Entries from Expedition Dispatches
Posted by: Mike Walter, Solveig Waterfall, Steve Gately
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 11,200'
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May 10, 10:50 pm PT
Well, the weather continues to treat us well up here on the Kahiltna Glacier. We moved from Camp 2 to Camp 3 (11,200') in beautiful, sunny weather; a light breeze kept us from over heating as we climbed up towards Kahiltna Pass. Once at camp we spent a few hours digging in and establishing a comfortable living situation. A well-earned dinner of quesadillas with fresh vegetables filled our stomachs before we crawled into our sleeping bags for the evening.
The weather forecast remains good, and tomorrow we will go down to 9500' to make a "back carry" and retrieve the extra equipment we left there in order to make our loads more manageable for the journey to camp 3. We'll be in touch again tomorrow.
Cheers,
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
Posted by:
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
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May 10, 2014 10:37 pm PT
The good weather persists in the Alaska Range! We were fortunate to spend a big chunk of time today training under clear skies and bright rays. By the end of the afternoon, everyone was dialed on crevasse rescue and amped to move camp up the glacier tomorrow. Aside from our attempt in Radio Tower most of our time so far has been focused on training and lectures on mountain related topics. Now it is time to put our training into action and see if the mountains let us get a summit.
RMI Guides Leon Davis & Eric Frank
Posted by: Mike Walter, Solveig Waterfall, Steve Gately
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 9,400'
It's another splitter evening on the Kahiltna Glacier. Our team worked hard this afternoon and it all paid off when we rolled into camp here at 9400' and enjoyed a few hours basking in the sunshine and casually building camp. Our group is becoming skilled in campsite construction, and we are sitting quite comfortably here in our massive snow fort. With Ski Hill out of the way and in the past, we are all looking forward to our move to 11,000' tomorrow.
The team is doing well, spirits are high, the weather forecast looks promising, and we are all excited about the progress we've made and the climbing still ahead!
RMI Guide Mike Walter & Team
On The Map
Steve and team,
Glad to hear all is going well and the weather gods are smiling. Must be quite the view up there.
Steve: Bruins won 4-2 over Montreal and take a 3-2 series lead.
Dad
Posted by: Bill Gately on 5/11/2014 at 4:23 am
Great job team! It looks beautiful! Keep up the good work!
We’re thinking about you Dad!
Love,
Mandy
Posted by: MandyS on 5/10/2014 at 6:50 pm
We can't complain about the two days of bad weather that prevented us from flying on when it is this beautiful at base camp. The weather here is stellar and watching the sun track across the greater Alaska range has the team in awe. Distant Avalanches off Mt. Hunter and Foraker provide awesome viewing in between skills training. Today we traveled up the SE fork of the Kahiltna for an attempt on Horiskey's Hump (Radio Tower) but poor slope conditions turned us back. Not as much snow sticking to the slopes here this year and firm conditions on steep terrain forced us to make a conservative decision. The team is very thankful for the chance and they learned a great deal about themselves.
Tomorrow we train and prepare for an attempt on Kahiltna Dome!
RMI Guide Leon Davis and Team
Posted by: Mark Tucker
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest BC Trek
On March 21, RMI Trekker Susan R left her home in Florida en route to Kathmandu, Nepal. Susan would be joining RMI Guide Mark Tucker and their team on a 21 day adventure through the Khumbu Valley. From Kathmandu the team would fly to Lukla and begin their trek to Everest Base Camp at 17,575'.
Along with the jackets, hiking boots, sleeping bags and other items needed along the trail, Susan brought with her a special Courage Quilt. This quilt was given to her by Mrs. Hixon's 4th Grade class from Oakton Elementary School in Oakton, Virginia. Mrs. Hixon and her class did a project on Nepal and the Himalaya. " It certainly helped me and I think it helped the other team members as well." said Susan.
The students were asked the following questions:
What is courage?
What does it look like?
What do you think about when you need to be courageous?
The photo below is of the Courage Quilt given to Susan which she brought with her to Nepal.
Have fun with Tuck on the trek. He was a blast on Kilimanjaro 2 years ago.
Posted by: Dick Davies on 5/10/2014 at 12:32 pm
Posted by: Mike Walter, Steve Gately, Solveig Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 7,800'
Good morning everyone!
It's a beautiful day here on the lower Kahiltna Glacier. Our team did an excellent job of moving to 7,800' at the base of Ski Hill yesterday. We got an early flight to base camp and spent a few hours getting organized and reviewing glacier travel techniques.
After a solid 8 hours in the sleeping bags we are again packing and looking uphill in the direction of 9,500'.
We'll be sure to check in after our move today!
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
Go Mike go…Great climb you and your crew…Godspeed…Waltero
Posted by: walter glover on 5/10/2014 at 4:43 am
May 8, 2014 10:20 p.m. PST
The team took advantage of bluebird weather today by training on various mountaineering techniques near Kahiltna Base. We did this in anticipation of an attempt on the Radio Control Tower tomorrow. Now that the group has all of the necessary skills under their belt, we can safely travel up the glacier and, hopefully, climb to our first summit!
RMI Guide Leon Davis
May 8, 2014 1:54 a.m. PST
The team woke this morning to the sounds of birds chirping in the trees, which meant that yesterday's rain had passed. The sky was still overcast, but as we assembled for breakfast at the Talkeetna Roadhouse spirits were high and conversation about our chances of flying onto the glacier carried a positive tone.
By late afternoon, it looked like another night might find us sleeping in Talkeetna and dreaming of glaciers, but luck fell our way. We were instructed to "suit up" and get loaded on the plane. Our flight service, K2 Aviation, was going to put us in the air and see if they could punch through.
Six hours later, we were nestled into our camp on the southeast flow of the Kahiltna Glacier. We established a camp and had a phenomenal dinner. Everyone is in awe of the surroundings and the group's cameras are getting quite the workout.
RMI Guides Eric Frank, Leon Davis and the Alaska Mountaineering Seminar crew
On The Map
Posted by: Mike Walter, Solveig Waterfall, Steve Gately
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 348'
The 2014 RMI Expeditions Denali climbing season is officially underway. Our team spent yesterday in the town of Talkeetna readying our gear for flying on to the Kahiltna Glacier. An expedition of this magnitude necessitates a good deal of preparation, and while our planning and preparation has gone on for months now, we still had a lot of work to do.
The day started off with a team breakfast at the Talkeetna Roadhouse before heading over to the National Park Service for our pre-trip orientation meeting. Then it was over to K2 Aviation's hangar to get our equipment ready for our glacier landing. This involved finalizing the packing of our personal kits as well as combing over the group gear, setting up tents, firing up stoves, and generally assuring that everything was in top working condition before loading it into the airplane.
The weather is forecast to be very good for flying, and expect to be on the Kahiltna Glacier by midday on Thursday. Hopefully that's the case and our next dispatch will be from the Alaska Range. We'll do our best to keep you up to date with the latest.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
Best wishes for continued good weather, a cohesive team, and safe, fun climbing conditions!
Avery says, “Go, Pops, Go!”! Climb smart Dad!
Extra shout out to a great guide, Mike!
Posted by: MandyS on 5/9/2014 at 10:46 am
Best wishes for a safe and fun climb. May the weather gods be kind!
Posted by: Bill Gately on 5/9/2014 at 4:13 am
Posted by: Linden Mallory, Pete Van Deventer
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 348'
More clouds filled the Ruth Amphitheater this morning when we woke up to check the weather and give a report to the pilot. The mist and low hanging clouds meant no flying this morning but it did give us the opportunity to have a relaxing morning cooking up breakfast in camp and then heading out for some ski touring nearby. This little weather system passing through the Alaska Range brought us a few inches of fresh snow and we found great turns on the slopes nearby. We spent a few hours making laps, forgetting about the weather and immersing ourselves in the simple joy of sliding downhill on skis.
By early afternoon the clouds looked as if they were beginning to thin and we headed back to camp to pack out the runway for the plane and get our gear in order should the weather break enough for a flight to get in. By the time we finished the clouds were still lifting - albeit slowly - and we entered the waiting game, exerting whatever futile will power we could muster to clear the skies while passing the time telling stories, sharing jokes, and even building a little jump in camp to catch some air on skis.
By 5:30 in the evening the views across the Amphitheater were clear and we got the go ahead that a plane was on its way. Shortly thereafter a red Otter poked over the ridge lines above us, made a few sweeping turns above the glacier and came into land. We hauled all of our gear over to the waiting plane, piled everything in and were soon airborne, flying low over the glacier we walked yesterday morning. We buzzed right down the Ruth Gorge, staying low as the summits of the surrounding peaks were still covered in clouds and followed the winding track of the Ruth Glacier out of the mountains and back into the Alaska foothills. The riot of green spring buds covering the forest tops, intersected by rivers still carrying winter ice, was a little bit of a shock after being in a world of ice, snow, and rock for the better part of the past week and the air gradually felt warmer as we neared Talkeetna.
We landed in Talkeetna and swapped our ski boots for flip flops, our soft shells for jeans (after a nice long shower), and are headed out for dinner. Despite the unpredictable weather, it's been a fun week of adventuring in the Alaska Range.
- RMI Guide Linden Mallory & Team
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Climb Strong! We are all behind you from Tampa. I am reading the blog to the girls for a bed time story so please through some princess stories in there.
Love,
Lennox
Posted by: Ken Lennox on 5/12/2014 at 5:15 am
Dad (Bob Strode),
Coming home from dinner to a mother’s day message from Camp 3 on Denali made my night. And may have almost made me cry, but we’ll blame pregnancy hormones for that.
Hope the weather stays so fabulous! Keep on staying strong! We all are sending good vibes and love from Ohio!
Love,
Mandy
Posted by: MandyS on 5/11/2014 at 4:39 pm
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