Tuesday, May 30, 2006

News from Eric

Just got word, my Mom got a phone call from Eric!
He was back at the 14,000' camp after being stuck at the high camp waiting for the weather to clear for a week. Apparently, the winds were really high and storms were constant, keeping them hunkered down in their tents at the high camp. They did make it to within a few hundred feet of the summit. They felt themselves getting weaker from the altitude and finally had to go back to a lower elevation. Looks like they are on their way out now. Stay tuned! :-) Laura

Friday, May 26, 2006

Postcard from Denali

Hi everybody!

I got a postcard yesterday from Eric..marked 5/19/06 from Eric on Denali. He wrote it at 14,000' and a climber coming off the glacier mailed it for him. On the postcard he wrote they were headed up to the 17,000' camp. He said all is going great, it's cold up there! From the higher camps they do the summit push. By now it's likely they have already reached the summit and are on their way down. Looking at the webcam pics and the weather in that area it has been perfect and clear the past 3 days. I hope they are all doing well. It must be so breathtaking up there at the top of the world!
It's pretty cool to think they are the tallest people in the USA right now.

More as soon as I get it!
:-) Laura

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

call from Eric on Denali

Eric called me today at 5 pm, I could barely hear him the wind was so loud!
I only made out a few words. He said " All is well here"
"weather is good" "we're going for the summit in the next weeks" and "I love you" thats all I got because we got cut off, so hard to hear him but I got to say I love you and he heard me! Thank god. Our family has been thinking about him and praying constantly for his safety. The cut off call made me break down in tears because I miss my brother and wish I was with him. The statistics are bad for Denaili, and 1 in 8 climbers die each years from what I read, scares the crap out of us, but we know he is doing what he loves. There is a huge base camp there and a support operation.
He sounded good from what I could tell all was well!

I found a link for a webcam that faces Denali.
http://www.talkeetnaair.com/webcam/index.html (webcam image)
Hard to tell what the weather is like on the mountain because storms come in so fast up at 20,320 feet!
Please hold good thoughts for the safe return of all the climbers this season!
Thank you, Love,
:-) Laura

Denali Map from the air













A few details of the mountain and the general area
YOu can click on the pictures to make them bigger.

I think that pic with the planes is where they flew in from Talkeetna.

Friday, May 05, 2006

Denali Expedition

Hey! Writing to tell you that Eric has is taking off on another trip already! Eric and some of their friends are heading out to climb Denali! I will post updates from the mountain as they come in. Hopefully they will have good weather! he referred to this climb simply as "doing some winter camping" ...amazing!