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

Dispatch #1: June 18, 2007

We just received our first dispatch from Team 6, AAI's last Denali team of the year! Guide Aidan Loehr called at 1:15pm today to report that the expedition is underway and on schedule. He said that the whole team met up as planned on Saturday in Anchorage, then drove to Talkeetna on Sunday, where they went through their National Park Service orientation and were able to fly onto the glacier at 3:30pm. Once they landed at Base Camp, the team promptly set up camp, made dinner, then slept for two hours before waking at 1am to prepare for moving to Camp 1. They departed the base at 4am and hiked up through the now heavily crevassed lower Kahiltna Glacier until they reached Camp 1 at the base of Ski Hill.

Aidan said the weather has been great so far: warm and calm. The upper mountain looks a little cloudy. The forecast is calling for a high pressure system to move in on Wednesday, so they should have even better weather coming their way.

The plan tonight is to sleep until 2 or 3am and then leave at 4am to put in the first cache at 10,000 feet.

That's it from Team 4 for now. So far, they are on schedule and doing great!

Dispatch #2: June 19, 2007

Guide Forest McBrian called at 5:30pm with a dispatch from Team 6. He said that "it is absolutely glorious weather up here at Camp 1 - fit for sunbathing. If I had a t-shirt, I'd be wearing it." The team woke up this morning at 2am and left at 4am to put their first cache in at 10,800 feet. It took them about seven hours roundtrip, and Forest said everyone is really strong and dialed on roped travel. Tomorrow the team plans to get up and leave on the same schedule to move up to Camp 2. Forest said the team is adapting very well to this particular schedule, which is ideal because they beat the heat of the midday. He also said they've been eating well and had a dinner last night of delicious grilled burritos.

Forest also reported that the lower Kahiltna is in better shape than they were expecting. "We were prepared for the worst," Forest said, "but it wasn't that bad."

Dispatch #3: June 19, 2007

Guide Forest McBrian called at 5:30pm with a dispatch from Team 6. He said that "it is absolutely glorious weather up here at Camp 1 - fit for sunbathing. If I had a t-shirt, I'd be wearing it." The team woke up this morning at 2am and left at 4am to put their first cache in at 10,800 feet. It took them about seven hours roundtrip, and Forest said everyone is really strong and dialed on roped travel. Tomorrow the team plans to get up and leave on the same schedule to move up to Camp 2. Forest said the team is adapting very well to this particular schedule, which is ideal because they beat the heat of the midday. He also said they've been eating well and had a dinner last night of delicious grilled burritos.

Forest also reported that the lower Kahiltna is in better shape than they were expecting. "We were prepared for the worst," Forest said, "but it wasn't that bad."

Dispatch #4: June 20, 2007

Guide Mike Roberts with Denali Team 6 called today at 4pm to report that the team has made it to Camp 2. According to their night climbing schedule to beat the heat, the group woke at 2am and left Camp 1 at 4:30am to begin climbing to Camp 2. "It was yet another fantastic day," Mike said, "completely beautiful and sunny. We got our first real views of the upper mountain and into the expanses to the north of the range, which was exciting." When the team got to camp, they set up their tents, made coffe, and hung out for a while. They are now taking an afternoon nap in the sun.

Tomorrow the team plans to do a backcarry to retrieve their cache at 10,800 feet, then will have a big brunch and relax for the rest of the day. Speaking of brunch, Mike said that one of the team members, formerly vegetarian, just this morning became a carnivore when confronted with the irresistable smell of cooking bacon! Not an uncommon story for vegetarians on Denali...

Dispatch #5: June 21, 2007

Guide Aidan Loehr called at 3:30pm today from Camp 2. He said that this morning the team left camp at 7am to retrieve their cache from 10,800 feet. They made great time and were back in camp within 2 hours, where they had a second breakfast (they had the first before they left camp) of French toast, sausage, and coffee. The team is now resting, lounging, and preparing to - surprise - eat again! They have a big pizza dinner planned and will soon be feasting.

Tomorrow the group will have another early departure (5am) to put their second cache in at 13,500 feet, just past Windy Corner. Aidan said they should be back in camp by 11am, then will spend the remainder of the day resting. The day after (Saturday), they'll move to Camp 3.

Aidan said the weather is "hanging in there." It's cooler today and partially overcast with low clouds and a slight breeze, which comes as a relief from the usually hot conditions on the lower mountain. "We're just hoping for good weather next week," Aidan said.

Dispatch #6: June 23, 2007

Guide Forest McBrian called this evening at 5:09 pm with the following dispatch:

"We're happy to report that we had a very successful day, carrying to 13,700' after a weather day yesterday. A cold front moved in with a lot of wind, little snow, but lots of gusting. The wind meant the snow was really drifting, so we spent a lot of time digging out the tents; most of the rest of the time we were enjoying hot brews together in the cook tent. We kept pretty busy, but it wasn't a bad day at all.

Tomorrow we plan to move camp to 14,000 feet, weather allowing. The winds weren't that bad today. Windy Corner was definitely doable. It felt good to put in our cache, and we celebrated with a bag of Gummy Bears that Markian brought.

There are now forest fires below us and far in the distance. The air smells like smoke and the snow tastes like smoke. It's kind of interesting. Never experienced this before. We've been having to dig down below the smoky layer to be able to melt some good, non-smoky water. Studying snow physics as part of our avalanche courses we've learned about a lot of different kinds of layers, but the smoky layer is a new one on us.

In sum, everyone is in good spirits and very fit. We had a fast trip to the cache today. We all are doing very well and hope all is well at home. More news to come."

Dispatch #7: June 25, 2007

Guide Forest McBrian called last night at 10pm with a very brief dispatch, made even more brief due to the fact that the satellite phone cut out during his message. He said, "Hello! This is Forest calling to say that we are all comfortably installed at Camp 3 after a 5-hour push this morning. The weather was very reasonable, even around Windy Corner. After arriving into camp, we busied ourselves with establishing snow walls, digging our tents in, and cooking dinner - delicious skillet-grilled burritos. After dinner, we had a joke-telling contest ..." [At this point, the satellite phone cut out.]

Dispatch #8: June 26, 2007

We heard from Guide Mike Roberts via a message he left last night at 11:30pm. He said, "This is Mike, Aidan, and Forest calling from Camp 3. Today we had a great day. It started off snowy, but improved as the day wore on. We ate a huge pancake and coffee breakfast, then did a backcarry to pick up our cache at Windy Corner. Our plan tomorrow if everything works out and we all feel fine is to head up the fixed lines and cache on the ridge. There are about sixty climbers poised here at Camp 3 waiting to move up to High Camp for their summit push, so it could be a busy day on the fixed lines tomorrow.

"The weather has cleared up beautifully this afternoon, though the forecast is fairly poor. Everyone is in good health and doing really well - we're all psyched to be heading up in the next few days! We'll give you an update tomorrow."

Dispatch #9: June 27, 2007

Guide Forest McBrian called today at noon from Camp 3 to give an update from Denali. He said that yesterday the team made a carry up the fixed lines to put in their cache at 16,200 feet. The weather was great, and part of the team even went on past the cache to carry a load of supplies to High Camp. It was an eight-hour day roundtrip, eleven hours for the group that went all the way to High Camp. The whole team did great on the fixed lines, Forest said. They practiced the day before and did an extensive ground school, so when it came time to actually ascend the fixed lines, it went like clockwork. It helped that they passed all the other teams in the morning on the way to the fixed lines, as they got there first and could then go at their own pace.

Yesterday, Forest said they could see long, brown plumes of smoke from the forest fires that are burning to the north. "Aidan says they let the fires burn up there in that part of the park, since there are less human residences."

The team is now enjoying a rest day at Camp 3. "There is a big, spectacular lenticular cloud covering the summit right now," Forest said. "It looks like a dragon is eating the summit of Denali, with swirling tendrils and claws all around it. I imagine winds from several different directions are converging to cause this." Tomorrow, the team plans to move to High Camp if the forecast looks descent. "We will move up if it looks like it's going to be nice for a few days," Forest said. "We're right on schedule and have so far only lost one day due to weather (at Camp 2), so we can afford to choose a good weather window."

The Denali season is definitely starting to wind down - Forest said there are noticeably less people at Camp 3 than were there earlier at the height of the climbing season. Other than that, the team is doing well and will be in touch!

Dispatch #10: June 27, 2007

Guide Forest McBrian called last night at 8pm to report that the team arrived at High Camp! He said, "Today we moved out of Camp 3 under promising skies and ascended the fixed lines and then the ridge to High Camp. An interesting occurrance on the fixed lines was that a solitary and massive black raven was winging all around us as we ascended. This was nice because we haven't seen any animal life for almost 2 weeks! It was a treat."

Unfortunately, at this point in time, Forest's satellite phone cut out and so we didn't catch the rest of his message.

Dispatch #11: July 2, 2007 - Successful summit!

We received a message on Saturday morning at 9am from guide Forest McBrian with the news that Team 6 reached the summit on Friday! Forest said, "We just woke after a successful summit day! We left yesterday morning late in the morning in a wonderful window of weather - not too cold, just a little breezy, and great snow conditions - couldn't have asked for better. It took us 13 hours roundtrip, and everyone did very well. We returned to High Camp late last night to a reception of hot drinks and snacks made by guide Aidan Loehr, who turned around at Denali Pass with one climber. Then we hit the sack for some much-needed rest!

"We're just waking up now. The weather has turned a little now and the wind is picking up. We're hoping to descend to Camp 3 later today if weather and the team's energy level allows. Basically, we're all happy campers! I'll keep you posted about our progress down the mountain. That's it for now."

Dispatch #12: July 3, 2007 - Back in Talkeetna

Guide Forest McBrian from Denali Team 6 called to say that the team is safely back in Talkeetna! Forest recounted the last few days:

"After we returned to High Camp from the summit, we slept, woke the next day (Saturday) and packed, then descended to Camp 3. After some deliberation, we decided to spend the night there, so we threw up camp, had a meal, and went to bed. Camp 3 is like a ghost town now - it's been mostly vacated and what's left are empty pits and falling over walls. The next morning (Sunday) we had a very lazy start, then a big brunch of pancakes, bacon, and sausage. We then had a leisurely day of sorting gear and packing for the long descent. We began our descent at 8pm that night. We stopped briefly at Camp 2 to rest and take a load off, but then since the weather was so perfect, the conditions so excellent, and the team strength so high, we decided to continue all the way down to the base. We descended through the night and arrived in Base Camp at 6am on Monday. By 1pm, everyone was flown off the glacier. Soon after, we all were celebrating at the West Rib in Talkeetna! Needless to say, we were all in a pretty darn good mood."

Congratulations once again Team 6 on a very successful summit!