Contact and Summit Update!!!

Welcome to day.... umm what day is it? Who cares,, Yesterday was Summit day!
Ed Vonholst , Chris Jarvis and Clark Chesbro all made a successful summit to the top of Mount McKinley on Wednesday June 4, 2014!!!  Wooohooooo!!!!!  Such exciting news to share!

So let's back up and see how we got there...

So you'll remember Sunday and Monday looked like our guys open days to head up and establish high camp at 17,200. Well Sunday didn't pan out. go figure, more snow and wind.  So Monday it was.. the weather opened up and the morning started out great. And our guys along with quite a few other stranded climbers at 14,200 decided it was time to move on. Because there were so many on the trail , our guys took their time to break down camp and waited until the traffic slowed up a bit. They started their climb back up that insane hill...
This guy...the insanely steep slope that looks to be nearly straight up. The angle of this picture is not skewed. It's really that steep.

They made it up that hill with all their camp gear on their backs. However, when they reached the headwall and made it over, the winds and snow were there to greet them. They were blowing with such force and moving the snow around that it was a white out. Our guys couldn't even reach their cache that they placed several days before and were forced to go BACK DOWN that slope, again... see photo above for a reminder of the insanity. Lets remember that they already climbed it at least once to cache their gear, then came back down, now they went up again, with more gear and had to come back down, with the gear.
Having to camp another night at 14,200, removed another day from the summit window. Leaving only Tuesday and Wednesday to make it all the way from 14,200 to 20,300 with no rest days in between. That is a huge increase in elevation in a very short amount of time.
Based on the training that was done, studying and general feeling after exerting a tremendous amount of energy already that day, Brian did not feel that it was a safe choice for him to push the summit window in only 2 days. Had the additional day been there to help them all rest and acclimate there would have been no question. So, that being said, Brian chose to close his window for his summit attempt, and since Kirk is his stead fast best friend and climbing companion, and the man that came to climb that mountain WITH Brian, he too chose to close his window attempt and stayed behind at 14,200. 
Ed, Chris and Clark were feeling good, and had much more high altitude training living in Wyoming and decided to make their group decision and push on. So on Tuesday they headed out to once again tackle that monstrous headwall and made it all the way to high camp at 17,200 around 1am.
They got up and headed out in the early afternoon on Wednesday for their summit. The weather was glorious and could not have been more perfect. At last contact, the three amigos were set to hit the summit Wednesday night around 8pm and should have been back to high camp around midnight.
This is a picture taken yesterday from another group. Look at that sky!


Today, the three were to come back down to 14,200 to meet back up with Brian and Kirk and share their story and head down to 11,200 to camp for the night.
It is expected that tomorrow, Friday, they will continue their journey downward and have their sights set on home.
What an incredible story!! 20 days so far of wind, snow, severe below zero temperatures and wind chills. I have never been more proud in  my life of these five men. Some of which I only know from this blog and hearing brief conference calls in the past months.  For what they have endured, from studying all they could about this mountain, to the endless hours of training. The preparation involved with buying the right equipment, clothing, food, coordinating the travel. All of it has been an adventure worth telling for generations. Truly. How many people do you know that have done this,, actually climbed Mount McKinley, and came home to tell about it?? Well now you know 5 of them.
Five truly gifted and blessed Christian men that worked together as a team and climbed that beautiful mountain.  Our God is an amazing God to provide us with opportunities like these and to bring us safely through them.
Thank you all so very much for your prayers during these past three weeks. Our men aren't home yet so keep them coming! Let's make sure we get them off of that glacier safely and back home to the families that love them so very much.
Way to go guys!!! Congratulations!!!!