Entries from Expedition Dispatches
After many weather days at 14k and 17k, our team finally made it to the summit of Denali! The weather was promising, but not perfect this morning. It was overcast but still. You could see the sun shining through the tops of the clouds. After our turned back attempt the other day, we were very cautious and waited to see what the day was going to bring. We finally left camp at 11:20 in the morning. As we climbed, the weather got better and better. We climbed through the clouds into the sunshine. We made it to the summit around 8:00 p.m. It was clear with no wind, which is VERY rare on the top of the highest mountain in North America. Our crew was strong so we had a safe, quick descent back to camp arriving a bit after 11:00 p.m. A great 12 hour day. We had a quick dinner, caught the midnight sunset, and are now comfortably in bed. Now we can let ourselves start thinking about cheeseburgers!
RMI Guide Mike Haugen
RMI Guide Mike Haugen checks in from the summit of Mt. McKinley.
This is Dave Hahn calling in from 7,800’ on the Kahiltna Glacier. Still at 7,800’! We really had high hopes this storm would break a little earlier today and then we would get to move. We did get up early again and kept checking the weather, but it was snowing good and steady through the night, through the morning and well into the afternoon. It was socked right in, like looking at the inside of a ping pong ball. Wet snow kept falling right until 3 this afternoon and then it started to clear. And now, at almost 8:30 in the evening, I am standing out here and we do have a blue sky above us. Most of the mountains are still kind of hiding in the clouds. But it is definitely breaking up and it's beautiful to see the mountains again. We haven't seen them for a few days, and looking down the Kahiltna Glacier and we're all kind of excited.
We just did a radio calls with Linden Mallory and Mike Haugen. The treat for everybody was that Mike was doing his radio call from the summit of Mt McKinley. So that's pretty far from us right now, but we were excited for those guys because we know that they have been up there waiting and trying. And we've been down here waiting. Tomorrow, I'm pretty confident, that we're going to get up early and we are going to climb on up to 9,500’. I think the weather is going to work out for us tonight. We'll see.
Everybody is in good spirits. We had a snow carving contest today. There was a bowling alley carved over here. There is a pony, a lion, and a cobra. There was a giraffe that broke his neck a little earlier. There were some pretty good snow sculptures out here. The team is keeping their spirits up, and eating well. That is all.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
RMI Guide Dave Hahn checks in with an update from 7,800' on Mt. McKinley.
So cool that Lindsey, one of our favorite ski coaches, and my brother, dial-a-vet Rich, are on the same climb. We are sending positive thoughts for a safe summit and return for you all. Happy trails to you both Taosenos. Carin, Nicole and clan
Posted by: Carin on 7/5/2011 at 9:29 pm
I bet that the injured giraffe was Lindsay Mann’s! Sending my best wishes for good weather. Stay safe. Go team Hahn!
Love,
Liz
Posted by: Liz on 7/5/2011 at 6:43 pm
With more snow falling throughout the night and a cloudy obscured morning here at 14 Camp, we spent our 4th of July parked here at 14 Camp. The snow let up by mid morning and we spent a few hours touching up camp after all of the snow. The big snow walls we have around our tents do a great job breaking the wind but make clearing the tents a challenge as all the snow needs to be thrown up and over them. Once the tent area is cleared of the new snow we set about snugging up the guy lines and tent anchors that secure the tent in place, crucial points in case the winds pick up to keep the tents from blowing away. Turning our attention to the kitchen, we spent some time reworking our benches and cooking counters out of the snow. The kitchen is a big circular pit dug into the snow with benches and flat counters dug into the edges with a round teepee like nylon tent that covers it. After a few days of use everything begins to melt out so it took a couple of hours of shoveling and chopping through the ice to reform everything in there.
With camp squared away we dove into a serious session of knot tying, spending the better part of the afternoon practicing the basic as well as more elaborate mountaineering and climbing knots.
The weather has slowly cleared throughout the day and looks to be improving, a great trend for us. We are looking at the possibility of moving to high camp either tomorrow or Wednesday, depending on the weather and a few logistics we need to coordinate with Mike Haugen's RMI team which will hopefully be descending tomorrow.
Happy 4th too everyone back home, we hope you're enjoying the barbecues and fireworks!
RMI Guide Linden Mallory
Hey dad its Nick, have been having computer issues so I haven’t been able to check up too much. Looks like you guys are doing well. I hope the trip continues to be somewhat smooth, and I hope you’re having a blast! Love you lots!!
Nick
Posted by: Nick Marini on 7/6/2011 at 12:25 pm
Linden, your descriptions of camp are wonderful! It is nice to start the day knowing you are all hanging in there.
Kitty and I are holding down the home fort…all is well.
Posted by: laurie Colaneri on 7/5/2011 at 5:44 pm
Happy 4th of July from Ecuador! We hope that everyone back home is having a fun and safe Independence Day.
Today we took our first acclimatization hike. We started the day with breakfast in the hotel and were then joined by our two local mountain guides Esteban and Robinson. After a short drive to the base of the Quito Teleferico we took the gondola to 13,100 feet. From there we embarked on our hike on the slopes of the Pichincha volcano. The weather was mostly cloudy today but that was actually very nice as it kept us nice and cool for our hike. We hiked up for about 2.5 hours and topped out at almost 15,000 feet! We enjoyed our lunch there along with a great view of Quito. After descending back to the top of Teleferico we had a nice cup of tea and then rode back down to the city.
Everyone is now having a little down time before we meet up for our last dinner in the city. Tomorrow we are going to head up towards the Illiniza peaks and overnight at the Hacienda Chilcabamba.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
Good Luck, little bro. Stay safe.
Posted by: Pam on 7/6/2011 at 10:25 am
hey seth,
craig and i are looking at that climb, looks like a hoot! be careful up there.
Posted by: david wallace on 7/5/2011 at 2:19 pm
The Four Day Summit Climb July 1 - 4 led by Tyler Jones and the Five Day Summit Climb June 30 - 4 July reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. The teams reported light winds and clear skies. At 7:05 a.m. the teams were at 13,500' on their descent en route to Camp Muir.
Congratulations to today's climbers and Happy 4th of July!
Hello, this is Dave Hahn on the RMI Mt. McKinley Expedition. We are still at 7,800’, Camp 1 on the Kahiltna Glacier. We had a little bit of a long day. We got up at 2:30 this morning, hoping for good climbing conditions, but it was already snowing, wet heavy snow and that went on for hours. There was a little bit of clearing around mid day and we could see some blue sky. We got some sun for a while. We were hoping that it was going to clear off completely but it hardly ever slacked up. In fact, it snowed a little harder in the afternoon and the evening was fairly socked in with clouds. So, that is why we stayed put. Nobody seemed to move on Mount McKinley today or at least our part of it. Everybody sat where they were. In our group spirit seem to be high anyway. Everybody was enjoying getting out of the tents at meal time and still everybody is staying good and positive. Hoping the weather breaks for us tomorrow and if not tomorrow, then the next day.
We are hanging in there on the Kahiltna.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn checks in from 7,800' on Mt. McKinley
Glad you are out of basecamp. Wishing you all good sledding with your heavy loads and that the mountain God send sunshine your way today. Blessing and love to Wayne, Dinah
Posted by: dinah rogers on 7/4/2011 at 12:01 pm
We watched a few different climbing teams go down this morning because the weather was junk and they were out of time and low on supplies. We are very hopeful that Denali will invite us to climb to the summit in the next couple of days. The team is strong, healthy and happy. What a great group of guys! We have all progressed from amateur to professional tent nappers with all of these weather no bueno days.
RMI Guide Mike Haugen
we are thinking of you every day. Happy 4th of July! best wishes to the team for a successful summit.
Posted by: mom Haugen on 7/4/2011 at 1:58 pm
Excited for you, Patrick! Happy 4th to everyone!
Posted by: Janina on 7/4/2011 at 1:12 pm
A very dry snow started falling yesterday after we returned from our carry to 16,200' and continued throughout the night. When we finally emerged from the tents 6 - 8" of new snow covered camp. As we fired up the stoves for breakfast we dug out camp, clearing all of the snow from the tents, resetting the tent anchors, and pulling our backpacks and climbing gear out from beneath the surface.
With no plan but resting and sitting around camp today, we had a casual breakfast - cooking up a heaping amount of bacon and sitting inside the kitchen, talking about normal 4th of July weekend activities while we listened to the snow fall on the tent above. These rest days can be some of the more mentally difficult days of an expedition as there isn't much to do but sit idely and wait for our move. While they are important for our acclimatization and physical recovery, they are also a test in patience as we wait for the hours to go by. Thankfully the team is doing well and it has been welcome down time after a few big days back to back.
We occupied a few hours in the afternoon paring down our gear for high camp and fitting our overboots to our climbing boots and crampons in preparation for our summit bid. We're waiting to see what the weather brings us for tomorrow.
RMI Guide Linden Mallory
Congratulations to Paul & Team!
Posted by: Pete & Yami on 7/8/2011 at 7:37 am
happy birthday to linden!!!! what a fun way to spend it. have fun and be safe. love maile
Posted by: maile on 7/4/2011 at 4:54 pm
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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Greetings from Ecuador. Today was the first official day of our trip and marked the first time that the entire team came together. We had breakfast and a team meeting a the hotel before heading out for a tour of Quito with a local for guide. We began the tour by taking a trip to the Equator where we were able to stand in both the northern and southern hemispheres simultaneously. After that we had an excellent lunch of Ecuadorian food cooked on a Paila or large metal fry pan. Our dessert was a kind of ice-cream that is also made in the Paila. In the afternoon we visited several sites in the colonial part of the city including the Basilica and the President's Palace. The weather today was very pleasant with clear skies in the morning and partly cloudy skies in the afternoon. All in all it was a great start to the trip. Tomorrow we plan to head up to the Pichincha volcano for our first acclimatization hike.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
The Four Day Summit Climb June 30 - 3 July reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today. The weather on the mountain was very windy and cold. The team, led by RMI Guide Billy Nugent, began their descent from the crater rim at 7:30 a.m. PT. en route to Camp Muir.
Congratulations to Billy and today's Summit Climb team!
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Congratulations! Great job!
Posted by: Ruth Cook on 7/5/2011 at 7:00 pm
Raju, I saw this blog on facebook (thanks to M & Y for posting the link). Congrats on summmiting! Hope you have a safe return.
- Sopan
Posted by: sopan on 7/5/2011 at 5:08 pm
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