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Entries By tyler jones

Mt. McKinley: Jones and Team Move to 14,000 Camp

Posted by: Tyler Jones | June 06, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 14,200'

This morning we awoke to mostly clear skies, calm winds,and great climbing temps. Bagels and bacon filled our tanks for an early breakfast. We loaded our packs with our camp and started the 3,000 foot climb back to our cache at 14,000’. The team climbed in better style than ever, cutting 15 minutes off our previous time to the 14,000’  Advanced Base Camp (ABC). The guides have some very tasty food in store for the next few meals as we rest, rehydrate, acclimate, and create tighter bonds with our new climbing partners.

RMI Guide Tyler Jones

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Mt. McKinley: Jones & Team Carry Toward 14 Camp

Posted by: Tyler Jones | June 05, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 11,000'

Today we experienced superb climbing conditions as we bumped equipment and food to our cache at 14,000’ camp.

We began with a steep climb out of 11,000’ camp, up “Motorcycle Hill” and “Squirrel Hill” then enjoyed a mellow walk across a part of the route called the “Polo Field.” We stopped just shy of the infamous “Windy Corner” at 13,200’. Guides and clients prepared to battle the harsh winds by dawning wind layers and face protection. We even made sure to have goggles readily accessible. When we rounded the corner however, we were greeted with only a light breeze. As a team we are constantly preparing for the worst and hoping for the best; the wind today turned out to be the best.

With our cache stocked, we headed downhill back to our camp. Despite some clouds, we were still greeted with a view of the Peters Glacier, the Direct West Buttress and Father and Son Wall. We were reminded how truly huge this place is, and satisfied to see that we are making steady progress. The entire crew had their strongest day yet.

We are currently back in camp hold up in our tents. It seems that in this place we are either working our tails off, or comatose and resting. Now we are the latter.

We look forward to seeing what kind of weather greets us tomorrow. We hope to move up to 14,000’ at some point in the next few days if the group feels strong and weather permits. Well keep you posted. For now, it’s back to food and rest.

RMI Guide Tyler Jones

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Mt. McKinley: Jones & Team at 11K Camp

Posted by: Tyler Jones | June 04, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 11,200'

There is no better way to start a day than sleeping in. After some long days of climbing, we have earned it. This morning we slept late, had breakfast burritos and started the work day at a leisurely 11am. While 23.5 hours of sunlight a day is a bit disorienting at first, hard work has been a great sleeping aid for the team.

Our crew is getting stronger every day. After our leisurely morning, we completed a back carry from 10,000’ with no problems. We now sit at our 11,000’ home, hiding from the beating radiation and gorging ourselves on goodie bags of food we recovered from our cache this morning. This afternoon we plan to meticulously re-pack the kit for a cache at 14,000’ camp. We look forward to caching and moving up in the next few days, if weather allows.

Thank you to all for your comments and words of encouragement.

RMI Guide Tyler Jones

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Mt. McKinley: Jones & Team Build a Deluxe Camp @ 11,000’

Posted by: Tyler Jones | June 03, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 11,200'

A well deserved rest day yesterday paid dividends today. The team moved efficiently to 11,000 feet where we set up a deluxe camp. The weather greeted us with a nice cold headwind with some fresh snow in the track, but that was not too much of an obstacle for our team.

We worked hard to furnish camp after arriving this afternoon. Our cook tent is especially posh and our tent platforms are perfectly flat with a 5-star covered rest area. We plan on enjoying the camp we have crafted for the next few days as we rest and shuttle loads.

We look forward to retrieving our cache at 10,000 feet tomorrow, a relatively short day, then rest and indulging on the treats in our currently cashed goodie bags. Eating well means feeling well in the mountains and this is something this crew knows well! Till tomorrow, the whole team says hi to all.

RMI Guide Tyler Jones

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Mt. McKinley: Jones & Team Enjoyed a Rest Day

Posted by: Tyler Jones | June 02, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 9,600'

Once we decided not to move for the day, the team slept late and gorged ourselves on a breakfast of toasted bagels with cream cheese and lockes. The rest of the morning was spent getting camp in order and digging out our walls.

Expedition life is a funny mixture of hard days of climbing and long days of sitting in the tents trying to avoid boredom. Today was the latter. We spent the afternoon avoiding the sun while we napped, read books and told stories. Being able to entertain yourself in the tent is a crucial skill on big expeditions.

Tomorrow, weather permitting, we plan to make a push up towards the 11k camp for more acclimatization and rest before we push higher on this magical massif, Denali.

RMI Guide Tyler Jones

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Mt. McKinley: Jones & Team Carry to 10,000’

Posted by: Tyler Jones, Eric Frank, Logan Randolph | June 01, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 7,800'

This morning we awoke to 6 to 8 inches of light fresh powder. We didn’t allow this to stop our momentum. With calm winds and overcast skies we decided on a carry for today. We cached a portion of our gear at 10,000 feet with the intention of lightening our load when we move to 11,000 feet.

We are now back at our camp at 7,800 feet hiding from the sun, rehydrating and relaxing. For the past two days we have seen many climbing teams from all over the world. This trip of a lifetime is well underway and the team is climbing strong. As the winds pick up here at Camp 1, we are headed out to tighten up our camp and build some wind walls. Cheers for the team.

RMI Guide Tyler Jones

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Mt. McKinley: Tyler Jones & Team Ready for Flight

Posted by: Eric Frank, Logan Randolph, Tyler Jones | May 30, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 348'

Hello! It’s Tyler,Eric and Logan checking in after a long day of work in Talkeetna.

Yesterday we had a sunny drive through the Alaskan scenery before arriving in Talkeetna in late evening. This completed a long day of travel from our various home bases to our soon to be new home on the “Great One”- Denali.

This morning the team met for breakfast at the Roadhouse Restaurant to officially start the program. After chatting about the day, we walked across the small town of Talkeetna to K2 Aviation. As planes took off and landed around us, the team spread out clothing and equipment in the airport hanger and consulted endless checklists. As we made our final gear selections, the hanger was buzzing with excitement.

After an afternoon break for pizza and salad, we all headed to the National Park Service headquarters for an orientation meeting.  We chatted about the importance of keeping our impact low as we climb and live in the park for the next few weeks. After the orientation, we spent some time working on rigging sleds, setting up tents and building other skills.

At noon the hanger looked like a yard sale; clothing and gear scattered everywhere. By the time we left for dinner, all of our ducks were in a row. We now have duffels and packs neatly stacked in the front of the hanger. We are ready to go and eager to get on the glacier.

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Mt. Rainier: May 27th Update

Posted by: Tyler Jones | May 27, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'

The Four Day Summit Climb led by Tyler Jones reached the summit this morning!  This was our first summit since May 20th.  The team began their descent from the crater rim at 9:15 a.m.

Congratulations to Tyler and his team!

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Mt. Rainier: Ski Touring in December

Posted by: Tyler Jones | December 22, 2011
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount Rainier
Elevation: 10,060'

The week of winter solstice was filled with sun, great attitudes and a wonderful time spent in the mountains. We started our Intro to Ski Mountaineering Seminar with a day of basic touring skills, equipment function and packing along with harness, rope, and avalanche transceiver drills. This was a great start to the trip with two young boys from New York and Ohio looking for adventure and building their mountaineering and ski touring skill sets. The mountain days were full of exciting new learning.  Our first day on the hill we parked at Paradise and ski toured toward Edith Creek drainage and found a nice, secluded and well snow-covered area to camp for the evening, allowing us to make a run down a great slope in the basin. We covered kick turns and transitions along with many other key maneuvers while traveling the mountains with skis on, whether it be up or on the way down. Our camp experience was good practical winter camping… Cold…ish but clear and star filled nights.

The second day we awoke to fog filled air. We leisurely packed camp and dropped some extra overnight equipment in the van. Around 10 a.m. we stepped in to our skis and started our ski to Camp Muir, 4,500’ above at 10,000’. On our way to Muir we encountered firm crust and rime ice requiring us to make use of the crampons a few times and used them a good amount on a section of the upper snow field when our skins would just not grip. In late afternoon we arrived at Muir feeling the days work. We brewed up some hot drinks, had dinner and settled in the bunkhouse for the evening. The third day we covered loads of skills in the region of Muir including ice axes, ropes, cramponing, rope rescue and then followed with many of my other teaching tangents. We had the best weather we could ask for on the true winter solstice day in the Northwest. In our evening lecture we went over frostbite, hypothermia, and altitude illnesses. Today, our fourth day, we made our decent from Muir . We traveled a section with crampons due to poor snow conditions but still managed to get 3,200’ of descent. In my eyes, any skiing is good skiing. We closed the week’s journey back in Ashford over a refreshing beverage and a burger. The week of ski touring has been one to remember and I look forward to teaching more ski-based mountaineering trips on one of the lower 48’s best and biggest ski hills, Mount Rainier.

RMI Guide Tyler Jones

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Mt. Rainier: Muir Seminar Concludes Their Week of Training and the Season

Posted by: Casey Grom, Tyler Jones | September 30, 2011
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount Rainier
Elevation: 10,500'

Our Expedition Skills Seminar - Muir was a microcosm of mountaineering: athletic, challenging, moments of joy and occasional disappointment, but ultimately and most importantly a safe adventure.  Heavy rain on Monday negated our planned ascent to Camp Muir, but we had a productive day at Rainier Basecamp going over numerous techniques.  We reached Camp Muir on Tuesday and spent the next three days practicing skills and preparing folks for future climbs.  These skills were crevasse rescue, cramponing, ice climbing, beacon searches, rope travel, route finding and more!  Conditions at Muir were sunny, windy and icy most of the week.  We encountered a layer of hard ice on the surface of the Cowlitz Glacier (and above) which unfortunately prevented a summit attempt.  Our high point was the top of Cathedral Gap, approximately 10,500’. 

RMI Guide Casey Grom

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