I talked to Steve again yesterday, and unfortunately the team has been stymied in their attempts to move higher on the mountain because of the wind. Apparently, on Wednesday, it was -25F on the Summit, with a wind chill bringing the temp down to -60F – enough to keep the team in base camp for a little while longer.
The team has been getting out and skiing every day, though, and Steve says the turns have been remarkably good – skinning out of camp and skiing right back to the tents every day on corn and even some decent powder. As soon as the basecamp internet is set up, I have no doubt, that we’ll be seeing some sick shots!
Steve reported that the team is still feeling strong and eager to start heading up the mountain. Unfortunately, the forecast is not looking too good for this, though – a weather cell is supposed to move in today, and it looks like the team’s next weather window to head up may be on Tuesday. Their current plan is to potentially move up to Camp One then, and stay up their until it looks like they can move higher.
Just a quick reminder that it is free (and easy!) to send the team a text message, and they love hearing from everyone! Visit Iridium.com, click on “Send a Satellite Message” in the upper right hand corner. and enter the number 881641488254.
Also, my brief, but very enjoyable, relapse into climbing dirtbag-dom is over and so I am far more available to post comments and respond to questions, so feel free to submit! Thanks!
– Randokitty
Was there any where to camp when you were dirt bagging at Red Rocks? Last time I tried that I got woken up by law enforcement banging on the window and shining a super high-intensity flashlight into my wagon. Scared the freaking crap outta me, so bad I haven’t tried it since except for way out on BLM land in the desert.
Hey New York:
Man, you would think you were in your namesake the way you can be treated down at Red Rocks – just for camping! We ended up camping at the BLM campground, but crammed a total of 10 people into two sites over the time period I was there. So, not too pricey for any one of us. 🙂
Good call. Guess I’ll have to make some friends who climb.
Best of luck to the team. Hope the weather cooperates for them. They need to send some of that stormy stuff up to North America.
Good luck to the guys and girls! Hopefully the weather will push through and give them a good window; and hopefully Steve brought along some New Yorker magazines to pass the time– sounds like the perfect place for them!