Entries from Expedition Dispatches
Posted by: Jenny Konway, Taylor Bickford, Stephen Inman, Ben Luedtke, Axel Ryd, Matt McEttrick
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
RMI Teams reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning! The Five Day Climb, May 29 - 2 June, made their summit attempt this morning led by RMI Guides Jenny Konway and Taylor Bickford. The teams were walking into the crater rim around 7:15 am. Taylor reported an exceptional day on the mountain with very little wind, good route conditions and warm temperatures. The teams enjoyed some time on the summit before starting their descent. They will return to Camp Muir for their second and final night on the mountain.
Posted by: Eric Frank, James Bealer, Jack Delaney
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 14,000'
Monday, May 31, 2021 - 11:09 pm PT
Sunday, May 30th, started out clear and cold but quickly warmed up as the sun hit our camp. The good weather meant moral was high in 14,000' Camp as everyone who was acclimated and ready to go started to climb towards High Camp at 17,200'. We, of course, being new to this high elevation stayed in camp and watched the conga line turn into a log jam at the base of the fixed lines. We made good use of our day by brushing up on our fixed line and running belay techniques. At the end of the day a well worn trail was stomped in by the uphill traffic and left us feeling optimistic about our own plans to cache at 16,200'.
Today (May 31) the team braved a cold morning in order to get a head start out of camp. We climbed up the fixed lines and cached at 16,250' on the West Buttress. The afternoon turned into a scorcher on the way down as the solar energy made it feel like 90 degrees outside. We returned to camp and had delicious burritos for dinner.
Congratulations Norm and your team! Stay safe and enjoy, can’t wait to see the pics and hear the stories!
Posted by: Linda Hill on 6/3/2021 at 8:55 pm
Elliot - looks like an incredible adventure!! Hope you and the team stay safe and warm. Keep on trucking and enjoy the views!
Alex
Posted by: Alex Thornton on 6/1/2021 at 8:22 pm
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Matias Francis, Chase Halbert
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 17,200'
Monday, May 31, 2021 - 10:21 pm PT
Both RMI Denali Expeditions led RMI Guides Mike Walter and Pete Van Deventer made it to High Camp today at 17, 200'. We are busy melting snow and making hot water for dinner. If the weather is good, we hope to go for the top tomorrow.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
Yessir! Good luck my guy. xoxo
Posted by: Z on 6/1/2021 at 8:39 am
I hope you make it
Posted by: Erin on 6/1/2021 at 8:09 am
Posted by: Mike Walter, Avery Parrinello, Luke Wilhelm
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 17,200'
Monday, May 31, 2021 - 10:21 pm PT
Both RMI Denali Expeditions led RMI Guides Mike Walter and Pete Van Deventer made it to High Camp today at 17, 200'. We are busy melting snow and making hot water for dinner. If the weather is good, we hope to go for the top tomorrow.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
Wow. Spectacular. Your patience has paid off. Good luck with your summit. Be safe and have a blast at the top of the world.
Posted by: Bruce on 6/1/2021 at 12:10 pm
We are soooooo excited for all of you, but especially BEN! We hear the view from the top is pretty spectacular and we can’t wait to hear all about it! God bless! Pat and Althea
Posted by: Althea Daley on 6/1/2021 at 10:32 am
Posted by: Mike King, Alex Halliday, Abby Westling
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 11,000'
Monday, May 31, 2021 - 4:55 pm PT
After going to bed last night there was an earthquake that shook camp and caused some ice to fall waking up the guides and a few in the group. The others were too deep in sleep from our exhaustive day of trail breaking. Today we got a casual start with a big bacon and cream cheese bagel breakfast. Around 10:30 we headed down to our 9,500’ cache and by 11:30 we had started back up hill in the sunny weather and thin clouds that can feel like your being microwaved. The team did well and are all back in their tents enjoying some down time and their luxurious accommodations. Hard saying what will happen tomorrow cause there is stormy weather in the forecast. We will shoot for a carry of food and fuel around Windy Corner. Thanks for following along.
Climb on Tom!!! I am with you in spirit!!!
Posted by: Dave Kestel on 6/2/2021 at 3:35 am
Posted by: JM Gorum, Grayson Swingle, Henry Coppolillo
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Seminar
Elevation: 348'
Monday, May 31, 2021 - 11:17 am PT
I’m writing this from the Swiss Alaska Inn in Talkeetna. We flew out from Kahiltna Basecamp yesterday evening, after breaking down our camp and breaking trail back to the airstrip. Now we’re eating pancakes and eggs in the big city, re-adjusting to indoors life. We’ve got a few things to do around town before we catch our afternoon shuttle to Anchorage. It was a great trip all around. Everyone is a little sunburned, but otherwise no worse for the wear. Thanks for following along, and thanks to all the climbers who made this trip a memorable one.
RMI Guide JM Gorum
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Matias Francis, Chase Halbert
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 14,000'
Sunday, May 30, 2021 - 9:45 pm PT
The weather trend is finally improving for us! Today was a relatively pleasant day at 14,000' Camp. The ridgeline above was showing some wind this morning but that diminished through the day. Rather than jump up there and get cold, chilly, and tire ourselves out doing a small cache, we opted to stay in camp, organize, and prep to move to 17,000' Camp tomorrow. That didn't seem to stop most of camp from taking a run at it, which only reinforced our decision. We'll look to get up early tomorrow, be early out of camp, and be settled in to 17,000' comfortably so that we're ready to summit the following day. The pace of things will accelerate now and everybody is excited!
RMI Guides Pete, Matias, Chase, and team
Pulling hard for you Big Marc!! You got this!
Sending love and warmth from your fans in Seattle! Looking forward to cheersing your success with an ice cold rainier
Posted by: Patrick Smyton on 5/31/2021 at 10:31 pm
It is about six pm Pacific and I’m hoping you are all so snug at 17,000’ tonight. Wishing you all safe climbing and clear skies. Go, team, go!!
Posted by: Bethany on 5/31/2021 at 6:07 pm
Posted by: Mike King, Alex Halliday, Abby Westling
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 11,200'
Sunday, May 30, 2021 - 9:36 pm PT
I woke to the sound of song birds chirping by our dining tent. That could only mean one thing, that the storm had broken and we’d likely get a nice day to move camp. We woke up at 5 am and we were walking by 8 am. The storm had put 18” of new snow down. Since there were no early risers to break trail, we took that on ourselves. The day was hot and included lots of deep snow. We pulled into 11,200’ Camp at 4 pm. Camp setup, dinner and bed was all the bandwidth we had. Tomorrow we will back carry to 9500’ to retrieve our cache of food and fuel. It’ll feel like a rest day compared the effort put forth today. Goodnight.
Awesome stuff Rob and team! All the best!!
Posted by: Andrew, Alex, Oscar and Anabelle on 5/31/2021 at 10:49 pm
Way to go Abby and team!
Posted by: Mark Westling on 5/31/2021 at 10:09 pm
Posted by: Christina Dale, Joe Hoch, Dustin Wittmier, Dominic Cifelli, Erika Birkeland, Seth Burns
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Four Day Climb May 28 - 31th led by RMI Guides Christina Dale and Joe Hoch led their teams to the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. It's a beautiful day on the mountain and Joe reported the route was in good shape and would likely be improving with the warm temperatures and stable weather expected. The teams enjoyed about an hour in the crater and began their descent from the crater rim just before 8 am today. The team will return to Camp Muir and then continue down to Paradise later this afternoon.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
Yeahhhhh Aunt Sam and Matt!!!! We are cheering you on the whole way, and can’t wait to hear your summit story!! Baggin’ peaks and being awesome. ❤️❤️❤️
Posted by: Ellis Bond on 5/31/2021 at 2:54 pm
Posted by: Mike Walter, Avery Parrinello, Luke Wilhelm
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 14,000'
Sunday, May 30, 2021 - 4:34 pm PT
The storm finally blew itself out last night at 14k, and we woke to a light breeze and partly cloudy skies. Winds persisted up high and, after an early breakfast, we decided to pump the breaks on moving camp today. The next few days look good in terms of wind, so we’re gunning to move to High Camp tomorrow and hopefully having a shot at the summit.
Over 100 climbers moved or carried up the fixed lines today, making for a heinous traffic jam that we wanted no part of; this is the first big push of the season, as many teams have stacked up waiting for a weather window. If the weather cooperates we plan to get an early (and cold) start tomorrow, with hopes of getting to 17,200’, building camp, and having enough time to recover for a potential summit bid the next day. The weather and the mountain are in control here, though, and we’ll adjust to whatever is thrown our way. We’ll be in touch tomorrow.
We are all hoping for the window to open for you guys. Up-up to the top!! Good Climbing Y’all. Vt. Is thinking of you. N. & P.
Posted by: Sandy on 6/1/2021 at 4:54 am
Fantastic news to hear that the weather has cleared! We’re hoping for continued good spirits, clear skies and a smooth route to the top. Good luck from Vermont! Stay safe y’all.
Posted by: Tracy Wilhelm on 5/31/2021 at 4:31 pm
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Congratulations to the teams for reaching the summit!!
Posted by: Tracey Inman on 6/3/2021 at 8:38 am
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