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Mt. McKinley: Mike Walter and Team Retrieve their Cache

Posted by: Mike Walter, Solveig Waterfall, Ben Liken | May 22, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 14,200'

The weather was beautiful today, sunny and warm, and barely a breath of wind. We took a quick trip back to Windy Corner (13,600’) to retrieve the cache we left there well over a week ago. The hike back to the cache took us 15 minutes, and about an hour to ascend back to the 14,200’ camp that we established yesterday. The rest of the day was spent buffing out camp and practicing fixed rope travel techniques in preparation for tomorrow. Tomorrow we plan on carry supplies up above 16,000’ to get ready for our summit bid. The weather looks good for the next few days; hopefully the forecast pans out. Tomorrow will be two weeks into our expedition, and we’re all excited to get up high soon.

We’ll let you know how our carry goes. Stay tuned…

RMI Guide Mike Walter & Team

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Mt. McKinley: Billy Nugent & Team Move to 11,000’

Posted by: Billy Nugent, Kel Rossiter, Levi Kepsel | May 22, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 11,000'

In the movie “Spinal Tap” there’s a comical part where the rock god explains to an interviewer that, whereas most amplifiers only go up to ten, his “goes to eleven” in case he’s really rocking out and “needs that extra push.”  Well, our strong team definitely needed no extra push in making it to 11K camp today.

After a calm night at 9600’ we woke to clear skies and prepared to “go to eleven.”  After caching some gear and food in a snow hole ( which we’ll pick up tomorrow) we enjoyed the feeling of dramatically lightened packs and sleds as we moved up.  Arriving in camp the team had its first experience with building a true Denali-style fortified camp.  Some people were shoveling, some were cutting blocks, some were carrying them:  everyone was working hard and in an hour or so we had a veritable Great Wall in place. Everyone enjoyed the upper body workout and the concrete results.  The sun sets late at 11K (it’s about 10pm now and still brilliant) and folks are settling in to a well-earned sleep.

Tomorrow will be a “half-rest” day: we’ll be making a three-hour trek to retrieve our cache, but without the work of breaking down and setting up camp we’ll be able to also rest and acclimatize.

RMI Guide Kel Rossiter

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Alaska Expedition Seminar: Team Enjoys Pulling Sleds and Glacier Climbing

Posted by: Andres Marin, Garrett Stevens, Katie Bono | May 22, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 7,300'

After our unsuccessful attempt climbing Radio Tower due avalanche conditions, we spent our last day hiking to the first camp on Denali. We all had the opportunity to pull sleds and go for a long glacier hike. The group enjoyed the views and exercise that took to get there. We finished our day climbing up Heartbreak Hill back to Denali Base Camp. All and all a fantastic day.

Tomorrow we will be packing our camp and be flying at noon back to Talkeetna.

RMI Guide Andres Marin

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Mt. McKinley: Walter & Team Move to 14K Camp!

Posted by: Mike Walter, Solveig Waterfall, Ben Liken | May 20, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 14,200'

Hello All!

We awoke this morning to calm winds and relatively warm temperatures; a welcome change from the last week of stormy living at 11,000’.  We had a quick breakfast and broke down tents just as the sun began to thaw out camp.  Eager to make our move, we started our ascent at 10 am and arrived at our camp in the Genet Basin at 14,200’ at 3:30pm.  Everyone did great and we enjoyed the warm sunshine and lack of chilly breeze getting around Windy Corner.

We spent the rest of the day working hard building walls and getting our camp in order.

Looking forward to getting a good nights rest and getting our cache tomorrow!

RMI Guide Mike Walter

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Mt. McKinley: Nugent & Team Establish Camp 2

Posted by: Billy Nugent, Kel Rossiter, Levi Kepsel | May 20, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 9,600'

Another beautiful day and another strong effort from our crew! We took advantage of more amazing weather and single-carried all of our gear and supplies up Ski Hill to set up shop at Camp 2, which sits at about 9,600’ on the upper reaches of the Kahiltna Glacier. Our guys clearly trained hard and the long hours on the stairmaster paid dividends today hauling massive loads. We rolled into camp around 4:30 which made for a leisurely afternoon getting situated and taking in the amazing views. After a hot dinner of tortellini alfredo, we all crawled into the tents and are currently waiting for the bitter cold to set in once the sun dips behind Kahiltna Dome.

That’s all for now, we’ll check in again tomorrow!

RMI Guide Billy Nugent

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Mt. McKinley: Walter & Team - The Winds Win Out

Posted by: Mike Walter, Solveig Waterfall, Ben Liken | May 20, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 11,200'

We woke early this morning, had breakfast, and packed up camp, ready to move to 14,200’ before the sun had hit our tents. But the winds up high were too strong for my liking. We repitched our tents to seek shelter from the wind and waited for a few hours for the winds to abate. Unfortunately, the winds up high continued and a mean looking lenticular cloud had formed over Windy Corner, where we were headed. By noon we made the decision to stay in camp another day and avoid the risks of getting caught in a windstorm high in the mountains of Alaska.

So we wait another day. Such is expedition climbing. The weather forecast looks good for the next few days, and we’re confident that tomorrow will be the day to move camp. We’ll let you know how it goes.

RMI Guide Mike Walter

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Alaska Expedition Seminar: Marin & Team Practice Ice Climbing

Posted by: Andres Marin, Garrett Stevens, Katie Bono | May 20, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 7,300'

There is something about ice climbing in a crevasse that is just mind blowing.  Today the group got to experience ice climbing and how much fun it is.

We headed for the foot hills of Mt. Francis to find a deep crevasse suitable for great climbing.  Big smiles all day long.  Tomorrow we are getting ready to go climbing Radio Tower.  The team is excited to climb higher tomorrow and are doing well!

RMI Guide Andres Marin

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Mt. McKinley:  Nugent & Team “Walking the Pigs”

Posted by: Billy Nugent, Kel Rossiter, Levi Kepsel | May 19, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 7,600'

“Pigs” is the term of endearment climbers use to describe any heavy load on a climb.  On Denali our “pigs” are our sleds, and today we took them for their first walk.  The team woke to a bluebird day—welcome after the days of gray—learned about packing, strapping, and roping up our sleds, and then took them out on the trail from Basecamp to 7,600’.  Day one of “walking the pigs” can often be a porcine rodeo with lots of grappling and twisting going on, but this crew made it look more like walking poodles at the Westchester Dog Show.  We’re now at the base of Ski Hill, firing the skillet with fajitas, enjoying the stunning scenery up the Northeast Fork of the Kahiltna, and getting ready for tomorrow’s push into steeper terrain—this crew is ready for it.

RMI Guide Kel Rossiter

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Mt. McKinley: Nugent & Team Fly on to the Kahiltna Glacier!

Posted by: Billy Nugent, Kel Rossiter, Levi Kepsel | May 19, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 7,300'

Hey everybody, checking in from the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier where we are settled into Basecamp after a day of exciting weather. We woke this morning in Talkeetna to a couple inches of new snow on the ground and thought it was going to be another day of waiting around for flyable weather. But when I checked in with K2 at 8:00 they said it was actually clear at Basecamp and that as soon as the snow showers in town stopped we’d potentially be on our way.

Well, the clouds broke around noon and our intrepid crew loaded up onto a pair of otters and headed for the Alaska Range. Clouds enroute nearly forced us to turn around but our pilots were able to make it happen and delivered us safely to the Southeast Fork. Some unfortunate planes were forced to turn around after the runway shutdown because of a bank of clouds that rolled in soon after our arrival. These folks eventually made it in later on in the evening when everything cleared up. The views here are breathtaking, if a little humbling.

Wish us luck as we head out on the route first thing tomorrow!

RMI Guide Billy Nugent

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Alaska Expedition Seminar: Marin & Team Enjoy Spectacular Views While Training

Posted by: Andres Marin, Garrett Stevens, Katie Bono | May 19, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 7,300'

Today we woke up with clear skies!  After breakfast we shouldered our packs and went for a hike to the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier. The Fork offers spectacular views of the North Buttress of Mt. Hunter, South Face of Radio Tower, and the West Face of Kahiltna Queen.  We also learned about snow anchors and glacier travel.  It was really nice to be able to stretch our legs and hike around.  It certainly was a fantastic day.

We also had the opportunity to eat dinner outside enjoying the incredible views.  The weather is looking nice for the rest of the week, so we will be getting around.

Everyone is doing great!

RMI Guide Andres Marin

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