Move to 14 camp

Just talked to Jacob, the team powered up to 14,000' camp and settled in under light snow and warm temperatures. Although the weather is stable, 14 camp often gets afternoon cloud buildup on warm days that can spit a little snow here and there, but it is not a bad thing- the clouds help cut the intensity of the sun and can make things more comfortable overall. The climbers picked up their cache at 13,200' on the way by and hauled everything to 14, so Jacob has made tomorrow into a rest day, which means more sleep than usual and a little bit of skills classes to get everyone ready for the upper mountain. From 14 on up the route gets shorter in terms of distance covered but bigger in terms of elevation gained than the lower mountain- the team will be trained up on climbing fixed lines and clipping the rope through fixed protection. Fixed lines are put up by the National Park Service to safeguard a particular steep and icy slope, so the team will clip into the rope with ascenders which help safeguard any slips on the ascent or descent. Protection is gear placed in either rock, snow or ice that will allow the rope teams to move together but still stay connected to the mountain should someone take a fall. Learning to efficiently clip through the gear (we call it running pro) in a variety of conditions will help keep everyone safe, conserve movement and keep the move days to a reasonable amount of time. It sounds as everyone is continuing to be strong, happy warm and dry and Jacob and Nick have nothing but positive things to say, so keep thinking happy thoughts and hoping for continuing good weather. More soon...