Rough Weather Forces Denali Prep Seminar Down Early

April 10, 2015

Yesterday, the winter storm watch and the forecasted extreme winds, forced our latest Denali Prep Seminar off of Mt. Rainier a day early. The team had spent a few days down low training then made the move to Camp Muir on Wednesday in great conditions. They woke up on Thursday to blue skies and calm winds – truly the calm before the storm.  We’d been keeping our eyes on the forecast knowing that some rough weather was coming in this weekend. The weather came earlier than expected making the decision a tough but easy one for IMG Lead Guide Chris Meder.

So how bad was the forecast? Well, the wind speeds were forecasted to be in the 70-80mph range at Camp Muir and 90-100mph on the summit with respective temperature forecasts being 0ºF and -11ºF.  If you’re doing the math that’s a windchill in the range of -40ºF to -50ºF.  You can track the Camp Muir actual wind speeds here. The 8:00am – 9:00am average was 48mph – gusting to 55mph.

In the end, everybody made it down in good form yesterday. They had smiles on their faces as they swapped some stories at the Copper Creek. This morning the enjoyed some pancakes and bacon in the guide lounge followed by a day trip to Paradise for some fixed line training. A win in everybody’s book!

Tye Chapman