A couple of additional press pieces. Many thanks to both the CBS Early Show and Highpointers.org for covering the climb!
At 43 days, 3 hours and 51 minutes, the team summited Mauna Kea, the highest point in Hawaii. This is high point #50 in a long road of high points. Congratulations team! You did it!
Many thanks to Charley Mace for the photos!
The climb is getting some press! Links to to the recent articles:
The team left Billings around noon on Tuesday for their attempt on Granite Peak. Coming in at 12,807 ft, Granite is considered a 4+ mountain and is one of the most difficult of the lower 48 high peaks – the team chose to take the West Rosebud Route. This particular route takes you past several lakes and up to Froze to Death Plateau. The elevation gain is pretty stiff.
No contact yet with the team to fill in the rest of the details, but I know that the summit occured around 1:00 pm. My guess is that the team is hustling to find the fastest way from Montana to Hawaii to capture peak #50.
At the summit
On Sunday July 11, the team summited peak #48 - Borah Peak, the highest peak in Idaho at 12,668 ft. The weather was a bit sketchy but the team pushed on and made the summit in the late morning.
Scaling a rock face
One team member commented that if it hadn’t been for some of the clouds, it would’ve been one of his best climbing days ever.
Always more snow
Only two more to go!
At the summit
The climb for Gannett started on Thursday morning out of Pinedale, WY. For the first time on the expedition, the team used four-hoof drive – in the form of horses – for much of Thursday’s trek to the trailhead. The horses were able to take them fairly close to the trail, much farther than originally anticipated with the late season snow.
Four-hoof drive
The team made camp, slept for a short bit and then left at 12:30 am on Wednesday for the summit. The first part was pretty dodgy – there was no moon and a snowfield stood between them and the summit. Night starts in the west definitely have their advantage as “afternoon” storms can take place as early as 11 in the morning. However, the downside to starting so early is that the team was basically climbing via feel and starlight.
Night climb
However the day was theirs and at 8:41 in the morning, the team summited peak #48, Gannett Peak, the highest point in Wyoming.
Congratulations guys! The team hit high point #47 at about 8:41 am today. Gannett Peak, at 13,809 ft, is now one for the books.
From the limited conversations I had with the team yesterday (it was actually a voicemail), I suspect they will take a day to rest (either tomorrow or Sunday) and then head up to Granite Peak in Montana on Monday.
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The Big Three (plus one!): AK, NV, CA, and CO
Great Plains and the Southwest: NM, OK, KS, NE, SD, ND, AZ and TX
The South: LA, AR, MO, MS, AL, FL, GA, SC, NC, VA, KY and TN
East, Northeast and Midwest: WV, MD, PA, DE, NJ, CT, MA, NY, VT, NH, ME, RI, IL, WI, MI, MN, IA, IN and OH
The team started out this morning for Gannett Peak. There is high late snow pack in both Wyoming and Montana meaning more alpine conditions and hauling via skis for the team. Gannett requires horses to get to the peak so they will pack in about 10-12 miles and then hike to the summit. The summit should happen sometime tomorrow.