Starting to Climb-Day 2

Oceans,, by Hillsong

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m_sWJQm2fs

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders

Let me walk upon the waters

Wherever You would call me

Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander

And my faith will be made stronger

In the presence of my Savior

I will call upon Your Name

Keep my eyes above the waves

My soul will rest in Your embrace

I am Yours and You are mine

We sang this song in church today and I couldn't help but think of our guys up there on that mountain as they begin this journey upward.  Where the Spirit will lead them to a place their feet never thought they would wander. Their faith will be made stronger and their trust will need to be without borders.
Keep your eyes above the waves boys, He is yours and you are His, rest in his embrace.

Today at 8200' the weather will be partly cloudy with snow showers and highs in the teens.  So I guess overall, not a bad day for climbing... thank you Lord!

Day two brings another day of prep work, getting their gear in the order that they need it. Loading it on the sleds, and acclimatizing to the altitude. Each of the guys will be carrying on them a pack that will weigh anywhere from 60-75 pounds and then they will each be pulling a sled behind them carrying another approximately 50-75 pounds. Lets remember that they need to carry in and out everything they could possibly need, food for 5 guys for 3 weeks, cooking equipment, stoves, ropes, clips, tents, sleeping bags, coats.... everything. There are no porters on this trip for them, as they are traveling as their own group without guides. Did I mention food for 5 guys for 3 weeks? Guys that will be expending huge amounts of calories per day. Thankfully most of it's freeze dried so it's individually light weight, but when combined, it's bulky and gets heavy!  They will also have crevasse training today, not that it's something we at home want to think about but there are alot of crevasses on this mountain,, sooooo the training is a good thing.

They will leave this evening for their next camp  which will be at 7800 feet at the base of "ski hill". They will start out at 7200' and climb to 7800'. Though not a huge increase in elevation, lets remember it's up hill carrying the most amount of weight that they will have. They will set camp which is where they will sleep for the next two days. As you can see on the map, they have a long way to go today.

Prayers for fair weather and safe travels men.

This is the view east towards Denali from where they will camp tonight.