Entries from Expedition Dispatches
May 31, 2018 - 5:28 pm PT
Less than twelve hours after arriving at Kahiltna Base Camp, we woke early, ready for the first leg of our ascent. After quickly breaking down camp and eating an even quicker breakfast, we loaded the last of our gear into our already over burdened expedition sleds and began the walk down heart break hill towards the vastness of the Kahiltna Glacier. The morning was cold and crisp. Perfect conditions for the route to our camp at 7,800 feet. Snowshoes would not be necessary today as the snow was firm and smooth. The skies were clear with only minimal clouds capping the summit of Mount Foraker to the west and a bit of haze blocking our view of
Denali to the north. Our group of hopeful climbers looked like a freight train as our three rope teams chugged along with our sleds in tow towards our objective for the day, moving one step closer to the slopes of the West Buttress. After several hours of hard walking, we arrived in camp at the base of Ski Hill and set up our temporary homes for the next few days. Today was easy compared to what lies ahead, but our group of climbers looks strong and ready for the challenge.
RMI Guide Tyler Jones
On The Map
Thursday, May 31, 2018 - 1:11 PM PT
We woke early this morning and fired up the stoves, intent on moving to high camp today. But as the morning progressed, lenticular clouds formed over the Alaska Range, clouds increased, and we could see winds coming off of the
West Buttress above us . With a good weather forecast into next week, we decided that we'd sit this one out and try again tomorrow. We're sitting in great shape and lined up for the upcoming goo weather window. And spending another night at 14,000' Camp will make our team stronger for our bid up high.
Hopefully our next dispatch will come from High Camp tomorrow.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
RMI Guide Andy Bond and Team just called from the summit of
Pequeño Alpamayo a 5370 m peak in the Condoriri Group. Andy reported great climbing conditions and beautiful weather. The team climbed strong, and will be starting their descent shorty.
Congratulations Team!
Update: 5:19 pm PT
Hey just letting you know we’re back at camp safe and sound... well fed and ready for some sleep. Long day on a challenging route but everyone is doing great! We’ll update tomorrow with an actual blog post
RMI Guides Eric Frank and Andy Bond
Wednesday, May 30, 2018 - 10:53 PM PT
After yesterday's big effort, it took some snow and evidence of wind at
Windy Corner to decide to take a full chill day at our 11,000' Camp today. Food, movies, books, and naps filled the time, and left little room for anything else. We are feeling good about a move to 14,000 ft Camp tomorrow, and after today, everyone is excited for a change in scenery.
RMI Guides Pete, Jess, Taylor, and team
On The Map
Wednesday, May 30, 2018 - 11:40 PM PT
Today we got a nice breakfast in town and headed over to the hanger for a final bit of packing. The weather turned out to be a bit fickle so we started some training to pass the time and our fingers were crossed for improving weather. We went to our lunch break and just when the rain started in town the mountains opened and we got the word we would try to fly on the glacier. We’re finally here at
Base Camp and will make our first move early in the morning toward 7,800 camp at the base of Ski Hill. We enjoyed our first dinner as the skies were clearing and caught a glimpse of Denali in the distance!
RMI Guides Tyler Jones, Bryan Mazaika and Nick Scott
On The Map
After a lazy morning of hiding in tents or the cook tent from the snow and wind we had brunch. It was a two hot drink kind of morning. But then the temps warmed and the clouds lightened and we set up a ropes course on the glacier. We used ascenders to climb ropes, rappels to descend, and tethers to traverse. After some avalanche beacon searching drills, we hunkered down for some lunch and an avalanche formation lecture. All in all, a lot of practice clipping carabiners and using gear. This group has taken everything in stride and keeps impressing us with their focus and energy. We also have been enjoying the laughter that seems to roll out of the kitchen tent all evening. Tomorrow we'll rig sleds and head back to
Kahiltna Basecamp and then into a hot shower way too soon after that. Whether we're climbing, learning, or hanging out, this group has been a true pleasure to be with for the past eight days.
RMI Guides Christina Dale, Lucas Haaland, and Alex Halliday
It’s a few minutes after 8pm and the Bolivia climbing team members are already cuddled inside our respective sleeping bags, excited for tomorrow.
Today was a good day. We awoke to a quick breakfast and broke down our tents as the sun crested the ridge to our east. Thirty minutes later, our duffels were loaded on donkeys and we moved camp uphill two hours to our high camp.
This afternoon we hiked to the toe of the glacier and did some training on advanced techniques- cramponing on ice, short roping and the finer points of pitched climbing. Now we have the skill set we need to tackle our first climb,
Pequeño Alpamayo, tomorrow.
The weather looks good and with any luck we should be calling from the top by mid to late morning.
RMI Guide Eric Frank
This morning we awoke just before 2:00am hoping to take advantage of some favorable weather on the mountain. We were rewarded with an incredible morning. Calm winds and clear skies! A full moon and stars everywhere confirmed that we had made the right call to climb. Leaving just a little later than we would on a regular summit climb allowed us minimal exposure to the coldest part of the night, yet still get down before it got too darned hot out. We reached the summit just before 8:00 with no wind and the sun's rays beginning to warm us up. After an hour on top we started our descent, which our team rocked.
We're all back at
Muir now, relaxing in the sun or catching up on some sleep in the sleeping bags, taking a well deserved rest. But the day's not over yet. This crew is still psyched to hone their mountain skills, so later on we'll be learning about anchors, belaying and anything else they are interested in. This will get us ready for our day of crevasse rescue and ice climbing tomorrow.
All for now,
RMI Guides Brent Okita, Jordan Cargill, JT Schmitt, Gloria Roe, and Ross Morgan
Wednesday, May 30, 2018 - 1:50 pm PT
Our team is taking another planned rest day today, the first multiple rest day stint of our trip. The weather at
14,200' right now is chilly with very light snow. This unsettled weather is forecasted to last into tomorrow before clearer weather moves in through the weekend. We are hopeful the weather will allow us to move to high camp tomorrow so that we can take advantage of a potentially good weather window (Fri/Sat/Sun) for a summit attempt.
We're all doing well, and optimistic that our chance to tag the top is right around the corner. Until then, we'll be resting and getting stronger.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
The
Expedition Skills Seminar - Muir reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning around 7:30 AM.
RMI Guides Brent Okita and Jordan Cargill chose to make their summit attempt today due to the nice weather. Brent reported no wind and a perfect day on the mountain. The team will return to Camp Muir and continue to their training until Friday when they will descend to Paradise. The top photos are from today's summit climb, the bottom two photos are from Tuesday's training above Camp Muir.
Congratulations to the climbers!
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Hello Dave and Denali Team!! It looks gorgeous and we are loving the updates. Sending lots of love and sipping some Kick Step IPA as a way to be there with you. :)
Love,
Your big sis and the fam.
Posted by: Beth on 6/1/2018 at 6:44 pm
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