Note from John Race in Talkeetna on Monday

Everyone made it to Talkeetna on the evening of May 16. We packed all
day on the 17th, and plan to fly on to the mountain this morning after
an orientation with the National Park Service. We are currently
having a nice, BIG breakfast at the Roadhouse and trying to savor one
more home cooked meal before switching over to our more modest
mountain "grub."

Trip participants include: Phil Nicoletti, Larry Sanford, Cindy
Outlaw, Vance Checketts. The trip will be guided by John Race, Nick
Shepherd, and Ian Nicholson. We are flying onto the mountain with
Talkeetna Air Taxi. We plan to spend today getting organized at the
airstrip on the Southeast fork of the Kahiltna before starting out in
the early morning to move all our gear to our first camp at 7800,
located near the Northeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier.

The weather has been really good for the past few days and we are
itching to get on the mountain. On our first night in town we had the
good fortune to be invited on a scenic flight and we circled the
summit for over 45 minutes watching a small group reach the top on a
perfect evening. We plan to take about a week to reach 14,200, our
advanced base camp. The weather is always the biggest factor in
setting the schedule. We anticipate the trip taking no less than 14
days and potentially 21 or more days. We have a sat phone with us and
will be making posts here throughout the trip.

We are flying on with 909 lbs. of gear, which includes everything:
boots, food, sleds, our clothing. With this in mind we will each be
moving about 120 lbs. of gear up the glacier once we are in our
mountain clothes.

Here we go!