Entries from Expedition Dispatches
Posted by: Dustin Wittmier, Lacie Smith, Mitch Valaitis, Robert Whyte
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Expedition Skills Seminar - Kautz July 5 - 10 led by RMI Guides Dustin Wittmier, Lacie Smith, Mitch Valaitis and Robert Whyte reached the summit of Mt. Rainier just before 8 am today. Dustin reported a beautiful day and warm temperatures. The team was going to spend a few minutes in the crater before starting their descent. They will return to their high camp for one more night on the mountain and some additional training. Tomorrow they will retrace their steps to Paradise and conclude their program at Rainier BaseCamp in the afternoon.
Congratulations to today's Kautz team!
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Ben Luedtke, Tatum Whatford, Felipe Guarderas, Celeste Wilson, Arianna Drechsler
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Five Day Climb July 4 - 8 led by RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer & Ben Luedtke reached the summit of Mt. Rainier with 100% of their teams. The teams enjoyed clear skies and warm temperatures and lots of great photo opportunities.
Nice work everyone and congratulations!
PC: Ben Luedtke & Pete Van Deventer
What an amazing experience! Fun, safe, encouraging. I couldn’t quit smiling. The team was great, and the guides brought out the best in everyone. A transformative experience, and one I’ll cherish for the rest of my life. Training for this climb changed my life, and standing on top of the world for a few moments changed me forever. Truly grateful!
Posted by: Glory Dole on 7/15/2024 at 11:10 am
I could not thank enough to our RMI guides and team members who contributed and shared this lifelong memories. I really enjoyed the stores behind each climber on why dreamed the summit of Mt. Rainier and how to take efforts to make the dream become true.
I know I made a right choice to pick RMI as my guide service. I will definitely refer RMI to my friends for future mountaineering adventures.
Posted by: Shirley Zhang on 7/9/2024 at 7:51 pm
Posted by: Seth Burns, Calvin Jiricko
Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades
RMI Guides Seth Burns and Calvin Jiricko reached the summit of Forbidden Peak yesterday afternoon. The team had a beautiful day climbing in the North Cascades Range! The route to the summit of Forbidden Peak consists of climbing a small glacier below the South Face and then low 5th class rock and 40- to 50- degree snow and ice in the West Ridge Couloir. At the top of the couloir the team cached their glacier gear and don rock shoes for the enjoyable 5.0 to 5.6 rock climbing along the exposed crest to the summit.
The West Ridge of Forbidden is a true alpinist's classic. Congratulations Team!
Reminds me of Tuckerman Ravine in NH especially in early to mid May. Good job!
Posted by: John Buckett on 7/7/2024 at 6:07 pm
Congratulations on achieving another adventure!
Posted by: granny jay on 7/6/2024 at 11:07 am
Posted by: Drew O’Brien, Mike Bennett, George Hedreen, Lacie Smith, Josh Geiser, Layne Peters
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Four Day Climb with Drew O’Brien and Mike Bennett reached the summit of Mt. Rainier at 5 am PDT today. The team left Camp Muir and climbed for 6 hours to reach the top. They enjoyed clear skies and great views in every direction.
Congratulations Team!
PC: Drew O'Brien & George Hedreen
Thanks again for pushing us to reach the summit. Up against high winds and odds not to reach summit Team RMI delivered a life long dream of mine to be on top of that mountain. Cheers.
Posted by: David Eldred on 7/7/2024 at 7:04 pm
Was a privilege and honor to climb with this wonderful group of guides and climbers! A memory for a lifetime, thanks RMI!
Posted by: Heath Scheibmeir on 7/6/2024 at 10:51 pm
Posted by: Brent Okita, Leif Bergstrom, Evan Redman, Bailey Servais, Claire Pennell, Dylan Anderson
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Four Day Climb led by RMI Guides Brent Okita and Leif Bergstrom reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. Brent reported bluebird skies, and that the entire team 100% stood on TOP!! The team is on their descent and in route to Camp Muir.
Congratulations Team!
Posted by: Dustin Wittmier, Jackson Breen, Roland Scott, Will Ambler, Avery Stolte, Rosie Hust
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
RMI Guides Dustin Wittmier and Jackson Breen reached the top of Mt. Rainier this morning around 6:20am. They enjoyed the sunrise before starting their descent.
The team will take a break at Camp Muir before starting their final descent back to Ashford for a celebratory dinner and certificate ceremony. Nice work team!
Posted by: Henry Coppolillo, Joey Manship, Raymond Holt, Mac Nolde
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Expedition Skills Seminar - Emmons reached the summit of Mt. Rainier via the Emmons Glacier mid-morning. The Team dodged the worst of the wind, but it was still quite gusty. They will return to Camp Schurman and finish out their week of alpine skills training preparing for future big mountain adventures.
Congratulations Team!
Way to go team!!!
Posted by: Susan Sherman on 7/3/2024 at 5:20 pm
Posted by: Joe Hoch, Tatum Whatford, Mitch Valaitis, George Hedreen, Arianna Drechsler, Stella Johnson
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 11,200'
The Four Day Climb June 30 - 3 July was unable to reach the summit today due to high winds. RMI Guides Joe Hoch and Tatum Whatford left Camp Muir with an alpine start but were turned back at Ingraham Flats due to extremely high winds. The teams returned safely to Camp Muir where they spent the rest of the morning. They plan to start their descent from Camp Muir to Paradise around 9 am.
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Sam Hoffman, Sam Marjerison, Nick Sinapius
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 348'
Tuesday, July 2, 2024 - 8:15 am PT
So the plan was to walk out in the early morning with the glacier surface frozen up nice and firm. Good plan. But it didn’t freeze. We had a wet snowstorm from 11 PM until 6 AM at our final camp… mostly it just preserved the slush. And then we were socked in with cloud until midday. But when the clouds lifted, we broke records taking down camp and stretching out the rope teams. We were moving at 1PM and then stopped at 1:01 PM figuring out the first crevasse crossing. There were a few thousand more to figure out. Our final day took about six hours and included a couple dozen snowshoed feet and legs going into crevasses, but thankfully no bodies. And magically, as we pulled up the final hill, the weather cleared and two beautiful K2 Otters glided in to the snow strip. We loaded planes and were off deck by 8 PM. There wasn’t much time for gear sorting back in Talkeetna. But there turned out to be time for Mountain High Pizza Pie and the Fairview Inn. The team still has a couple of high altitude hacks, some tired legs and some sunburned faces, but those faces were smiling last night as we settled into the Swiss Alaska Inn.
No summit… it is true. But we tried.
Best Regards
RMI Guides Dave Hahn, Sam Hoffman, Sam Marjerison, Nick Sinapius
PC: Dave Hahn
New Post Alerts:
Denali Expedition June 11, 2024
Tony - Wow. Incredible on so many levels. What an experience. Life is what you make of it … and clearly you are making the most of it!
Posted by: Marc on 7/7/2024 at 8:27 am
Congratulations to the guides and climbers on a job well done! Whether in climbing or so many other things, some day’s a diamond, some day’s a stone. Hugs to all. Saying hi to Karen. Hope to see you soon at Green Lake Fitness. We’ll keep the light on for you. Dean
Posted by: Dean Wingfield on 7/2/2024 at 2:45 pm
Posted by: Ben Luedtke, Robert Whyte, Hannah Billings, Drew O’Brien, Josh Geiser, Miles Watson
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
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RMI Guides Ben Luedtke and Drew O'Brien led the Five Day Climb to the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. They report chilly and breezy conditions on the summit. The teams began their descent from the summit around 9:45 am and are making their way back to Camp Muir where they will spend one more night on the mountain.
Way to climb!
PC: Ben Luedtke & Drew O'Brien
Congrats to everyone, great accomplishment, that beer will taste great. Our team hopes to summit on July 10th, hardly wait!
Posted by: Barry Milne on 7/4/2024 at 8:54 am
Congratulations to the team. Proud to be called Chandan’s family.
Posted by: Sougandh Mulini Golla on 7/3/2024 at 12:17 am
Nice!
(Although I am totally jealous. Lol.)
Posted by: Some guy from Puyallup on 7/9/2024 at 12:06 pm
Awesome job, team!!
Posted by: Scott on 7/9/2024 at 9:08 am
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