Here we are back in good old Anchorage after all. We needed to stay another night on the glacier because the plane could not fly (it rained in the afternoon). But the next morning it could, taking us out to Talkeetna. There we ate the biggest (and fattest) burger of the world and afterwards went to Anchorage by taxi. Now we spend a couple of days just doing not too much and celebrating 4th of July together with the Alaskans. If time allows, I will spice up the blog with some pictures. Stay tuned, you will find the link to the whole set of pictures here on the blog in about a week.

Thanks to everybody supporting us and reading the blog. It was always good to here from you.

Greetings to all back home,

Roland

WE'RE DOWN AT DENALI INTL. AIRPORT (A STRIP OF SNOW IN THE GLACIER) WAITING FOR THE FLIGHT OUT. IT RAINS, SO WE NEED TO WAIT TIL TOM.

GLACIER HEAVILY CREVASSED AND A LONG HIKE. HAPPY ABOUT THE SAFE RETURN: ROLAND,EUGEN,MICHAEL,ROBERT.

TRIED TO SKI, BUT IT WAS REALLY HARD WITH OUR BOOTS SO WE WALKED. SHORT NIGHT IN 11K CAMP, FROM THERE WE DESCENDED WITH SLEDS.

YESTERDAY WE LEFT HI CAMP IN MEDIUM WEATHER DOWN TO 14K CAMP. FROM HERE WE HAD TO CARRY A VERY HEAVY PACK (50 KG?) TO 11K CAMP.

IT SNOWED QUITE A LOT DURING THE NIGHT BUT NOW IT CLEARS UP. WILL WAIT UNTIL TENTS DRY THEN GET DOWN AND OUT AS QUICK AS POSSIBLE (2 DAYS).

WHAT LUCK WE HAD! WEATHER GOT WORSE AFTER WE RETURNED BUT THERE WERE STILL (SLOW) GUIDED GROUPS ON THE WAY. HOPE THEY RETURNED SAFELY.

WE HAD LUCK WITH THE WEATHER, ON TOP WE HAD NEARLY NO WIND AND CLEAR SKY. UP+DOWN TOOK US 10 HRS. WILL SLEEP NOW - GREETS TO ALL!

WE DID IT! TODAY AT 5:30 PM ALL 4 OF US STOOD ON THE SUMMIT OF N.AMERICA: DENALI! WE'RE BACK AT HI CAMP TIRED BUT WITHOUT TROUBLES.

READY TO GO, BUT STILL STRONG WINDS, SO WE WAIT. PARTY IN GOOD SHAPE AND EAGER TO SUMMIT. WILL WINDS PREVAIL? NOBODY KNOWS...

AFTER AN AFTERNOON NAP LIFE IS OK AGAIN. WEATHER FORECAST IS GOOD FOR TOM., SO WE WILL TRY AGAIN. MICHL STILL TIRED HOPEF. WELL TOM.

FIRST ATTEMPT FAILED, WE HAD TO TURN AROUND DUE TO HIGH WINDS ABOUT HALFWAY. IT SEEMED OK IN THE MORNING, BUT GOT WORSE AS WE WENT.

LYING IN THE TENT AT HI CAMP.WE TOOK THE SKIS UP SO PACKS WERE HEAVY + ALL ARE TIRED.IF WEATHER OK WE TRY 2 SUMMIT TOM.WISH US LUCK!

TOOK GEAR UP TO HI CAMP (5300M), HARD DAY. WEATHER SEEMS TO IMPROVE. IF FINE WE MOVE 2 HI CAMP TOMORROW AND PREPARE FOR THE SUMMIT.

WENT TO "THE EDGE OF THE WORLD", A SPOT WITH GREAT VIEWS AT THE RIM OF THE GLACIER AND TOOK GREAT PICTURES.SCENERY HERE IS MAGNIFIC.

HAD A NIGHT WITH SOME SNOW, WINDS 40 MPH PREDICTED. TOMORROW SHOULD BE BETTER,WILL TAKE GEAR UP 2 HICAMP IF TRUE. LIFE IN B.CAMP OK.

ITS SNOWING FORECAST NOT GOOD UNTIL THURSDAY. KILLING TIME BY EATING, DRINKING, PLAYING CARDS OR GOING FOR A SKI. NOBODY IN HI CAMP.

ANOTHER BAD WEATHER DAY. YESTERDAY WE USED THE DAY TO WALK UP AND SKI DOWN THE HEADWALL. POWDER BUT SKIING W. BOOTS IS AN ADVENTURE

MOVED UP TO BASIN CAMP, DUE TO STAY HERE FOR A FEW DAYS BECAUSE OF BAD WEATHER. NEED THE REST ANYWAY. TODAY IS SA WAIT 4 BETTER WTHR

WE NO MORE SLED HAULING BUT HEAVY PACKS. MOVING GEAR UP BASIN CAMP. GROUP IN GOOD CONDITION. RETURN 2 11K CAMP.

RECAP: SA TAXI TO TALKEETNA SU PLANE TO BASE STARTED DURING NIGHT (SNOW) WITH HEAVY SLEDS 2 CAMP 10K TU MOVED 2 11K CAMP PERF WEATHR

Erster Teilnehmer in Anchorage eingetroffen :-)

That´s the weatherforecast for the next days. Doesn´t look good, but we will see......

Jun 16 Tomorrow
Partly cloudy skies. High 69F. Winds light and variable.
Jun 16 Tomorrow night
Partly cloudy early with increasing clouds overnight. Low 49F. Winds light and variable.
Jun 17 Sunday
Showers possible. Highs in the upper 60s and lows in the upper 40s.
Jun 18 Monday
Light rain. Highs in the upper 60s and lows in the upper 40s.
Jun 19 Tuesday
Chance of showers. Highs in the low 70s and lows in the low 50s.
Jun 20 Wednesday
Mix of sun and clouds. Highs in the low 70s and lows in the low 50s.
Jun 21 Thursday
Chance of showers. Highs in the mid 60s and lows in the low 50s.
Jun 22 Friday
Showers. Highs in the mid 60s and lows in the low 50s.
Jun 23 Saturday
Chance of showers. Highs in the upper 60s and lows in the low 50s.
Jun 24 Sunday
Partly cloudy. Highs in the low 70s and lows in the low 50s.

The refrigerator is waiting for us. I just can´t believe it! We are ready to go!

THIS IS A TEST MESSAGE SENT FROM MY SATELLITE PHONE!

Mail Test.

This is the initial test using a mail2blog email address. Hope this works.

First blog entry! We, 4 Austrian mountaineers currently spread out around the world try to climb Denali (also called Mt. McKinley) this year. We will start on the 15th of June and our flights back are scheduled around the 10th of July.

The party:

Robert Breininger, Graz
Michael Schmidthaler, Steyr, currently studying in the US
Eugen Wegmayr, Steyr, currently employed in the US
Roland Mühlberger, Haidershofen

In the official registration form we needed to decide on a name, thus we called ourselves 'Austria 4'.

Although our primary language is German we will write this blog in English because there might be others around the world reading this (who will rather be able to read English than German).

I (Roland) will take along a satellite phone, and if everything works out fine, I will send messages to this blog from the mountain. The messages will be short (SMS).

We just had our last Skype conference (a tool that helped us plan and organize the trip together in spite of the great distance between us. The only hazzle was to find an adequate time of day for all of us because of the time shift.)

So we are all set!