Entries from Mt. McKinley
Sunday, June 2, 2019 - 10:07 PM PT
11 Camp is now officially home! We back carried this morning and finally brought all of our food and gear to camp. It’s a short saunter down to our 10,000’ cache and we make quick work, two hours round trip to be exact. After some afternoon naps and much needed rest this afternoon, we were back up and attem for dinner. The Sriracha Ranch Chicken wraps were a home run! Our 5 star meal was followed up for 5-star views when, for the first time all trip, we finally had a break in the snow and had views of the incredible mountains surrounding us here in the
Alaska Range. It was a day for the books. We’re settling into the routines of expedition life and all is well. Tomorrow, we have our sites set on shuttling some gear up to a cache at 13,600’, but as we do here in Alaska, we’ll pole our heads out of the tent in the morning and see what Mother Nature has in store. Until then, keep it classy out there in the real world.
RMI Guides Robby, Joe, Nick and Team Sriracha
On The Map
Well folks, a lot has happened over the last 48 hours and I'm sorry to have been keeping you waiting. June 1, we woke up to somewhat clearing skies at 14,000' Camp and decided to pack up and get as far downhill as we could. Aside from an interesting GPS guided tour through an area known as the "Polo Field" the weather held out and we made it all the way back to the Southeast Fork of the
Kahiltna Glacier where we began our trip. We arrived just before midnight and quickly set up our tents, had a quick dinner and went to sleep with dreams of flying out the next morning. Well those dreams came true. This morning we woke to the sound of camp bustling with life when clear skies and the sound of basecamp manager Lisa's voice booming through the early morning with warnings that we should start getting ready to fly off. A few hours later we were in the sky heading towards Talkeetna. The trip has finally come to an end. It's been a fantastic three weeks here in the great Alaska Range and its bittersweet to see it end. We'll meet up for one last team dinner tonight before going our separate ways tomorrow. Thanks to everyone for following along. It's been a wild ride!
RMI Guide Steve Gately
Sunday, June 2, 2019 - 8:13 AM PT
We took advantage of a lull in the weather to pack up our kit and descend from 14,000' to Basecamp. We encountered light snow, but generally pleasant travel conditions during our 8 hour descent.
Here at Kahiltna Basecamp it is a crowded scene, as no planes have been able to land here in a few days. Hopefully the weather breaks and we can fly to Talkeetna today. That's it for now. There's still a lot of work to do organizing gear to prepare for a flight.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
Saturday, June 1, 2019 - 11:00 PM PT
And the train keeps on rolling! We were up and attem early again this morning, rolling out of bed at 530 am and on the trail by 730 am with all of the remainder of our food and gear on our backs. We spent about 6 hours breaking trail from 7800’ camp all the way to
11,000’ Camp, without a single other climbing team in sight. The snow and clouds kept us cool, and allowed us to make efficient work of the climb. We made it to “11” camp just in time to see our fellow RMI teams led by Mike Walter and Steve Gately before we got down to building camp, which should be our home for the next few nights. Tomorrow, we’ll ‘back-carry’ and finally get the rest of gear up here at 11,000 and be all set to start setting our sites on some of the more fun climbing of the trip. Until then, keep it real out there in the real world. We’ll keep you updated on our progress.
RMI Guides Robby, Nick, Joe and Team Trail Break
On The Map
Not much going on at
14,000' Camp today. We ate a late breakfast, and have been watching it snow all day. It’s pretty easy to take a rest day when the weather doesn’t permit much else. Folks have been alternating between reading, napping, and guessing what’s going on in the real world. At this point, with our cache up high, we’ve done all that we can do to prepare to summit this mountain. Now we just rest, recuperate, and wait for good weather. If the forecast holds, we might not have to wait very long, but we will see.
We’ll check in again tomorrow.
RMI Guide JM Gorum
On The Map
Friday, May 31, 2019 7:58 PM PT
Today we woke to relatively warm temperatures and light snow. As we looked up to the ridge of the
West Buttress there didn’t appear to be any winds, although a bit of snow continued to fall. After a speedy breakfast we decided to make moves and head on up the mountain to cache gear somewhere above the fixed lines. Throughout the first few hours of the day we progressed apprehensively, wary of some menacing looking clouds that were lingering higher up on the mountain, but as we cruised up the fixed lines we were treated with warm temperatures and light winds. This enabled us to progress to 16,600 feet to dig a cache to store some gear to support ourselves for our summit bid. After a quick break we turned around and headed back down to 14 Camp where we are now relaxing and waiting to eat some dinner! Spirits are high and we are all looking forward to a rest day tomorrow.
RMI Guide JT Schmitt
Friday, May 31, 2019 4:36 PM PT
With the forecast still calling for heavy snow we have opted to stay in the confines of our camp here a
14K. The team enjoyed a late morning breakfast and is now napping away the afternoon. Sunday is still looking like our first possible day to fly off the glacier with the weather only improving into Monday and Tuesday. The plan as of now will still be to launch downhill around midday tomorrow and travel all the way to the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna hopefully chasing improving weather down glacier and ultimately a flight out of here early Sunday morning. We'll see what hand we are dealt with tomorrow. The hope here is to avoid having to travel and set up camp in bad weather but rather time it just right that we walk straight into a plane. For the time being however, we rest and wait for our opportunity.
RMI Guide Steve Gately
Friday, May 31, 2019 2:49 PM PT
Nothing is easy about climbing
Denali. Just ask any member of our team who worked hard for more than two weeks before standing on top of the highest point in North America 17 days after landing at Base Camp on the Kahiltna Glacier. But that doesn't even tell the whole story. Our team eagerly awaited the start of this expedition and spent three antsy days in Talkeetna waiting for good enough weather to fly into Basecamp as a storm sat over the Alaska Range. Now, after summitting, we have descended to the 14k camp and are comfortably nestled in to our old camp. We are socked in the clouds and it is snowing. This morning we spoke via radio with Robby Young, who is leading the 4th RMI Denali expedition. He reported heavy and wet snow on the Kahiltna Glacier between 7800' and 9600'. The weather forecast is calling for heavy snow to continue through tomorrow, hopefully tapering on Sunday. No planes are flying and we are at the mercy of the weather once again. This time we are eagerly awaiting hot showers, cold beer, clean clothes, and a chance to talk with loved ones. Oh, and also flush toilets. Not necessarily in that order.
Mountain weather is fickle and right now we are at her mercy. We'll take the good weather on summit day in exchange for playing the waiting game on both the front and tail ends of our expedition. And for now we're practicing our Zen patience in the comfort of our 14k camp.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
Friday, May 31, 2019 12:14 AM PT
Today we went back downhill to gather all of our cached food and gear. We got it all without any noteworthy event. With the rest of the day, we sat around, ate our new snacks, and practiced some techniques for the fixed lines. We’re hoping to carry to the top of the fixed lines tomorrow if weather allows. The forecast is calling for some snow, but light winds. As long as winds stay calm we can probably get it done. We’ll see what we get and check in tomorrow.
RMI Guide JM Gorum & Team
Thursday, May 31, 2019 12:11 AM PT
The team is know all safely back down at 14 camp and tucked in for the evening.
Summit day was a long hard fought battle but everyone did fantastic. The morning of our summit attempt we woke up in early in an attempt to beat the crowds up our first obstacle, the "auto bahn". This section often takes a couple hours to complete without a break and is steep and exposed. The exposure of this terrain requires us to use a form of running protection that protects the team against a fall but is quite time consuming. The end of this hurdle puts you at Denali Pass and our first rays of welcome sunshine. From here steep rolling glacier takes us up and around a swirled white and black rock feature known as "zebra rocks". At the top of this feature we were faced with a gentle but cold 15 mph wind. The terrain mellows out quite a bit as we meander through open glacier past a prominent rock point known "arch deacons tower" and into the football field, a flat depression just before our final slope to the summit ridge. Once on the summit ridge a short but dramatic climb brings us to the summit. The team took a few moments to take pictures and celebrate the ascent before our attention was turned toward getting back home. All in all the trip took us 13 hours round trip, all at elevations above 17,000 ft. With the summit behind us we turn our focus now to trying to truly get back home.
Cloudy and snowy weather are abundant in the extended forecast which means chances of flying off anytime soon are nil. Tomorrow we'll check the weather in the morning and make decision to further descend, or to keep the luxury of our fortified camp here at 14, or opt for better weather. That's all for now, it's late again as I'm writing this and I'm in need of some serious rest! Thanks for following along everyone!
RMI Guide Steve Gately & Team
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Hey Steve hope you have good weather and are able to make a push for the summit! Good luck and stay safe!!
Posted by: Thomas Keating on 6/12/2019 at 3:00 pm
Glad you all got some views of the mountains today. Good luck on the next stretch and hope you enjoyed the ‘rest day’.
Posted by: Annie Kawasaki on 6/4/2019 at 3:34 am
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