Entries By pete van deventer

Mt. McKinley: Walter & Team Postpone Summit Attempt

Posted by: Mike Walter, Pete Van Deventer | May 26, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 17,200'

Pete Van Deventer called and the team is at 17,200’ and are positioned for their summit attempt. The weather changed and the winds were high so they postponed their attempt one day.  The team will be going for it tomorrow and hope to give us a call from the summit.

RMI Guides Mike Walter & Pete Van Deventer

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Mt. McKinley: Walter & Team Ready for Summit Bid

Posted by: Mike Walter, Pete Van Deventer | May 26, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 17,200'

Hey guys, this is Mike Walter calling from high camp on Denali, 17,200’. We’re all doing great. We are all tucked into our sleeping bags. We moved up here yesterday and rested today. We are hoping for good weather to go for the summit tomorrow, which would be Saturday, May 26th. The forecast is for pretty light winds and some clouds so it is looking promising. We’ll give you guy a shout either from up top or back at camp hopefully. Alright. We’ll see you.

RMI Guide Mike Walter

Building Ice Walls at High Camp


Mike Walter checks in from 17,200' camp

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Mt. McKinley: Walter & Team Set up 14,000’ Camp

Posted by: Mike Walter, Pete Van Deventer, Maile Wade | May 19, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 14,000'

Hey all! Greetings from 14,000 ft. Yesterday was a busy day as several teams including ourselves, packed up camp at 11k and headed for our advanced basecamp at 14k. Temperatures were cool and the sky was bluebird, making ideal conditions for climbing. Windy Corner gave us a little taste with a chilly breeze blowing as we approached. As soon as we rounded it, however, the breeze died and the sun turned on the microwave.

Move days are hard work. Not only do you have a long day with heavy packs, but at the end of it you have to spend several hours reestablishing camp. The team did great and we moved into a quite comfortable camp; important because this is where we will stage from and wait for our weather window to head for the summit. Today we will head down to retrieve our cache at 13k, and spend the rest of the day fortifying camp with large snow walls so that we are prepared for a storm.

We want to wish Maile a super happy birthday, and we’re glad she’s up here celebrating it with us!

Hasta luego,
RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer and team

Mt. McKinley 14,000' Camp with Mt. Foraker in the background

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Mt. McKinley: Walter & Team Carry to 13,500’

Posted by: Pete Van Deventer | May 17, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 11,300'

Hi all!

We are back at 11,000’ camp after a successful and gorgeous carry to cache gear at 13,500 ft, just past Windy Corner.  When we woke this morning it looked like Windy Corner might live up to it’s name; banners of snow were flying high off the nearby peaks from a strong north wind.  We had a great smoked salmon breakfast and dragged our feet in camp for a bit to see if the wind would die, and it played ball! The carry was warm and calm, and the group moved great, happy to be free of our sleds, and to have lighter loads.

The weather forecast is sounding stellar for the next handful of days. We’re going to make a game time decision tomorrow morning whether to move to the 14,000’ camp or stay one more day at 11,000’. We’ll let you know!

That’s all for now; we’re going to crawl into our warm down bags and get some shut eye.

RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer and the crew

An RMI Team ascending from 11,000 ft. camp.  Photo: RMI Collection An RMI Expedition camped at 11,200' on Mt. McKinley.  Photo: RMI Collection

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Mt. McKinley: Walter & Team Move to 9,600’

Posted by: Maile Wade, Mike Walter, Pete Van Deventer | May 13, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 9,600'

This morning we awoke to our first views of the Alaska Range. After sitting out the storm in Talkeetna and flying on with clouds still in the area, we were pleasantly surprised with a beautiful sunny day. Our first big hill of the trip greeted us right out of camp, but even with this challenge we moved well up to camp at 9,500’.  The Kahiltna Glacier is in great shape which made our travels nice and fluid. Base camp received 3 feet of snow while we sat in Talkeetna, but this just made for great navigating and smooth sailing for us. As we moved into the steeps of Ski Hill, there was a perfect trough to keep our sleds in line and upright. With our first challenges behind us, we rolled into camp around 5:00 and made a yummy birthday dinner for Carl…61 today!! Now, we’re resting up for another big push tomorrow to 11,000’ camp. Happy Mother’s Day to all of our moms! Goodnight.

RMI Guides Mike Walter, Pete Van Deventer & Maile Wade

An RMI team pulling sleds up Ski Hill on the Lower Kahiltna Glacier

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Mt. McKinley: Walter & Team Spend First Night at Camp 1

Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Mike Walter | May 13, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 7,300'

Hey all! Our previous two day’s waiting game turned to hustle and bustle yesterday as the skies opened and allowed the planes to fly. Our flights left right after breakfast, and we landed at basecamp, resplendent with a new layer of snow. It’s still early in the season, and basecamp was quiet, with just a handful of climbers waiting to fly off, or start their climb uphill.

After a couple hours spent packing, rigging sleds, and digging our cache, we were on our way, dropping down the SE fork of the Kahiltna Glacier to begin our ascent up the main fork. The skies quickly closed and it began to snow, obscuring the views and dropping the temperature significantly. We made camp in light snow last night, but this AM woke to sun and clear skies! The plan is to make a move to our next camp at 9,600’ today.

Happy birthday to team member Carl Devendorf, and everyone would like to wish their moms a Happy Mother’s Day!

We’ll be in touch soon.

RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer and the gang

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Mt. McKinley: Walter & Team Enroute to Base Camp

Posted by: Mike Walter, Pete Van Deventer, Maile Wade | May 12, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 358'

The May 8th Mt. McKinley Expedition led by RMI Guides Mike Walter, Pete Van Deventer and Maile Wade is now en route to Base Camp.  The weather in Talkeetna was clear this morning and the team headed for the K2 Aviation hanger.

Good luck on your expedition!

The May 8th RMI McKinley Expedition boards the plane for their flight to Base Camp.  Photo: Maile Wade Departing Talkeetna en route to McKinley Base Camp.  Photo: Maile Wade

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Mt. McKinley: Walter & Team Make Most of their Talkeetna Time

Posted by: Mike Walter, Pete Van Deventer, Maile Wade | May 11, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 358'

We spent the day waiting for our weather window to fly on to the glacier, but two feet of snow at Base Camp last night and continuing snow through today have so far prevented us from making it on. Rather than idly twiddling our thumbs, we decided to make the best of a warm dry hanger and practice our crevasse rescue skills and self rescue systems. Everyone is feeling better about their systems after a lot of practice and playing with knots and tricks. We still have one and a half hours to go before the planes are grounded for the night, increasingly it is looking like tomorrow morning is more likely for flying. Hopefully our next post will come from there glacier!

Best,
RMI Guide Peter Van Deventer

Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate with us today, and we were unable to fly in to Base Camp once again. While it seems as though the weather is improving, the conditions were not conducive to flying; no planes left Talkeetna today with the intention of trying to land at Base Camp. We took advantage of the down time today and did some dry-land review of crevasse rescue. There were also some pretty competitive games of ping pong going on this afternoon in the Hangar as we waited on standby for the weather to clear. We’re all eager to fly, but we understand that climbing Denali requires patience. Hopefully we get a break tomorrow and can fly in to Base Camp and establish ourselves on the mountain. In the meantime, we’re enjoying Talkeetna.

Cheers,
RMI Guide Mike Walter

The team practicing crevasse rescue in Talkeetna while waiting for better weather to fly to Base Camp.  Photo: Pete Van Deventer

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Mt. McKinley: Mike Walter & Team in Talkeetna

Posted by: Mike Walter, Pete Van Deventer, Maile Wade | May 10, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 358'

Yesterday was the first full day of the 2012 RMI Denali season. After a great team breakfast at the historic Talkeetna Roadhouse, we headed to the National Park Service for our pre-climb orientation meeting, followed by a full day of packing and sorting our gear at the K2 Aviation hangar.

We’re all excited for this trip to start, and optimistic that we will be able to fly on to the Kahiltna Glacier today. There are some clouds in the sky, and a little precipitation in the forecast, so we’ll see if the planes are able to fly or not. Hopefully our next dispatch is sent from the glacier…either way, we’ll keep you posted.

RMI Guide Mike Walter

Packing food and gear in the K2 Aviation Hanger, Talkeenta Alaska.  Photo: Pete Van Deventer The RMI May 8, 2012 McKinley Team in Talkeetna waiting to fly to Base Camp.  Photo: Mike Walter

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RMI Guides: Pete Van Deventer & Lindsay Mann Enjoy Day of Rock Climbing

Posted by: Lindsay Mann, Pete Van Deventer | March 28, 2012
Categories: *Guide News

Spring came very early in Aspen, CO this year, with the last two weeks bringing 75 degree temps almost daily.  Monday, Aspen based guides Lindsay Mann and Pete Van Deventer decided to take a break from spring skiing conditions to start getting into rock climbing shape for the summer.  Independence Pass, just outside of Aspen, was warm, dry, and provides an ideal training ground, with a plethora of trad and sport cragging routes.  Despite a relatively small snow year in Aspen, both Lindsay and Pete have had a lot of days of skiing and ski touring that have prepped them well for upcoming May Denali climbs.  Monday was a great day to take a break from skiing, catch some sun, and get comfortable on rocks again!

RMI Guide Lindsay Mann enjoying a spring day on Independence Pass, CO.  Photo: Pete Van Deventer Independence Pass near Aspen, CO.  Photo: Pete Van Deventer.

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