One Final Post from me.. (you just cant get rid of me!)

Brian posted this early on in the blog just before they left for their trip, and I found it ever so fitting to post it again here.
I promise,, this is my last post... :-)

The Man In The Arena

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming;  but who does actually strive to do the deeds;  who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

~Theodore Roosevelt     April 23, 1910

Wrapping things up....

So I guess for me, this is just about a wrap. Im hoping that the guys get on here once they are back and give us all some great stories and amazing pictures.
The guys arrived back off the mountain and into Talkeetna yesterday mid morning. They are staying at a friends house last night and tonight and will head to Anchorage tomorrow afternoon on the shuttle to catch their flights HOME!
Brian said they had a great meal last night prepared by their host John and then paid extra money later that night to order pizza and had it delivered by taxi service since the pizza place doesn't deliver and was 7 miles away!! I asked Brian if it was the best pizza ever and he said it was incredible!! It certainly cost enough, but to me, to hear how happy he was to have it, made it well worth the price. I myself would have done the same thing.
They will spend the day in Talkeetna browsing around and shopping and will enjoy another night in fellowship with their host and others. What a great way to wrap things up, being able to enjoy each others company without all the stress and worry.
Another trip and journey in the books. I would imagine it's hard to wrap your head around all you have just gone through and endured. But it was definitely a trip of a lifetime!!!
As the sun sets on this grand adventure I would like to say..

Welcome Home guys! We all have missed you so much!

Day 21.. the descent

So today marks their official descent of this tremendous mountain.
Last night Juli received a phone call from Chris and was given official confirmation of their summit.
Chris, Ed, and Clark reached the summit Wednesday around 7:45 pm. He said the weather was great and the skies were clear so they had fantastic views!! They were totally exhausted by the time they made it back to high camp.
Yesterday the three descended down to 14,200 and met up with Brian and Kirk.
They were hoping today to make it all the way down to base camp at Kahiltna glacier and wait for their flight off.
He told her that everyone was doing well and they so appreciate all of the prayers and love that have been poured out for them all.
The weather down to 8000 looks good for today, no snow, some clouds and mid 20's for a high! I'm sure that is a welcome feeling to all of our guys after enduring so much wind and snow for so many weeks.
I can only imagine that hot showers and a nourishing meal is on their minds at this point.
I may just have to burn Brians clothes when he gets home if they don't go up in flames on their own.
3 weeks and no shower? yikes.

And I "forgot" to post a map yesterday,, so here's where they are today... and I updated Wednesdays Blog post to show their summit map!! Sorry about that!

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!!!!

Day 18 and time to meet Kirk!

Kirk is an educator. He’s spent his life training horses, people and the occasional canine. He’s never met a sport or mountain he didn't like. The Lord has blessed Kirk with a positive mind-set and a drive to always give 100%, even in the most difficult of times.

 ​  The Lord has also blessed Kirk with an amazing wife who helped him train for his current Denali adventure by hiking with him up a snowy hillside, at ten o'clock at night, in -12 degree temperatures.   ​

Day 17.. the excitement builds

So here we are at the end of Day 17, Monday June 2, 2014 and if I had to take a guess, the silence of no call tonight tells me that these guys are geared up,, hyper focused, nervous as all... you know what, and are mentally preparing for what lies ahead in the next 24 hours. No distractions of any kind are wanted at this moment as they prepare for the prize.
So does that mean tomorrow is the day? I mean.. THE DAY... the one they have worked so very hard for? Only the 5 brothers of the mountain know.. and God of course! It could be that they just have nothing new to tell. We could speculate for hours, but lets review the basic "facts".
Yesterday it was planned that if the weather held they would advance and make high camp at 17,200', picking up their cache at 16,200 along the way and today would be a rest day. IF the weather did not hold, then they would have done this today and wait for their window.
The "window" as they call it, is really just that, an opening so to speak for them to be able to step through the blustery winter weather that pounds them daily into a more calm surrounding enabling them to safely finish what they came to do. Of course this doesn't mean Moses of the mountain suddenly appears and the clouds part and in steps puppies and sunshine. No, it just means that with any luck, the winds will go from 50mph to hopefully 20mph and the temperatures might then go from 70 below zero to maybe 45 below. And hopefully it wont snow,... the entire time.. hopefully.

The weather forecast for tomorrow and Wednesday however, could not get much better if that crazy old Moses really did make an appearance. Believe it or not, tomorrow is calling for CLEAR skies at the summit. I don't know if that ever really happens? Clear skies, winds south west at 15, and dare I say a high of 17 below with a windchill of only 40 below?? Seriously?? Somehow I cant help but think that all those prayers that we have been sending are being more than heard and the Lord is truly blessing our men with not only their window but quite possibly an opportunity for some unbelievably spectacular views!! Clear skies!!!  I'm so excited I can hardly sit still. What are the odds.
Well before I go Jinxing it,, lets remember to keep those prayers coming. Don't give up on our guys now. Everyone has been praying so hard and this is the final stretch that they are truly going to need them to be heard.  There is still the little factor of having to walk along that spine of the ridge that takes them to the summit. And of course there is the details of having to then descend back to 17,200, and then further each day.
Stay prayerful and keep checking back. I for one, will be taking my cell phone with me everywhere for the next two days just waiting for that call. It's going to be a difficult day, but nothing in comparison to what the men will be facing.
Lift them up Lord, let them walk softly in your path and lead them in their journey, mentally, physically and most importantly spiritually. Guide their steps in the snow and keep them true to their course. Let them rest safely and peacefully with the beauty of your blessings laid out before them. Keep them strong and healthy. Let them feel the love from all of us, surround them as they reach their goal.
Good Luck Men, we are all so very proud of you!!

Day 16

In Jon Krakauer’s book Eiger Dreams: Ventures Among Men and Mountains, Chapter 4 is titled: On Being Tentbound. It’s funny, fitting and worth sharing.  Here’s a section taken from pages 45-46.

“During a storm-wracked trip to Mt. Deborah with his closest friend, David Roberts, one of the premier Alaskan climbers of the 1960s and 1970s, recalls:

Our conversation either died insipidly or led to arguments. 

I felt so frustrated by the weather that I had to get angry at something; 

Don was the nearest object and the only one capable of response…

I had got into the habit of reacting to Don’s mannerisms—to the way he cleaned his knife, or held his book, or even breathed…

I was becoming, in the stagnation of our situation, both aggressive and paranoid. So I would try to keep from thinking about it; instead I would daydream about the pleasure of warmer, easier living. 

But all the while I would be working myself into a silent rage over the 

sound of Don’s chewing as he ate a candy bar.”

“There is a good deal written about the pleasures of solitude in the great outdoors, but when you’re caged in a tent, the world beyond the dank ripstop isn’t doing much for you anyway.”