Willi Prittie has been climbing and guiding for 40 years and it was an honor to climb with him. His stories kept the team entertained as well as motivated for what was ahead. Willi and Lonnie discussing gear and food for Hunter. Image: Chris Worlow We learned tried and true techniques for the Alaskan mountains from a veteran that helped pioneer many of the routes here. Willi has led climbs all over the world and organized many climbs for Alpine Ascents. Willi using the modified ‘Grain Shovel’ he designed for big Alaskan snows that happen in the range. Image: Chris Worlow Willi has been a professional mountain guide for over 40 years exploring nearly every continent in over 150 mountain climb

Every adventure traveler knows that packing your backpack is not like your standard luggage packing process. What we love: Granite Gear Duffels Backpacks are no-fuss carryalls that can be brought onto the cabin to avoid the long wait at the baggage claim, but it may not always be possible for you to avoid checked bags. When it comes to packing and deciding between hand carry and check in baggage, here are a few things to keep in mind: Secure any hanging straps. Checked luggage isn’t exactly handled with the utmost care unless a bag has been marked “fragile,” so to avoid your bag getting caught on the belt or any snags on the fabrics, make sure all the straps are secured. One more thing you m

Our route up the West Ridge Variation of Hunter to 10,300 feet. The ridge line continues up and left to the Summit. Having done the majority of the difficult climbing we were turned around by approaching weather just 2 days from the summit. Schedule

Finding a relatively safe route on Hunter to avoid seracs, avalanches and the worst of the crevasses was difficult at best. From this point, we had to turn back in search of a better line of ascent to the far right and up the glacier.

We were worried about avalanche in this area and spent 11 hours down climbing from 10,300 to basecamp. Schedule

The knife edge ridge was at our last camp at 10,300 feet. It was a spectacular view with much of the ridge like this for the next day, had we been able to continue. Between that ridge and our tent I fell into a large crevasse 20 feet from camp, catching myself on the lip with my upper body. It was sobering reminder to never let your guard down even on a ridge where your would think is free of crevasses. Though not frequent, crevasses can form on some mountain ridges due to the vast amount of snow in the Alaskan range. Image: Chris Worlow Schedule

The team made it back to the quaint little Alaskan town of Talkeenta on the last flight out of Denali's base camp yesterday after crossing Hunter's ice field. Stay tuned for more images, video, and stories from the trail. Image by Chris Worlow Schedule

The team took a rest day at Mount Hunters base camp before moving across the ice field to the Denali base camp:

Sorry for the delay in posting. We just received word from the Begguya team. All is well. They arrived to the base of Hunter after a long descent. Listen below for more details and plans for the next move: