Update from the Mt Sanford (now Mt. Jarvis) Expedition

April 25, 2017

Our Mt. Sanford team gathered in Anchorage on May 21 without issue other than a set of delayed bags. The team traveled early on Sunday morning to bush pilot Paul Claus’ pickup site at the Chitina airstrip. After aerial reconnaissance of the Sheep Glacier on Mt. Sanford, Paul made the determination that it was not safe to land the team on Mt. Sanford. The conditions were poor for a ski equipped plane landing, with wind blasted, blue ice showing and low snow coverage.  The nice part about visiting the Wrangell Mountains is there is always a plan B. This worked out well and Paul was able to deposit the team at about 9000′ on the Nebesna plateau between Mt. Jarvis and Mt. Wrangell.

Lead guide Aaron Mainer called in today at 5:30pm PDT with an update.  All is well with the team. Today they did a carry across the plateau at 9,000 feet to the base of the south side of Mt Jarvis at approximately 9,700 feet. This will become Camp 1. The group is doing well and all are healthy. The carry was well timed. As the group returned to base camp at the landing site, the weather started to cloud in and the winds increased. The group will have a good rest tonight and then let the weather determine tomorrow’s itinerary. The weather forecast is for light snow and low winds through Tuesday.

George Dunn