Berg

Hear Wally's Call from Denali

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Yeah, we have a pretty pleasant situation here, right now, at 17,000. The weather's really deteriorated up high, but we actually got sun. You can take your sleeping bags out, and take them, and through sublimation they'll actually dry out a little; the ice comes off them. It's worth doing because we may need these things for several more nights in these subzero temperatures up here.

Just to describe to you the way we live, we have built our snow walls, I've talked about that a lot, around our two North Face VE-24s, or 25s. And we have them nose-to-nose, slightly off-set, so that Jamie and I, in one of those North Face VE-25s, in the vestibule, can cook, generate hot water, liquid from melted snow, and simple meals and hand it over to the other North Face VE-25, just inches away, where Joe and Yian and Basil are hanging out, keeping dry and warm. So, that's our life right now. When you talk about taking a rest day, basically it is a pretty confined, rest day in those tents.

There're several things that we do to get ourselves ready; mainly, it's mental. Ice axes need to be taped, with Ensolite or some insulating material on top, so, in the 12-15 hours they may be in your hand, on a long summit day, they don't... the metal doesn't conduct a lot of cold into your hand and cause frostbite. A lot of little detail work about how things are rigged. It's always keeping us busy, but, of course, in our minds, is this summit going to let us get up there in the next couple of days, or is this weather going to remain serious, and is the mountain going to have the last word again?

We're thrilled either way. We're up here looking at a beautiful, a beautiful setting. A very serious mountain environment, but a very spectacular and overwhelming one at the same time. Makes you feel small and odd just to be up here. Okay Mountain Zone, I'll let you know how we do with our summit attempt, in the next few hours, when I've got some news for you.

— Alpine Ascents Guide Wally Berg, MountainZone.com Correspondent

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