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Tornadoes of Spindrift Wailing Away Tuesday, June 20, 2000
Hello Mountain Zone, this is Vernon Tejas high on Denali with Team Larry and we're here to tell you we're staying alive. The weather can be brutal. Yesterday, we went down to pick up our cache at 16,200 feet, along the ridge, the West Buttress ridge, and that ridge was just tornado after tornado of spindrift wailing away. I guess we figured it must have been 70mph. I measured it the day before, but these gusts were actually knocking me around and I would imagine with a big pack on and my feet well anchored to the ground that there must have been fairly substantial gusts. Everybody was guessing that it must been way up there. Then, couple that with -15 degree temperatures and, good gracious, we have some challenging conditions. Isn't that right Larry? See even Larry agrees so, and with this being Team Larry and being all about Larry we definitely wanted to make sure that we got back before a big storm come in. So today, today we're actually resting, kind of recuperating. The weather here seems to be cloudy, but the winds have dropped substantially and many of the residents here at 17.2 have shot for the summit today. Unfortunately, most of them are coming back because the winds in Denali Pass, which is another 1,000 feet above us, the cold has been more challenging than most people expect this time of year. Very much similar to what May would be like. Anyway don't despair, we've got lots of food and lots of fuel and we're going to hang tight and give it our best shot. So keep your prayers coming gang and that's a big goodbye from 17.2, where no one is blue.
— Vern Tejas, Alpine Ascents International, MountainZone.com Correspondent
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Hear Vern's Call from Denali 
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