Day 1

Most of the day was spent waiting in the hangar, waiting for the weather to clear.  It was rainy and visibility was too poor to drop the team at the mountain.


Clearance finally came late afternoon, Hamtramck time.  Alaska is four hours behind Michigan.  The call to Michigan came in around 11:10 at night.  The first words out of John's mouth were, "It's beautiful here."  He then gave a quick rundown on what would happen next.  At about 2:00 p.m. our time, the team would begin the climb to the second camp, 9,200 feet.  The team started at 7,200 feet.  They will climb for six hours, set up camp, eat and sleep during the day.  They will climb at night because of the lower temperatures.  The surface of the glaciers will harden at those temperatures, making the climb easier (relatively speaking.)

Check back here tomorrow for more.