, feeling really good about life at this point for a couple of reasons..."
On the Way to 17Saturday, May 22, 1999 — 10:07am (PST)
"I don’t think I need to go into great detail because I suspect the national news has covered much of this, but the poor fellow who took off from his mates, at 19,000ft on the West Rib before they were picked off day before yesterday, was found at the base of Denali pass, having fallen down it, pretty busted up, but through quite heroic efforts was, in fact, rescued..."
Brad Washburn's in the HouseFriday, May 21, 1999 — 11:10am (PST)
"I knew Brad was showing up to Talkeetna. He’s staying down at the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge and had excitedly gotten the message, through Parks Service, here to me, to let me know that Charles Corfield and four Sherpas had, in fact, summitted Everest. Of course, my heart has been with these guys the entire time...."
NEWS: Two of Three British Rescued
Friday, May 21, 1999
"Two of the British climbers stranded on Mt. McKinley were rescued from the 19,500 foot level at approximately 11:30pm Thursday. Antony Hollinshead, 33, from Shropshire, and Nigel Vardy, 29, from Derbyshire, had been stranded near the summit since early Thursday morning..."
Night Four at 14,000'Friday, May 21, 1999 — 10:52am (PST)
Wally Berg reports on the rescue of two Brits as well as updates as to his progress. "This is a very critical time for our effort here, in the next few days. Tonight will be our fourth night at 14,000ft...."
Rescues on the West Rib RouteThursday, May 20, 1999 — 2:20pm (PST)
"An Italian climber who need to be extracted after he had broken a leg on the West Rib yesterday. It looked a little scary as Kevin lifted out of here yesterday, swirling on that line, hanging from the Lama...."
NEWS: Injured Climber Rescued
Thursday, May 20, 1999
"Climber Franco Toso, 38, suffered injuries to his right leg and shoulder when he fell while on the West Rib route on Mt. McKinley last night. Toso was near the 14,200-foot level when the incident occurred..."
Heading for the West ButtressWednesday, May 19, 1999 — 3:10pm (PST)
"We're out organizing a little extra food, enjoying a rest day and getting organized for a carry that I am certain we're going to do tomorrow, to 16,200 feet..."
Strong Winds at 14,000 feetTuesday, May 18, 1999 — 3:20pm (PST)
"This is a serious place and we knew that when we came. We're happy to be here, but we are going to have to get our act together and get ready to go, if we are going to go any higher on this mountain... "
Calling from the Windy CornerMonday, May 17, 1999 — 5:18pm (PST)
"I'm calling you, finally, from a pretty incredible place considering I'm making this phone call. I am calling you from Windy Corner at 13,400 feet.... "