It's been an adventurous couple of days so far. It took three flights to finally get onto the glacier, the first attempt getting turned back about half way to the airstrip on the SE fork of the Kahiltna glacier. The second time we were just four minutes from the airstrip when ground fog turned us back. But, at 6:00pm we finally made it! I've got to hand it to our pilots. Three attempts is unprecedented. Given the hour of the day we opted to make camp and begin our climb in the morning. I'm sure I wasn't the only climber on the trip to fret about the winds and snow the was blasting our tents all night, but at 6:00am the weather settled and we awoke to calm skies. Unfortunately, it didn't last and clouds and snow soon became the order of the day. Navigating in conditions like this can be a challenge, but I soon discovered that we had a secret weapon on our team: our guide Maile Wade, whose uncanny eyes could pick out even the smallest speck of a wand in the white out conditions that our first day served up for us. Coupled with my gps, we made it to tonight's camp at 7800' in great order. Of course, the tiresome winds of the day challenged our camp building skills, but I have to hand to the entire team, everybody dealt exceptionally well with all that was thrown our way today. The first days of these big expeditions can be trying even in nice conditions, and that everyone was in great spirits at the end of the day bodes well for the rest of the trip. In the parlance of the young: 'I'm psyched!' RMI Guide Brent Okita