The Start

So this is Day 1, after hours of travel over the past two days for our guys, now the true journey begins.
Brian, the last of the group to arrive, landed in Anchorage at 3am Eastern time and thankfully all of his bags also arrived. (when they climbed Kili he was missing a vital bag for several days!!)
The rest of the group had already been hard at work, unpacking and repacking their gear. Splitting up food and reviewing one last time the multitude of checklists. There is really no easy way to hit the local Walmart once you start the climb, so they better have what they need. And as always they did well and were well prepared.
They returned their rental car this morning and are on their way to the shuttle service that will get them and all of their gear to Talkeetna. Upon arrival they will meet with NPS (the National Park Service), check-in and go through required talks on safety, weather, communication, etc. If any of you have ever done a national Parks hike you know that at the base there is always a check in station.   You give your names, number in your party and time you are hitting the trail. You also checkout when you leave the trail. A vital step that allows the park rangers to ensure no one is lost etc. On a major climb such as this one, they will also give the route they are taking and approximate date they plan on being back.
After their meetings with the NPS, they will head to TAT, Talkeetna Air Taxi, which is bascially a very small plane that will shuttle them onto Kahiltna Glacier which is around 7800'. This will be base camp for them tonight and tomorrow.
The weather looks favorable today all the way up to 8200' with a high near 30 and light snow fall.

I can't believe the day is finally here!! Keep the prayers coming for their safety and clear skies.