Entries from Mt. McKinley
May 28, 2015 - 9:39 am PT
In the big picture breakdown of
Mt. McKinley's climbing days, it would be said that historically the move day from 11,000 foot camp to 14,000 foot camp would prove to be one of the most difficult. Today I would say that we beat the odds. We broke camp at 7 am this morning in quick time and after a delicious breakfast of instant oatmeal and instant coffee we were ready to tackle the day's first objective. Directly out of 11 camp, a swell steep uphill called Motorcycle Hill greets you. Next is Squirrel Hill and after that Windy Corner. Now I'm not sure how we have gotten in such good graces with the often grumpy weather gods but today those gods, sitting around their big weather God dinner table, decide today should be the nicest day all month. With clear skies, no wind and perfect walking temps we all zipped right through those hills and corners to a breathtaking camp here at 14,000 feet. We were in no rush because the day was so amazing so we created our own camp out of scratch and are all feeling rewarded and strong. Big move days rarely go this smooth. We could not feel more psyched for what's to come.
I am thinking about you Liam. I can't wait to see you.
Wishing all of our family and friends big hugs.
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
On The Map
May 27, 2015 - 10:38 pm PT
We woke early this morning, ate, took down our tents and packed our backpacks. We even had our harnesses on. The weather was perfect. But after checking multiple weather resources, our decision was clear. Weather models were in agreement, forecasting gale force winds in excess of 65mph tomorrow at high camp. It would not have been prudent to risk going up high today and deal with potential tent-crushing winds tomorrow. So we unpacked and set up our tents anew.
Throughout the emotional swings of this morning, our team has remained resolute. Safety is our number one priority up here in the mountains, and we will try for our summit push after tomorrow's winds abate. In fact, the forecast looks quite good for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We're optimistic that we'll have good shot to move up to high camp on Friday.
In the mean time today, we're enjoying the best weather day of our whole trip. It's sunny, calm, and warm
here at 14,200'.
Pete Van Deventer's expedition is up high on the ridge today, caching supplies for their stint at high camp (which will likely coincide with ours). Adam Knoff's expedition rolled into camp today also, and they're busy setting up their camp. It's good to see a lot of friendly RMI climber faces here at camp.
We'll keep you posted any news from our end.
Cheers,
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
May 26, 2015 - 11:13 pm PT
We woke to a swirling cloud cap above, that left little doubt that it was unpleasant in the
West Buttress. We decided to wait the day yet again and see what tomorrow brings. We did take advantage of a break in the clouds to walk to the "Edge of the World', where Genet Basin drops almost 7,000 feet to the Northeast fork of the Kahiltna. The views from here are unsurpassed and everyone took turns being belayed out to the edge to snap photos. We'll give another shot at caching on the buttress tomorrow. We'll let you know how it goes.
RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer, Robby Young, Josh Maggard, and team
On The Map
May 26, 2015 - 10:33 pm PT
We woke early again today, hoping for good weather to move up to high camp. But it was not to be. A large lenticular cloud, indicating strong winds, had formed over the top of
Denali, extending down beyond high camp. Winds were howling up high until a little afternoon today, when the cloud dissipated for a couple hours and then reformed in the afternoon. The winds were too strong for us to safely move camp to 17,200', so we rested again at 14,200'.
We took advantage of clear skies on the lower mountain to take a walk out to the "Edge of the World", a point south of our camp that looks down sheer cliffs about 5,000' down the the Northeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier. The views from the Edge are surreal, and the scale is nearly incomprehensible.
We're psyched to see what the weather brings tomorrow, and we're ready to take advantage of good weather when it presents itself. We'll keep you posted.
RMI Guide Mike Walter and team
On The Map
May 26, 2015 - 7:24 pm PT
I gave the team a general idea of when we might start breakfast this morning at dinner last night. I bet we get hot water started at around 8, then start pancakes and coffee shortly after that I said. I didn't even open my eyes until almost nine. While in the middle of working your way up this mountain day after day none of us realized how much we could use a rest. Today it became clear. We sat in the cook tent making fresh Pete's coffee and watching Andy flip flap jacks until almost noon. Then we took naps and soaked up the sun we haven't really seen clearly this entire trip. Now we are cooking quesadillas and packing up for our potential move to
14 Camp tomorrow. Everyone is happy to be caching dirty underwear, smelly socks and unneeded stuff for the upper mountain. It has been a beautiful rest day here at 11 Camp but after getting a great view of the upper mountain yesterday, the team feels super psyched to push this climb higher and see what unfolds.
Check in tomorrow for the outcome of our hopeful move.
Team Knoff saying goodnight.
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
On The Map
May 26, 2015 - 10:08 am PT
Today is Memorial Day. With the simplicity of life on this mountain taking charge, many of us don't even know what day it is. The process of get up, get dressed in close quarters, make your way to the cook tent dug into the side of the mountain, eat breakfast, pack you bag and climb, come back to the tents, eat dinner and go to bed is a process where days don't matter. So if birthdays are missed, anniversaries are forgotten about, we are not to blame. Despite having digital doohickeys with us, looking at calendars and keeping track of days becomes arbitrary. Today as it turns out wasn't Memorial Day up here, it was
Windy Corner day. This legendary gateway to the upper mountain is famous for its heinous wind, scary rock fall and tricky crevasses. We are happy to report our carry around the corner to 13,500 feet went as smooth as we could have asked for. Again we lucked out with weather because as I wrote earlier our early morning wake up calls got us going into clear skies but as soon as we arrived back in camp seven hours later it was snowing as hard as it has all trip. There is much to be said for walking into a camp that is waiting for you. We will rest tomorrow and eat pancakes and drink fresh coffee until nap time. We can't wait.
Hello to Mrs. Vradenburg's class at Lamotte School I hope Liam is behaving. Stay tuned.
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
On The Map
May 26, 2015 - 12:17 am PT
Just like Johnny Cash said, "that train keeps a rollin'." The winds were down, a cloud of sparkling ice crystals hung around, reflecting the sunlight and solar baking everything, and we returned to a dead calm Windy Corner to retrieve our cash. We are one step closer now with all of our food up here with us. The next step is to take a run at the fixed lines and cache some food in the
West Buttress. To prepare, we spent the afternoon practicing with our ascenders and getting prepped for that potential carry tomorrow. Mac and cheese with bacon for dinner to fuel us tomorrow. We'll hope to wake up with a green light to head up. For now, good night!
RMI Guides Pete, Robby, Josh, and team
On The Map
May 25, 2015 - 7:16 pm PT
Hello Everyone!
This morning, hopeful to move to high camp, we awoke early and had breakfast and coffee in the chilly pre-solar hours, watching through dissipating clouds, as the wind whipped along the top of the
West Buttress leaving streaks of sublimated snow in its wake.
And so resumed another day of reading, sport eating, and exploring the tangled and winding pathways between the walls of surrounding camps.
We are all crossing our fingers today is our final rest and acclimatization day here at fabulous 14 camp. We are looking forward to getting some exercise of the physical kind...we have been taxing the mental reserves nightly by developing a now customary team activity of Riddles over Dinner, made possible by the greatest boredom banishing App ever, Brain Twister by Will Shortz. Tonight we'll be starting with puzzle number 47 if you'd like to follow along...but trust us, they're exponentially harder at 14,200'!
We are packed, prepped, and looking forward to making our move tomorrow morning, if the weather cooperates.
Hopefully instead of practicing patience and unscrambling anagrams, we'll be establishing camp at 17,200' and enjoying the ever impressive views from higher on the mountain.
Thanks for following along!
RMI Guide Solveig Waterfall and the team
On The Map
May 24, 2015 - 11:48 pm PT
Hello again from 11,000ft!
We woke up this morning to a fresh dumping of snow at camp, covering our tents and cook tent. First order of business this morning was getting everything dug out and reinforcing our snow walls.
The weather was still looking a little squirrelly afterwards, so we opted for a bit of a relaxed breakfast while we continued to watch what was going on outside. After a couple hours, our patience was rewarded and things cleared up enough for us to get organized and take off downhill to retrieve our cache at 9800'. We made down, grabbed our cached goods, and jammed back uphill in good time. This is a strong team! Everyone just keeps going and is having fun!
Once back at 11,000' with all our gear, the weather made a turn for the better. The skies cleared out, the winds died down, and the sun warmed us as we relaxed for the rest of the evening. If all goes well, we'll push up to 13,500' tomorrow to cache our gear around Windy Corner in preparation for our move to 14k.
Goodnight for now!
RMI Guide Nick Hunt and the rest of the team
On The Map
May 24, 2015 - 9:30 pm PT
The wind and snow continued through the night and into today. We spent the night listening to the roar of a freight train of wind above us on the
West Buttress. The max gust through camp, according to the NPS weather station was 52 mph. That wind and snow put a few holes in our posh tent, and knocked over a few walls, so we spent the morning stitching up holes and rebuilding walls. Otherwise we fared pretty well through the blizzard. This afternoon things started to subside, and by evening the sun was showing, sparkling off of the small snowflakes that are hanging in the air. Our hope is that that trend will carry through tomorrow, and we'll have the visibility to head back down and retrieve our cache from Windy Corner. Fingers crossed. The change in weather has also caused a change in the general mood of camp, and we're listening to laughing, joking, jovial voices all over camp. We'll let you know how things go tomorrow.
RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer, Josh Maggard, Robby Young, and team
On The Map
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Looks like very good, uh- great, luck so far! Have fun.
Posted by: Cathy S. on 5/29/2015 at 10:33 am
Glad for the weather. Stay strong. Enjoying the posts.
Posted by: Patty on 5/29/2015 at 10:22 am
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