Entries from Expedition Dispatches

Mt. McKinley: Haugen and Team Move to 14,000’ Ready For Summit Attempt

June 24, 2015

Posted by: Mike Haugen, Mike Uchal, Pepper Dee

Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley

Elevation: 17,000'

June 23, 2015 9:51 pm PST We had a successful move up to 17,000 foot camp on Mt. McKinley. The weather was perfect for traveling on the fixed lines and above. Climbing on the amazing ridge that crests the West Buttress of Denali is always one of my favorite parts of the climb because of the beautiful rock an the exposure. I think all of the El Siete boys had a good time weaving through the rocks and snow that provide the natural protection on the ridge. As of now, we are planning to try to summit tomorrow. The forecast looks good and the crew is ready. Wish us luck! RMI Guide Mike Haugen

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Craig,
Will be in Talkeetna to play at the Fairview Inn on Wednesday. Hope to see you then if you have not flown out already.
Bom sucesso!!!
Nick

Posted by: Nick Kantar on 6/24/2015 at 3:59 pm

Proud of you Mr. Chowdry….to the top my friend

Posted by: Tony on 6/24/2015 at 3:51 pm

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Mt. McKinley: Nugent & Team Cache Gear Higher on the Mountain

June 23, 2015

Posted by: Billy Nugent, Mike King, Sean Collon

Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley

Elevation: 11,200'

Tuesday June 23rd 6:48 pm PT Greetings from another partly cloudy day here on Denali. Great weather and calm winds enabled us to push a cache up the mountain today around Windy Corner just shy of Camp 4. We were afforded glimpses of blue skies and the upper mountain through the clouds while we were preparing and covering up our supplies. We actually stumbled upon a perfectly sized cache hole abandoned by another party so little digging was necessary. Between that and the weather we've been making out pretty easy thus far. No matter, our team is gelling well and ready for the challenges that lie ahead. Sitting pretty back at 11... RMI Guide Billy Nugent

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I am glad to hear that about a father and son team climbing together. As we climb mountains we get stronger physically, but as we face mountains in our faith we must climb over them and as we do we get stronger in our faith. Remember that God is with you on every step and that He will never leave you so all of us are always with our Heavenly Father as we climb

Posted by: Kevin Stone on 6/25/2015 at 8:12 am

Doug, been thinking about your trek back to Denali often, and wish you good weather and good companionship as you reach this next goal. Best of luck and stay safe!

Posted by: William on 6/24/2015 at 8:31 pm

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Mt. Baker: Davis and Team Reach Summit

June 23, 2015

Posted by: Leon Davis, Chase Nelson

Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades

Elevation: 10,781'

In the North Cascades, RMI Guides Leon Davis and Chase Nelson led their team to the summit of Mt. Baker via the North Ridge today. Leon reported a great day of "full on climbing" with beautiful weather. This marks RMI's first Mt. Baker summit of the season. Congratulations climbers!

Mt. Rainier: June 23rd Teams Summit!

June 23, 2015

Posted by: Brent Okita, Pete Van Deventer

Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier

Elevation: 14,410'

The Four Day Summit Climb team led by RMI Guide Brent Okita and the Five Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer reached the summit of Mt. Rainier around 6:45 am. Brent reported good weather with 25 mph winds. The teams spent about an hour on the summit before beginning their descent at 7:45 am.

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Woohoo! Can’t wait to hear all about it! What an adventure.

Posted by: Barb & Mark on 6/23/2015 at 12:01 pm

Yeah!! I am so excited for the entire team, I can’t wait to see more photos. AWESOME!!! I am so proud of you Miki!!!!

Posted by: Christine on 6/23/2015 at 9:33 am

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Ecuador Seminar: Walter & Team Head to the Illiniza Climber’s Hut

June 23, 2015

Posted by: Mike Walter

Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador

June 23, 2015 6:31 am PST We enjoyed a relaxing evening at the Papallacta hot springs last night. After a leisurely breakfast this morning, we are packing up and heading off to the Illiniza climbers' hut. To get there we have a 3 hour hike ahead of us, carrying our sleeping bags and climbing gear to get to an altitude of about 15,400'. It will be hard work, and a stark contrast to leisurely soaking in the hot springs. But our team is up for the task, and it will be worth it; the hut sits at the saddle between the south (17,267') and north (16,818') Iliniza peaks, the 6th and 8th highest peaks in Ecuador, respectively. If weather and conditions allow us, we are prepared to climb both peaks over the next two days. We'll keep you posted on our progress. RMI Guide Mike Walter

Mt. McKinley: Haugen & Team Gear Up for Move to High Camp

June 23, 2015

Posted by: Mike Haugen, Mike Uchal, Pepper Dee

Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley

Elevation: 14,000'

June 22, 2015 11:30 pm PST We spent what is hopefully our last day at 14,000 feet resting and getting geared up to move to our High Camp at 17,000 feet. It started out very sunny, but soon the clouds climbed up and whited us out. The clouds gave us a dusting of snow as well as some reprieve from the brutal solar radiation that can come with the sunny skies high on a mountain. The weather is looking good for us to move up and make a push to the top over the next couple of days. Wish us luck and do your good weather jigs for us. RMI Guide Mike Haugen

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Doug -Thinking of you Bro and following the progress closely. Sending all our good energy here to you and the team. Go get it! —Don

Posted by: Don Watson on 6/24/2015 at 7:35 am

Good luck to the whole team! Doing the good weather dance and sending good vibes across the miles to all of you. Judi

Posted by: Judi on 6/23/2015 at 2:28 pm

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Mt. McKinley: Nugent & Team Resting at 11,200’ Camp

June 22, 2015

Posted by: Billy Nugent, Mike King, Sean Collon

Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley

Elevation: 11,200'

June 22, 2015 - 6:34 pm PT Greetings from day two up here at 11 Camp where our team is resting after a pretty mellow back-carry down to 9,600'. We retrieved the cache of food and fuel we left behind yesterday on our move up and have been enjoying partly cloudy skies and pretty civilized temperatures thus far. The team has been taking advantage of the good weather by staying on the move. Tomorrow we're hoping to put a cache in up around Windy Corner at around 13,900' that will hopefully set us up well for a move up to Camp 4 at just over 14,000' in the next few days. Everyone is moving well and excited to keep on pushing up the mountain bit by bit. Not much else to report other than that the mountain feels quite empty. Not that we're lonely or anything, just enjoying some relatively uncommon solitude up here. All's well thus far! RMI Guide Billy Nugent

On The Map

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Hey Doug, You’re in new territory. Keep it going.
Jean & Richard

Posted by: Jean Krohn on 6/23/2015 at 6:30 pm

You are almost there! Miss you lots Charlie!

Posted by: Katelynn on 6/23/2015 at 4:02 pm

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Ecuador Seminar: Walter and Team Thwarted by Winds on Cayambe

June 22, 2015

Posted by: Mike Walter

Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador

Elevation: 17,500'

I woke up to check the weather early this morning (last night, actually) and was pleased to see a clear sky full of stars. The problem was that it was so windy outside I could barely stand up. So, back into the hut I went to wait for the weather to improve. Winds died down a bit (it's all relative) and we began to prepare to climb around 2:00 am. We were on the move by around 3:30 am. Everyone climbed very strong, despite fighting the wind to keep our balance. Clouds were interspersed with stars as we ascended. By the time we reached 17,500 ft. we had walked into a cloud cap with winds gusting into the 50 mph range with about 100 ft. of visibility. It was time to throw in the towel and start our descent. Everything went smoothly and soon we arrived at the climbers' hut. We enjoyed a fun and challenging day of climbing, even though we came up a bit shy of the summit. Now we're headed for the Papallacta Hot Springs where we'll get a good night's rest before heading out tomorrow on another climbing objective. We'll keep you abreast of the latest. RMI Guide Mike Walter

Mt.McKinley: Haugen & Team Cache Above the Fixed Lines

June 22, 2015

Posted by: Mike Haugen, Mike Uchal, Pepper Dee

Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley

Elevation: 14,200'

June 21, 2015 11:09pm PST Our alarms woke us up early to a beautifully clear, but cold, morning. We had breakfast and set out around 5 a.m. to cache some gear up higher on the mountain. The route above 14,000 camp becomes very steep and we use fixed lines the gain the West Buttress at 16,200'. When we got to the top of the fixed lines, our El Siete crew had not had enough. We decided to do some more climbing and bury our cache below a huge rock feature called Washburn's Thumb at 16,500 feet. Although we had to do some delicate passing of some upward teams on our way down, we made it back to camp in good time. We are taking a rest day tomorrow and then hopefully moving up to high camp the following day. That is all weather dependent of course! Mike Haugen and RMI Team 7 "El Siete"

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Thanks for your postings, it’s impressing what you achieve up there in that beautiful mountains. And Erlend; it was so nice to speak with you this morning, made my day and the rest of the time you are away.I called your mother and Lorents, they were so glad to hear that everything is OK with you,Fredrik and the whole team. Robin came today,he’s in good mood and I think he will be staying for some time :)Wish you the best for the days that are coming,you are all fighters up there it seems :) Love you E. Hugs and kisses, Hilde

Posted by: Hilde Hestflått on 6/22/2015 at 2:04 pm

It is amazing that you had the strength to continue even past the expected drop zone. You are mountain warriors for sure! Talked to Doug last night and it was so good to hear from him!! We are very excited for his adventure up Denali.

Posted by: Chris on 6/22/2015 at 1:10 pm

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Mt. McKinley: Nugent & Team Celebrate Father’s Day at 11,200’

June 22, 2015

Posted by: Billy Nugent, Mike King, Sean Collon

Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley

Elevation: 11,200'

June 21, 2015 10:40pm PST Greetings on this fine Father's Day from Camp 3 at just over 11k'! Our team enjoyed a leisurely morning and a relatively quick and painless move up today with light loads and nice temps. After building camp we took advantage of the free afternoon to lounge around, snack, nap, play scrabble, dig a hole to bury a box, reposition some door knobs, moisten our fence wood, and general beveraging. Our gang is in great spirits and enjoyed our first evening hangout in the posh (cook tent) of the trip. Hoping for a continuation of the decent weather for tomorrow's back-carry down to 9,600' where we left our cache of supplies. We're also hoping that all of our fathers had a great Father's Day. Know that we're thinking about you up here! Wulp, that's all for now. RMI Guide Billy Nugent & Team

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Hi Art, was reading your diary from your 1991 climb. Hope you won’t encounter the weather and frostbite like that trip. My best to Charlie and the team.
Betty

Posted by: elizabeth williams on 6/23/2015 at 5:25 am

Moving strong team! Great job - hope all the Dad’s on the team enjoyed Father’s Day on Denali!

Doug - Continue to Dance on the Dragon’s Back…
“Not all men were meant to dance with dragons”
George R.R. Martin

~Belladonna

Posted by: Belladonna on 6/22/2015 at 10:55 am

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Entries from Expedition Dispatches

Mt. McKinley: Haugen and Team Move to 14,000’ Ready For Summit Attempt

On The Map

Mt. McKinley: Nugent & Team Cache Gear Higher on the Mountain

On The Map

Mt. Baker: Davis and Team Reach Summit

Mt. Rainier: June 23rd Teams Summit!

Ecuador Seminar: Walter & Team Head to the Illiniza Climber’s Hut

Mt. McKinley: Haugen & Team Gear Up for Move to High Camp

On The Map

Mt. McKinley: Nugent & Team Resting at 11,200’ Camp

On The Map

Ecuador Seminar: Walter and Team Thwarted by Winds on Cayambe

Mt.McKinley: Haugen & Team Cache Above the Fixed Lines

Mt. McKinley: Nugent & Team Celebrate Father’s Day at 11,200’

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