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Team Witnesses Fall
Tuesday, May 25, 1999 — 9:10pm (PST)
 Berg | |
 Hear Wally's Call from Denali |
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Mountain Zone, Wally Berg calling you about eight in the evening on the 25th. It's the tail end of this storm day on Denali, I described to you earlier here. We've watched a big, powerful mountain today show us many moods, basically pretty bad, and ugly moods, but we've had sun at times. We've been outdoors. We've been watching whether we think we've got chances tomorrow — we'll just have to see. Our team, myself, Jamie Pierce, Yian, Basil, and Joe are going to call tomorrow "our day." If the mountain looks like it is going to give us a shot, we're going to make it tomorrow. Otherwise, we are going to descend.
You plan these trips based on so many day's food, fuel, etc., and we're pretty much at the end of our rope. Tomorrow, Denali's going to let us know whether it's our day to climb higher, or whether we're going to need to call it good.
Watching a beautiful evening here today, the sky is clear. I am concerned about wind up high. If you happen to get up there right now, it might be pretty, but you'd be...you'd need to be very well dressed and prepared to deal with that kind of wind.
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. This fellow is down at camp, back down here at the 17,000ft camp, and Jamie Pierce is helping tend to him. I think he is okay, in terms of any major injury, but frostbite might be a factor already, and the guy looks like he's definitely taken a fall, which we watched him do.
So, you know, as is always the case on this mountain, you deal with reminders that we're just pretty little, frail beings in a big and wonderful place. And we're going to button down tonight and see what the mountain tells us we can do tomorrow.
I know Vern Tejas is below me down there. I can look down the West Buttress to the notch at 16.2; I know Vern's down there. We've been trying to call one another, but we really haven't had the strong radio signals we need to actually talk. I am looking forward to hooking up with Vern, as soon as tomorrow if we descend. And we wish him and his team the best for improving weather in the remaining days of their trip. Or, if we get to make a summit attempt, maybe we'll see Vern at 17 when we return.
And I'll keep Mountain Zone posted, and pass this phone off to Vern, so we can continue to keep you updated on the goings-on on the mountain.
— Alpine Ascents Guide Wally Berg, MountainZone.com Correspondent
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