Entries from Expedition Dispatches
We woke this morning to pretty robust winds at our 14,000' camp. After breakfast and hot drinks we headed back down to retrieve the cache we left a few days ago at
Windy Corner (13,700'). The winds subsided and we had a busy day between the back-carry, building stout walls for our camp, and digging out a kitchen tent. Everyone worked hard today and is doing well with the altitude.
The weather forecast is calling for some pretty strong winds for tomorrow, so we're just planning on resting until conditions improve and we can put a cache in up high. Hopefully the winds will subside sooner rather than later.
That's it for now. We'll check in again tomorrow.
RMI Guide
Mike Walter and Team
Hi all,
Today started on the early side and ended late, but we got so much accomplished today. We started with a last hearty breakfast of bacon, eggs, potatoes, and toast with plenty of coffee, before heading to the
H2 hangar to catch the first flight off the runway. The flight into
Kahiltna Base Camp is always stunning, and today was no exception. The turn over the West Ridge of Mt. Hunter brought Base Camp into view, and we banked for the runway.
With all of our team on the glacier, we started preparing everything to walk. We weren't sure the surface conditions would be firm enough by midday, but we prepared nonetheless. We rigged sleds, packed duffels and packs, sorted group gear, and at last decided it was time. Some thin, high clouds had moved in, helping to keep the heat from making things too sloppy, so we decided to go for it. We descended Heartbreak Hill, and made the turn up the main Kahiltna, walking to 7,800 feet, at the base of
Ski Hill. Here we spent the evening setting our first camp.
Tomorrow the plan is to move with all of our gear to 9600'. There is word of some weather coming in, so we'll see how that impacts our plan, but we are psyched to have made our first moves towards the mountain. All for now, we'll be in touch tomorrow.
RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer
On The Map
It's a bit colder up here at
14,000' than it was at 11K Camp this morning, but we are all excited to be moving uphill again and enjoying new surroundings. We left a an hour earlier than our usual time in anticipation of the extensive work of building a solid camp once we arrived at our destination.
It took us just over five hours to get here, and as is normal this time of the season, there were no established camps that had been vacated and available for us to move into. Everyone fueled up and we spent the next four and a half hours building tent platforms and cutting and stacking blocks of snow to build walls and protect us from the wind.
It's been breezy and snowing on and off throughout the day, and after a quick dinner of potatoes, gravy, and Hormel Retorts, we have all jumped into the warmth and shelter of our nylon chateaus. Tomorrow we plan to return to our cache at Windy Corner and retrieve our additional food, gas, and personal snacks. Everyone is excited about this!
All the best from
RMI Guides Solveig, Mike, Steve and the team here at 14K!
On The Map
The
Five Day Summit Climb team led by
Kel Rossiter reached the Summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. The team will spend some time on the summit this morning before making their way back to Camp Muir.
Congratulations to Today's Team!
Hi all! The skies are clear, winds calm, and it's a great day to fly to
Kahiltna Base Camp. Our team is heading in first thing this morning to start moving towards our objective! We'll check in this evening from the glacier with more news of the day. All the best, and we'll keep you updated on our progress over the upcoming weeks.
RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer, Robby Young, Josh Maggard and team
Our team is still at the 11k Camp, as winds picked up around midnight last night and continued through this morning. We decided that the winds were too high for our liking, and we took another rest day here at 11k. The winds abated this afternoon and we're optimistic we'll be able to move to the
14k Camp tomorrow. In the mean time, we enjoyed a relaxing day around camp. Extra rest days like these are beneficial for acclimatization and getting strong for the hard work ahead of us.
Everyone is doing well, and we're all looking forward to moving camp up higher. We'll keep you posted as always.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
Camp Muir reported that RMI Guides
Brent Okita,
Tyler Jones and the
Five Day Summit Climb Team reached the Summit of Mt. Rainier at about 7am this morning. The team reported clear skies and absolutely beautiful climb weather. The team has started their descent and are en route to Camp Muir. We expect them back to RMI Base Camp this afternoon.
This is the First Summit of the our 2014 summer season! Congratulations Teams!
Today we saw the first real clouds of the trip, accompanied by a dusting of snow. The clouds cleared out in the afternoon and it turned into a beautiful, but breezy evening.
We weren't terribly concerned with what the weather did today, as we took a complete rest day in order to have more time to acclimate to the altitude and recover from the past five days of hard work in the mountains.
Everyone is doing well and, if the weather lets us, we'll move up to the
14,200' Camp in Genet Basin tomorrow. The weather forecast for tomorrow is calling for clear skies and moderate winds, so we'll just have to see how things play out.
We'll keep you posted with our progress.
Caio for now,
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
Today was another beautiful day. The crew climbed the first leg of the route in preparation for our climb tonight.
A couple of us kicked in the route today which goes up the
Disappointment Cleaver.
The route is in great shape and were all looking forward to the climb.
RMI Guide Brent Okita
Greetings from Talkeetna!
So we made it off the glacier just in time! This morning we woke at 3:30 am to start the 5.5-mile walk back to basecamp. The forecasted storm was slowly creeping in from the southwest and as we walked down glacier in the twilight, clouds came spilling over Mt. Foraker, threatening to shut down visibility. At 11:30 we could hear the mosquito hum of K2's Otter as Randy flew in just below the cloud ceiling and set the plane down on the runway. Forty-five minutes later we were in sandals and t-shirts in downtown Talkeetna enjoying the warm air and flowering fauna. It has been an excellent experience for our folks. As we dry our gear on the lawn, everyone is quietly reflecting on the last six days spent in the
Alaska range.
RMI Guide Leon Davis
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Hope those winds give you a break soon. Every message is coming through, but I don’t think you’re getting any of my replies. Wondering about future weather forecast sharing…
Stay safe, mind the blue stuff, and keep having fun!!
xoxo K2
Posted by: K2 on 5/18/2014 at 5:48 am
Steve and Team,
Glad to hear you were as to move despite the winds. Hope things settle soon so you can keep moving. Waiting is never fun at any elevation.
Hike well and be safe.
Dad
Posted by: Bill Gately on 5/18/2014 at 5:03 am
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