Following is a series of dispatches received via satellite phone throughout the expedition:

Dispatch 1, June 5: Team #5 contacted us at 6:21pm Alaska time after successfully completing the first leg of their climb. Hauling full packs and sleds, the team left the Kahiltna glacier with its sights set on Camp I at 7800'. They were aided in their efforts by "great weather," according to guide Seth Hobby, who took great pleasure in the fact that "it was nice and cool, so we were able to travel during the day." Oftentimes, teams travel at night to take advantage of the cooler temperatures and firmer snow. This requires that climbers immediately adjust their biological clocks to coincide with conditions on the mountain.

Denali's hospitable welcome, coupled with Team #5's excitement at finally taking steps toward their dream of reaching Denali's summit, made for a day of energetic activity and high spirits. Having reached Camp I, the team hopes to put a cache in at 10,000' on June 6th. But first, Seth plans to cap off the day by "unleashing burrito night" - Seth's specialty and most valuable asset as a guide (just kidding!). Seriously, Seth did sound like a kid on Christmas; he takes such satisfaction out of keeping his burrito meal a secret from everyone, even his fellow guides. He literally whispered the news into the satellite phone. Here's to Team #5's auspicious beginning!

Dispatch 2, June 6: Seth Hobby called at 4:05 pm Alaska time with the following dispatch:

"Things are going well up here. Today we went up to 10,000 and cached a good supply of gear. The temperatures were pretty low for this low elevation - this morning it stayed below freezing which was great. It was just cold enough to keep the glacier good and firm, and it was really good cramponing. Overall, we have really lucked out with the temperatures. We haven't had snowshoes on the whole trip.

This morning we left at 10:00 and we were back in camp by 2:30. Most of the way up there was a light breeze out of the southwest, but while we were digging the cache at Kahiltna Pass it was really windy. As we moved back to the lower glacier, it was pretty calm again, with winds dropping to 10-12 mph. It was kind of a weird weather day, with high thin clouds between 14,000 to 17,000 feet. We could see through the clouds and see some blue behind them. It should have been clear up high.

If we finish with all our logistical preparations this afternoon, we will move to 11,000' tomorrow [June 7]. There's a bit of a small front moving in, but we're taking each day as it comes. Alaska forecasts aren't worth much. So we climb when we can, and take one day at a time.

One of our climbers is going to have to head down. Pat Mitchell has a sore knee, and it's been giving him a hard time. He's concerned about getting higher on the mountain and it getting worse. Otherwise he is fine; he's just being cautious. Everyone is doing well; Paul has a little congestion. Everyone otherwise in good health and good spirits. We're making good progress, and everyone is excited to be on this beautiful mountain."

Dispatch 3, June 8: Team #5 off to a great start. Guide Scott Schumann called from Camp 2 (11,000') at 8pm June 7 with the following dispatch:

"Hello from 11,000 feet on the West Buttress! Team #5 blazed up the route from Camp 1 to Camp 2 today. We woke this morning at 7800 feet to slight flurries and left camp wearing snowshoes. Conditions were pretty good - just a few inches of new snow on a nice hard pack. The team moved quickly, and everyone seems to be very strong. At Kahiltna Pass we encountered deeper snow - about six inches - and high winds which died down some as we moved beyond the pass. We crossed paths and slapped high-fives with AAI Team #4 on their way down to Base Camp after their successful summit.

When we reached our camp at 11,000 feet, we were met with 30mph winds, gusts up to 40mph, and continuous snowfall. Everyone pitched in to cut snow blocks and build big, sturdy walls around our cook tent and our team tents. All in all, it was a great day and other than a few blisters (nothing that a little duct tape won't fix), we had no problems. Tomorrow we plan to sleep in and then descend to 10,000 feet to retrieve our cache. We'll call later with details."

Dispatch 4, June 8: Seth Hobby of Team #5 called in at 4:20pm Alaska time to let us know that the team was back in camp at 11,000' after what Seth described as "a cruiser day:"

"We woke up casually and had a big bagel, egg, hash brown, and bacon breakfast. The weather wasn't too savory, so we weren't in any hurry to leave camp to do our back-carry. Visibility was about 500 feet and winds varied between twenty and thirty miles per hour. We thought we'd wait until conditions improved, but they never really did, so we decided to head out in the mid-afternoon in order to stay on schedule. We dropped down to 10,000' to pick up our cache and brought it back to camp. The entire trip took less than two hours, despite the weather. Tomorrow we're planning to put in a cache at 13,600', but that involves a trip around Windy Corner, so we're hoping for a break in the weather. All in all, the trip is going smoothly - it's day 5, and we haven't missed a day of planned movement. We're right where we need to be."

Dispatch 5, June 9: Seth Hobby called this afternoon to update us on Team #5's "progress" which, thanks to the present weather on Denali, is a term he suggested we use loosely. Any traditional progress for the team - as in upward progress - has been impeded by a big weather front that currently "covers Denali from top to bottom and threatens to do so for the next four days," according to Seth. He described the weather as "100 foot visibility, snowing, with wind blowing consistently between 5-10 miles per hour." As a result, the team abandoned its plan to put in a cache at 13,600' today and busied itself instead with generating new forms of entertainment.

According to Seth, "Guides are running around with other guides trying to formulate a plan for laying a track up to our next camp at 14,200'. Climbers on the team are taking laps between the cook-tent and their own tents to concoct whatever recipe they think up while laying in their tents. They are drinking hot drinks, reading books, falling asleep, and then waking up to talk, read, and brew more drinks. There's a chess tournament about to get underway, and as far as other points of interest go, I get excited when I can see the cook-tent from my tent. We're waiting for a big enough break in the weather that we'll be able to creep up to 13,600' and put in our cache and come back down to 11,000'. We're not too worried about the forecast really - that's why we give ourselves weather days on these expeditions - extra time to give us a good chance to climb the mountain."

Seth said these weather days are a great opportunity for team members to rest and get further acquainted. The friendships consolidated around camp always translate into better teamwork higher up on the mountain, as gaming, cooking, and climbing are part of the same cooperative effort.

Dispatch 6, June 13: Seth Hobby called today to update us on Team #5's position after the team spent four days pinned down at 11,000-foot camp due to bad weather. Seth says he would have contacted us sooner, but the team hasn't seen enough sun in recent days to user the solar panel to charge the battery on their satellite phone. As of yesterday, however, much has changed in terms of weather and team momentum.

According to Seth, "Everyone started to get antsy and anxious on Sunday. We were worried that the storm was starting to cut into our summit chances, and the fact that we were still relatively low on the mountain and hadn't been able to establish a rhythm or really exert ourselves kind of increased the frustration. We had all this energy and no outlet for it. So we decided to exert ourselves in a major way yesterday. We got a nice break in the weather and decided to do a single carry from 11,000' to 14,000' to make up time."

[Editor's note: this is a major undertaking. Normally, teams divide this leg of the climb into three days' worth of work. First, a cache is taken from 11,000' to just above Windy Corner at 13,200'. On the next day, the team climbs from 11,000' past the cache to establish camp at 14,000'. On the third day, the team retrieves its cache, bringing it back to 14,000'. Team #5 bypassed this standard practice altogether by carrying everything with them from 11,000' to 14,000'.]

Seth likened yesterday's climb to "rolling a giant snowball uphill". "It started out as a difficult morning, especially after being stationary for so long, but it really did wonders for our momentum and team psychology by the end of the day. We got started at 8:00 am and didn't reach 14,000' camp until past 6:00pm. It was too late to set up the cook tent, so we brewed up under the stars and hit the sack after a very long day. We woke up to bluebird skies and sweeping views of Alaska's biggest mountains poking through a low-lying cloud layer at 9,000'. We spent most of today resting and setting up our cooking area, and plan to climb up to the ridge above the fixed ropes tonight to take pictures and practice our fixed rope technique. Tomorrow, we plan to put in a cache at 16,400' if all goes well."

Seth ended by praising his team's strength, saying that everyone "made a huge effort, carrying big loads." He also wanted us to know that everyone is in "good health and spirits and ready for what lies ahead."

Dispatch 7, June 15: Team #5 contacted us again yesterday to report their second consecutive day of good weather and climbing progress. The team's practice on the fixed ropes the night before came in handy on a crowded day in which guided and private teams jockeyed for position on the route's steepest section between 14,000' and 17,000'.

Seth reported, "We started climbing at 10:30am from our camp at 14,000' with the intention of putting in a cache at 16,400'. We made it to 16,400' at 1:30pm, despite getting stuck behind a party of fifteen climbers that were traveling verrrry slowwwwly. It was a case of private climbers waiting for the guided teams to take off, then slowing us down when the weather and terrain began to pose more of a challenge. Once we got to 16,400', we hung out for a little less than an hour and made our way back down to camp at 14,000', arriving there by 3:30pm. Now, it's back to snowing with visibility only to about 300-400 feet. Hopefully, we can move up to high camp tomorrow and keep our momentum, but we'll see what the weather holds."

He added, "This is a really strong team of climbers and I think the summit of Denali is completely attainable for each one of them. Their skills prep. and physyical conditioning are excellent. Now we just need a modest amount of cooperation from the elements. We're all feeling good about where we are."

Dispatch 8, June 16: Seth Hobby called this afternoon to catch us up on yesterday's events. It appears Team #5 was hard at work again, sparing no time in making it to high camp after dropping their cache in at 16,200' the day before.

Seth reports, "We're up here at high camp resting and acclimatizing, definitely taking the day off after three straight days of hard work. The skies were clear, but it got really hot on our climb up here. We hadn't decided fully on moving up to high camp yesterday. We were going to wait and see what the weather was like and, lo and behold, it turned out to be an ideal morning - not too cold, and with skies as blue as they could be. We decided to go for high camp and made it out of our 14,000-foot camp and up to the fixed lines by 10:45am. Because of our previous carry, everybody was well practiced at the fixed lines procedure, so we were able to cruise through that section and popped out onto the ridge with the weather still holding.

"We had to earn it on the final thousand feet though. The wind picked up and hit us pretty hard all through the end of the day. We finally arrived at 17,000' after eight hours of climbing. Tomorrow, if everyone feels rested and strong - which I have no reason to doubt because yesterday was our hardest day and everyone was awesome - we're going to try for the summit. We'll need a little courtesy from the weather, but we also have the luxury of six days worth of food, including our cache at 16,200', so we're not in a huge hurry. We'll just be patient and be ready when our time comes."

Dispatch 9, June 19: Guide Seth Hobby called today at noon to fill us in on Team #5's activities over the weekend. He said that the team was forced to spend most of the weekend in their tents at High Camp due to the "spotty" and "sometimes difficult" weather. Seth reported that while there were short periods of light winds and "a few holes in the weather here and there," overall it was predominantly snowing and windy.

Today, on the team's fifth and last day at High Camp, they made an attempt to summit. According to Seth, "The day started with deep blue skies behind the mountain, but when the sun came up, the 'fan' was turned on. Winds from the north caused temps to drop very fast, and the winds rapidly increased to a serious level. We made it just below Denali Pass and were on the 'Audobon' (just under 18,000') when all the parties ahead of us began turning around due to the high winds and very low temperatures at the pass." Concerned with the threat of frostbite, Seth's team (and 30 other climbers) turned around just below Denali Pass. Seth said, "On the way back down to High Camp we experienced gusting winds and lots of snow. No other parties are continuing up the mountain today. We are planning on descending to 11,000-foot camp today, and will hopefully fly out tomorrow (June 20) if the weather cooperates and the planes can fly."

It has been what guides call "a hard weather year" on Denali. Seth feels like it has been the hardest in 5 or 6 years, with nearly constant extreme temperatures and high winds. "Since the first day of our expedition, we have experienced only two days of weather that were actually good enough to allow for a summit. One was the day that we flew into Denali Base Camp (this was the day that AAI Team #4 summited), and the other was when we were at 14,000 feet. It's really been a challenging year on the mountain due to weather - there hasn't been a classic high pressure system for the last two months. This has been a great expedition though. Each climber came well prepared and has done a great job. As long as we get enough sun to recharge our batteries, we'll keep you posted on our descent. Everyone on the team sends a hello from 17,200 feet."

Dispatch 10, June 20: Guide Seth Hobby called this afternoon at 2:10pm to let us know that the majority of the members of Team #5 landed in Talkeetna at 2:02 pm today. Guide Paul Ivaska and two climbers are still at base camp because the weather closed in before they could get out. Seth will call back later today with more details. He said that all is well with all the members of this team.

Dispatch 11, June 23: Guide Seth Hobby called this afternoon to fill us in on the circumstances surrounding Team #5's staggered flight out of Denali Base Camp on June 20. Seth said that two planes were able to land on the Kahiltna and take everyone back to Talkeetna with the exception of two climbers and one guide, who planned to leave on a flight arriving immediately thereafter. Unfortunately, bad weather moved in quickly, delaying the pickup for six hours. It could have been a lot worse if it wasn't for Doug Geeting of K2 Aviation. According to Seth, "Doug wrote the book on mountain flying in Alaska and used his years of experience to fly in and pick up the remaining members of Team #5, who were the only climbers to fly out that afternoon." Doug tried once earlier in the afternoon to pick up Team #5's final three climbers, but he was forced to turn around due to the weather. We appreciate his willingness to try again later that evening and reunite the members of Team #5 for one last celebration in Talkeetna before they all parted ways.

Congratulations once again to the climbers and guides of Team #5 for their immense effort on Denali this season!