Entries from Expedition Dispatches
May 22, 2016 - 9:43 p.m. PDT
Our first day of climbing as a complete team went really well. Although clouds obscured our views of the incredible scenery around us, we had much better visibly than we had yesterday. Plus, our efforts yesterday lightened our loads just enough that today's climbing was quite manageable. Our
camp here at 7,800' is nice, but the snow that's been falling since we got here has made our kitchen/dining tent a most popular place. Our Posh House is always the center of community here; it's the place we can eat and share a hot drink or two and be out of the elements. The conversations that come out of that place...
With luck, we'll move camp to 9,600' tomorrow, but we sure would like some improvement in the weather! Everyone is doing great and looking forward to moving up the mountain. Hopefully we'll be talking from 9,600' tomorrow.
RMI Guides Brent Okita, Christina Dale, and Chris Ebeling and the crew
On The Map
May 22, 2016 - 4:02 pm PT
So things were looking pretty grim for flying out yesterday morning. We woke to more snow and a complete whiteout, keeping us locked in camp. We kept ourselves occupied with some games of trivial pursuit, stories and eating. As the day wore on a bit of sun shone thru the clouds and after dinner we heard the unmistakable drone of a DeHaviland Otter. Things were a blur after that. We broke camp in record time and moved our gear to the airstrip and loaded the planes before the weather moved back in. Once in the air we witnessed the skills that make these glacier pilots some of the best around. The clouds were heavy and thick all around us and once Patrick found a hole with some ground below, a few 360 degree diving turns put us under the cloud deck so he could navigate back to Talkeetna by sight, flying just a few hundred feet above the Alaskan tundra. So here we are back in town among the green trees and mosquitoes. A great time in the
Alaska range with a fantastic group of people!
RMI Guide Leon Davis
May 22, 2016 - 1:54 pm PT
Once again we're checking in from
14k on Denali. There is not much new to report here. The winds up high remain strong, and the National Weather Service has issued a special high wind warning for this storm.
We are all comfortable and safe at camp and we'll just have to see how this one plays out. Today is day 18 on the the mountain for our team, and high winds are forecast through at least Thursday. We'll keep you up to date with the latest news.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
May 22, 2016 - 1:12 am PT
Late tonight the sound of planes filled the air with the sweet roar of Turpin prop engines. Our flight service, K2, had taken advantage of a very short and rare window of marginally clear weather to ft three of their Otters onto the glacier to pick up some climbers anxiously awaiting a trip back to civilization, but more importantly to us, they were bringing the rest of our team to finally join us.
Day three and we're finally together!
This all happened just fifteen minutes after we had returned from a nine hour climb to carry food and fuel to
7800', Camp 1. Everyone did a fantastic job on the climb, and our efforts will make our move tomorrow a bit less tortuous, as normally we carry all our gear up from Base Camp in one move.
Let's hope the weather cooperates and we can finally start climbing this mountain.
Until tomorrow,
RMI Guide Brent Okita and crew
On The Map
May 21, 2016 - 11:43 pm PT
Though there was a cap on the upper mountain when we woke, that wasn't the direction of our concern. The snow and winds had abated, and down towards
Windy Corner, the sun was shining through thin clouds, setting everything to sparkling. After another great brunch, we grabbed our packs and feeling light as feathers, cruised downhill to our cache. We made quick work of retrieving it, and an hour later were back in camp with a small mountain of food. We spent a bit of time before dinner rigging our ascenders and reviewing fixed line techniques for what we hope to be our carry up onto the West Buttress tomorrow. If the weather cooperates we'll make our first trip up the lines, and all the boxes will be checked for our summit bid.
All for now,
RMI Guides Pete, Robby, Jess, and team
On The Map
May 21, 2016 - 7:25 pm PT
We spent another day here at 14k. Today the weather at camp was quite pleasant, with periods of sun and just some light wind. Up above on the
West Buttress, where we are hoping to climb, the strong winds persisted today. We'll see what tomorrow brings, as the weather forecast is still calling for high winds the next few days. We'll keep you posted.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
The
Four Day Summit Climb team for May 18 - 21, 2016, led by
RMI Guides Elias de Andres-Martos and Kel Rossiter, reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. The teams only spent a short amount of time on the crater rim before starting their descent to Camp Muir. The teams will continue their descent to Paradise and return to Rainier BaseCamp later today.
Congratulations to today's Summit Climbers!
May 21, 2016 - 10:52 am PT
Well today our team got to practice a Denali soft skill that may be one of the most crucial; How to occupy your mind when the weather keeps you stagnant. We woke up inside a Ping pong ball and this strange snow that turned to rain as soon as it touched us. The team spent most of the day inside the kitchen telling stories, laughing and tying 50 meters worth of knots on our climbing rope. At times it was a tough lesson but the team stood strong. After dinner the skies started to break and eager for some activity, we broke camp and made a move back to base camp. It was eerily calm to have the glacier all to ourselves in a whiteout. It's just past midnight now and we have just crawled into our tents. Tomorrow we are really hoping for some sun!
RMI Guide Leon Davis
May 21, 2016 - 1:18 am PT
For most of today it huffed and puffed and the snow fell heavily. We haven't been able to see much, and the wind has been gusting pretty strongly. We made the easy choice to take today as a rest day and
fortify our camp, which proved to be the right decision as the gusts grew stronger as the day went on. Instead, we ate a great brunch of smoked salmon and bagels, then set to work reinforcing our compounds with big walls (some wondered how much of a rest day it was carrying a couple hundred 20 pound blocks of snow). With our camp solid, we retired to the tents for naps and rest, before a delicious dinner of Mac and cheese with bacon. It's still snowing hard, though the winds are starting to calm. We're expecting to still wake up to some snow, but hopefully the winds abate, the visibility improves, and we take a quick walk back to retrieve our cache. If not, we still have plenty of delicious food up here and we'll continue to acclimate and get strong in the thinner air of 14.
Best
RMI Guides Pete, Robby, Jess, and our stellar team of high altitude athletes
On The Map
May 20, 2016 - 5:36 pm PT
We're hunkered down in our tents today as a significant storm rages outside. Fortunately the snow walls we constructed are taking the brunt if the winds. It's been snowing all day, and visibility is near zero.
We're all safe and relatively comfortable in our camp between our tents and our cook tent. High above our camp you can hear the winds crashing over the
West Buttress like waves on a rocky coastline. The winds up at that altitude are forecast to reach 85 mph.
This storm will hopefully start to taper off tomorrow and give us a chance to move up to high camp for a summit bid. We'll keep you posted, but for now we're in a holding pattern.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
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Mike - Mark Winter says he is not concerned about you as long as you stay away from bicycles.
Your scuba family is watching each day and sharing your adventure - although vicariously.
Jim
Posted by: Jim Pearson on 5/25/2016 at 10:08 am
Hey Paul, SO incredibly proud AND jealous of you! Just know that I am living every step vicariously through you and you make your journey to the top! You make training for Whitney seem like a walk in the park - at sea level! Be safe and ENJOY!!
Posted by: Virginia on 5/24/2016 at 7:19 pm
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