Entries from Expedition Dispatches

5/15 - Day Four on the Mountain was a Success!

Before we get into our activities from today, we are going to get to know the characters on this expedition a little better. There are 11 of us and we come from very diverse backgrounds.

We have representation from Alaska, Colorado, California, Utah, Washington State, Oklahoma, Iowa, Alabama, and also have a lone European from France. Aside from the three guides, our professional backgrounds include two physicians, a business owner, nuclear chemist, park ranger, Army Officer, consultant, and a business manager. The average age amongst the group is mid to late -thirties.

Despite our differences, we have a lot in common. We all have significant experience climbing mountains in various parts of the world. Between the team members, we have climbed on every continent and tackled six of the seven summits. To say we are all adventurous would be an understatement. We all enjoy going after new challenges, exploring the unknown, and meeting great people along the way.

Now that we have been together for four days we are coming together as a team. We have been looking after each other and motivating each other during the challenging daily hikes.

The witty banter within the group is starting to flow freely. The guides haven’t come out and said it but we are confident we are the toughest and best looking Denali group they have ever been a part of.

As for today, our goal today was to retrieve the food and supplies we cached at 9’600 feet two days ago. After waking up and coming out of our tents to see a sunny day with a gorgeous view overlooking the mountains, we enjoyed hot oatmeal courtesy of our guides/cooks. We got ready and prepared our gear for the hike down to the cache. Knowing we were going to recover equipment and it was going to be a shorter day, we packed light. Today was the first time this expedition we tied our sleds on the back of our backpacks. We departed our camp at 11,000 feet at 10 am and enjoyed the hour-long hike downhill to the cache at 9,600 feet.

The walk felt like we were wading through a winter paradise, surrounded by imposing mountains and impressive glaciers. After arriving at the cache, the guides dug up all the team and personal equipment and we set up the gear on our sleds. Then began the 2.5 hour hike back up to our camp at 11,000 feet. The hike was much easier than the previous day after having a good night’s rest and a shorter distance to cover.

The rest of the day was spent resting and improving our living situation in camp. Despite minor blisters, some initial effects of altitude sickness, and some minor sunburn, everybody is doing great. Morale is high and we are looking forward to the days ahead.

RMI Climber Scott Wyly

5/15 - What a splitter morning! We woke up to clear skies, and the entire mountain on display. We had spent the evening before going through our gear. So we were set up to have a quick breakfast, pack up everything we plan to cache, and begin our way up Ski Hill for the first time of the trip.

With much lighter packs and sleds, the climb in the clear weather flowed by and in no time we were pulling into our cache site, right around 10,100'. We took a break, shoveled a deep hole, and dumped about 1/2 of our food and fuel in the hole to see at a later date.

We then turned around with empty packs and sleds and made it back to camp 1 for a night of beautiful views, and mac and cheese with bacon. When weather allows we will pack up, and make our way up past our cache all the way to 11 camp.

RMI Guide Nikki Champion & Team
 

5/14 - Day one, done and dusted! We woke up to the call that we could fly, so we got our last fancy coffee drinks for a long while and shuffled over to the hangar to get our soft shells on, and ready to fly. We loaded the planes and by 10AM - planes were in the air!

Once we landed, it was a mad dash to reorganize, leave a cache of goodies for later, and rig up to start to move to Camp One.

A little bit after noon, the teams was tied in and ready to roll. Down Heart Break Hill, and across the Kahiltna Glacier we went. Many hours later we were pulling into Camp One, a welcome home for the night. We quickly began the work of building camp, melting water, and getting a quick dinner of broccoli cheddar soup and chicken sausage rolling. It was a long day, and a late night, but by 11P everyone was tucked into their sleeping bags. Tomorrow we aim to carry somewhere between 9.5-10k, and then make our way back to camp.

Here's to hoping for another day of good weather!

RMI Guide Nikki Champion

Thursday, May 14, 2026 - 11:23 pm PT

Hey yall! It’s Haley coming to you from Camp 2! Or 11 camp as it’s called way up yonder.

Why we chose this venture over someplace like Maui, we woke up to clear blue skies and a beautiful, windless day. This stunning and dynamic mountain is truly a place of wonder!

The team felt strong and enjoyed the glorious experience of only needing base layers as we made excellent time up to our next camp. It’s bustling up here already and we are even more thankful to have made it by day 3 after hearing weather pinned lots of teams down for days.

We must be a bunch of plants because the sun really brought us back to life! We plan to spend our next few days back carrying and caching up to 14 so stay tuned for updates on our wild and wondrous adventure!

Out here having a blast and a half,
RMI Climber Haley

PS I love you Kevin, Mom, Dad, William, Kayla and Abel

The Expedition Skills Seminar – Muir Team, led by Dave Hahn, ascended to Ingraham Flats this morning and determined that the new snow along the route lacked sufficient stability to safely continue higher.

The team has one remaining day on the mountain for training and will descend to Paradise tomorrow.

Welcome to the May 12th Denali expedition!

After the entire team completed the first leg of the trip by successfully making it to Anchorage, we packed up and shuttled into Talkeetna to share our first team dinner and a few beers before the real madness began.

This morning started with coffee in town, followed by our National Park briefing, before spending the rest of the day doing an in-depth gear check and sorting through personal gear, group gear, and countless snacks. Once things were packed, unpacked, and packed again, the team was finally ready for the final weigh-in.

Now that the gear is weighed, the clothes are laid out, and the team is prepped, we just wait for a weather window to fly in. The goal is first thing tomorrow morning, so keep your fingers crossed.

RMI Guide Nikki Champion & Crew

Hello faithful readers!

Imagine the inside of a ping pong ball. Now imagine yourself inside that ping pong ball. That was us for 8 hours today. Today the plan was to take all our excess gear and food and cache it at around 9800. After spending the morning organizing our gear, we took off slogging up “Ski Hill”. Slow and steady was the name of game. Navigation was difficult at best and a blind guess at worst. The team was strong both mentally and physically today. The effort was top notch.

After digging a very large snow hole and burying all our gear, we took off downhill. Home sweet home and burritos were calling our names. A relaxing evening and a filling meal. The simple pleasures of mountain life We hope to wake up to slightly better weather tomorrow, so please cross your fingers for us!

Cheers,

Jack and the Team

Wednesday, May 13, 2026 - 12:56 am PT

Goodbye world, hello Denali!

Sorry for the late blog post, it's been a wild couple of days! We spent all day Monday ready to go at a moments notice. The weather was fickle, the clouds were playing games and the sunshine was promising flight potential. Finally around 4pm we received word of a potential window so we loaded planes and launched towards Kahiltna Base Camp. Sadly the clouds decided to reappear and we had to turn around back to Talkeetna. After about 30 minutes of sitting in the hangar, the pilots told us another gap in the clouds had appeared. Again we loaded up and took to the skies! Yet again the clouds were sneaky and by the time we got there they had cut us off from our destination. We circled for 20 minutes hopeful the clouds would shift and clear. Finally the pilots made the call - back to the Talkeetna again! We had a hearty dinner and were off to bed to try again in the morning.

Morning came quick with a 8am text from K2 saying the skies were clear! The team kicked into overdrive and within 30 minutes we were loaded up and flying! Smooth sailing took us right into Kahiltna Base Camp. We then got ourselves organized and took off up glacier towards our first camp, Ski Hill! Several hours of slogging later plus a couple more hours of hard work, we had camp established! It was a long day but we did it.

We were here. Our Denali expedition has officially begun.

Cheers,

RMI Guide Jack Delaney and the Team

Today, we got an early start and walked over to the base of the Root Canal Glacier and climbed a small 800’ gully adjacent to the West Ridge of the Moose’s Tooth. We had expansive views of Denali, Mount Barille, Dickey, Bradley, Wake and Peak 11,300’. Warm temperatures forced us down early and we enjoyed an afternoon of avalanche viewing across the East Faces of Dickey and Bradley.

We are back at camp and enjoying another overcast night with hopes to fly out of the Range tomorrow!

RMI Guide Sam Marjerison

Monday, May 11, 2026 - 10:13 pm PT

Today, we bring you a poem from the team:

Snow always falling

It never stops

Saw the sun for five minutes

We nearly blew our tops

Then yet again,

The snow returned

What will tomorrow bring?

Soon we will learn…

RMI Guide Sam Marjerison