Monday, May 16, 2022 - 6:54 am PT

We spent our first night in the Alaska range cozy in our -20 bags and woke to clear skis and a stunning view all around. The peak of Denali above had a small cloud hat, but otherwise the mountains jutted up into the blue and the sky promised another gorgeous day. We fired the stoves for breakfast and as the sun got closer to camp, woke everyone.

After bagel bacon sandwiches, we set to the task of organizing what gear we were going to move uphill to cache. A fair bit of our food and fuel made up the bulk of it. We departed, loads considerably lighter than yesterday and worked our way up Ski Hill. Several hours of steady uphill work brought us to 9700', where we opted to dig a deep hole in the snow and hide our treasure, to be retrieved in a few days. Moving light and downhill, we made quick work of the descent back to camp and a dinner of burritos. And so goes the rhythm of Denali - wake, eat, walk, eat, sleep. We'll touch base tomorrow.

RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer, Leif Bergstrom, Erika Birkeland, and team