Entries from Mt. McKinley
Thursday, June 13, 2019 - 9:32 PM PT
We’re back down here in the thick air of
11,000’! We were so excited to wake up to another beautiful day at 17 Camp this morning, and we were still ecstatic from a fantastic summit day yesterday. Despite some crunchy, achy bodies this morning, we were up and attem as early as reasonable to start making our way back down to the airstrip, and eventually home. We’ve paused our descent for just a few hours here at 11 Camp to get some rest and recovery, and we’ll then continue our way to the airstrip tonight around midnight, when the lower Kahiltna Glacier is firmed up overnight. Hopefully the weather allows for a flight off the glacier first thing in the morning. Wish us luck, and hopefully see all you friends and family soon!
RMI Guides Robby Young, Joe Hoch, Nick Scott and Team Homeward Bound
On The Map
Thursday, June 13, 2019 - 5:18 PM PT
Today we got a casual but cold start to begin our carry to 16,200’ at the top of the fixed lines. The route heads out of camp and ascends moderate glaciated slope that terminates at the bergshrund. From there we clip our ascenders on a fixed rope to climb the 35-40 degree slope and gain the
West Buttress of Denali. There was a lot of traffic on the Buttress from teams descending and ascending. We opted to cache our food and fuel at the top of the lines rather then play a game of red light/green light above 16,000'. The Team did well, we will make a few refinements for our second lap on the lines for our move day to 17,200’ Camp. We are all back safely at 14,000' Camp and looking forward to a rest day tomorrow. From there we will have to see what the weather does. Everyone is acclimating well and appetites have remained strong. Currently there are lots of laughs and conversations happening in our kitchen tent. We high fived Robby Young’s RMI Team on the fixed lines after their successful summit yesterday. Thanks for following along, the amazing views and beauty of the Alaska Range continue to astound.
RMI Guide Mike King
On The Map
Wednesday, June 12, 2019 - 10:00 PM PT
Greetings Loyal RMI Blog Followers!
Today, at approximately 2:20pm, our entire team stood on
top of North America! This team put in a heck of an effort and were rewarded with an amazing summit day! We wanted to call from the summit, but the only wind we had all day was the top 20’ of this climb. Despite the cold, the team spent a good joyful 20 minutes on top before making our descent back to 17,000' Camp. I couldn’t be more proud of this team today, digging deep and climbing hard! Tomorrow, we begin our long descent back to civilization. Ideally, we’ll be sleeping at 11,000’ camp tomorrow night in the thick air we miss so dearly. The weather looks like it may cooperate for the next couple days so wish us luck!
RMI Guides Robby, Nick, Joe, and Team Summit!
On The Map
Wednesday, June 12, 2019 - 4:45 PM PT
After 7 days of work the Team wanted 10 hours of sleep/tent time and the guides were happy to wait until the sun hit our tents before we had a casual breakfast of hash browns, scrambled eggs and bacon. There’s not much going on today since it’s our first full rest day. People have been reading, writing in journals and walking around camp. We are just back from some fixed line rehearsal on the little hill outside of camp. This practice got everyone tuned up for a potential carry of gear on the
West Buttress tomorrow morning. To gain the Buttress we ascend a moderate slope and then get on the fixed lines with our ascenders. There is some snow currently falling through a thin cloud that is making the tents an optimal temperature for napping so with that we’ll check in after our cache tomorrow. Thanks for following along.
RMI Guide Mike King
Tuesday, June 11, 2019 - 9:47 PM PT
Greetings from 17,000' Camp!
We made great time during a beautiful sunny day moving from 14,200’ to our
High Camp here at 17,200’. The team did exceptionally well, and made quick work of building camp in the old confines of JM’s Denali Team. Some afternoon rest was had and some dehydrated high mountain food was tolerated. We’ve got a decent forecast for tomorrow...but we know that this mountain will have the final say tomorrow when we wake up. We’re hopeful for some calm winds and hopeful to make an honest go at the summit tomorrow. The team has put a ton of work into this expedition thus far, and we’re all ecstatic to be in the position we are here at 17 Camp. We’ll let you know how it goes!
RMI Guides Robby, Nick, Joe, and Team Prepped’n Ready
On The Map
Tuesday, June 11, 2019 - 5:56 PM PT
We woke up and it was cold! Our bodies aren’t accustomed to the colder temps of 14,200’ but that will change as we take a few rest days. The views of Mt Hunter and Foraker have been exceptional. Several teams moved up to
17,200’ this morning and a few are scheduled to head up tomorrow. The weather has continued to hold and looks to be improving over the weekend. We enjoyed a late breakfast of cream cheese and bacon bagels. Everyone is having some lunch in their tents and hopefully a nap to best utilize this active rest day. This evening we will build some snow walls to reinforce our camp should the weather take a turn for the worse. Not much happening at 14 Camp and that’s just fine with us.
RMI Guide Mike King
On The Map
Monday, June 10, 2019 - 9:38 PM PT
On the thirteenth day, Team ‘No Leftovers’ rested. And boy did we enjoy it. It was another beautiful day here at 14,000' Camp. We’ve been in a cycle of morning sun and afternoon clouds for the last few days, so we planned accordingly. We woke in the shade for some early morning coffee, and then made our way to the Edge of the World for some unbelievable morning views of the Alaska Range. This perch is located at the edge of Genet Basin and looks down approximately 6,000’ below onto the Kahiltna Glacier. We followed that up with a big brunch of eggs and hash brown burritos that stretched us until 1pm. Naps and packing took the rest of our day before another delicious veggie curry dinner. Needless to say, no leftovers were had. This team is now batting 1.000 when it comes to finishing every bit of every meal. A truly impressive feat on any expedition. We’re tucked in now, turning all that food into fuel, ready for a move to 17,200’, if the mother mountain Denali allows, of course. We’ll let you know. Wish us luck and good weather vibes!
RMI Guides Robby, Nick, Joe and Team ‘No Leftovers’
On The Map
Monday, June 10, 2019 - 8:05 PM PT
We broke down camp quickly this morning. As quickly as anything happens at
17,000 ft. We’re in our tents at 11,000 feet now. It’s a long, hot day getting down here with all of our gear, but we’re one step closer to the airstrip. We’ll take a quick nap here, wake up around midnight, and then walk the rest of the way in the morning, hopefully landing us in position for a flight out around 8am.
RMI Guide JM Gorum
Monday, June 10, 2019 - 6:58 PM PT
The good weather train continues to roll on
Denali. If your looking at the forecast, it’s been inaccurate aside from the calm wind speeds. The Team got a good workout today as we packed up camp and moved to 14,200’ and while we did well, the higher altitude, calm air and insane heat reflecting off the glaciers gave us a good challenge. We have been moving gear, food and fuel uphill for 6 straight days and tomorrow will be no different. We will sleep in, eat a big breakfast and then need to descend 800’ and retrieve our cache. Now that we are at “Denali City” there are lots of climbers, great views of the West Buttress and the greater Alaska Range. We’ve been eating good, burritos, buffalo chicken wraps, salmon cream cheese bagels, etc. Everyone is feeling some minor aches and pains from the hard work but they are smiling and happy to be at 14 Camp to begin the climbing above here once our bodies acclimate and the weather and mountain give us the thumbs up to headed to High Camp. Thanks for following along, more from Genet Basin and the 14 Camp hang to follow.
RMI Guide Mike King
Greetings all!
Onward and upward! We had an absolute beautiful day on the mountain today. Sunny skies and warm temps allowed to get up and attem early for a 9am departure from 14,000' Camp. We made it all the way to the base of the
Washburn Thumb at 16,700’, where we cached some food, fuel, and gear for our future move to 17,000’. It was great to stretch the legs and set some new altitude records for some of our team members. The views from that height were exceptional today...a true highlight of the trip for some. We could see all the way down the Kahiltna Glacier and the neighboring Mt. Foraker and Mt. Hunter in all their glory. A truly great day to go climbing in the Alaska Range. We’re planning a rest day for tomorrow so maybe some views from ‘Edge of the World’ are in order. We’ll let you know how it looks! Until then, night y’all.
RMI Guides Robby, Nick, Joe and Team Feast
On The Map
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Steve we are so thrilled for you and your entire team!!!! Safe travels home!
Posted by: Pat and Mike Lurakis on 6/15/2019 at 11:00 am
Congrats to the whole team!!!!
Posted by: Janet LaRue Romig on 6/14/2019 at 7:14 pm
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