Out of the mountains.

Just a quick update. We managed to escape a stormy central Alaska range yesterday at about midday, just making it out of the mountains before all the ski-planes were grounded. Snaking out of the range following the Kahiltna glacier bairly a couple hundred metres above it, watching the ground get greener and warmer was fitting closure to the cold and stormy three and a half weeks we spent on the mountain.
      Unfortunately we gave up on our main objective (which we should be on now) after the weather kept deteriorating and the south east flow brought in one low after another. We did however get up to some good climbing on Denali, including breaking the 1991 Mugs Stump record on the Cassin ridge (just!), which was an unexpected but pleasant aspect of the trip. It was also great to just climb this uber alpine test-piece, which is arguably one of the most famous alpine routes in the world. And rightly so.
        So for the time being, Jon, myself and our friends Magnus and Andreas (who were out with us skiing,  Andreas making perhaps one of the most audacious extreme skiing descents of recent times....)  are gonna head south for a few days for some cragging, exploring and maybe some exploratory skiing in the Chugach. I'll write a full report with loads of sexy photos in the next week or so.