Entries from Expedition Dispatches
Friday, June 14, 2019 - 5:26 PM PT
The Team had another calm night here at
14,200ft. Our four nights here have been great for sleeping and acclimating and the fifth should be no different. We ate another big brunch, just without the mimosas. The weather has been splitter and the outlying forecast seems to be delayed. We also are not seeing the tell tale signs of deteriorating weather, lenticular clouds over Mt. Hunter and Mt. Foraker. With light snow and calm winds for tomorrow and Sunday our plan is to move up to 17,200’ and hopefully summit on Father’s Day the 16th.
We walked out to the “Edge of the World”, an outcropping of rock where Genet Basin looks down into the Northeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier. The glacier valley is how climbers can begin the West Rib and Cassin Ridge climbing routes. The clouds came up quickly and the views were obscured. Regardless we got out of the tents and stretched the legs and lungs a bit. Fingers crossed this streak of weather continues and if it doesn’t, we will continue to sit here at 14 and wait for a better window.
RMI Guide Mike King
On The Map
Hello again everyone.
The team is finally back safe and sound in Quito after a very wet two days. Unfortunately we didn’t make the summit, but as Lou Whittaker used to say, "Sometimes you eat the mountain and sometimes the mountain eats you" and today the mountain was tougher.
Yesterday we hiked up to the Refugio on
Cotopaxi in some of the windiest and wettest conditions I’ve seen here. We settled into the climber's hut and discussed our game plan for the climb with hopes that the weather would dissipate, then enjoyed a nice warm meal before heading to bed early.
We woke up at 11pm and got dressed and all of our gear ready before a very quick breakfast and then headed out to give it our best. The team climbed for about two hours in a sideways rain before it turned to ice and encased us in our waterproof clothes. To be honest it was pretty miserable, but the team kept a positive attitude as we battled the weather. It didn’t take long for us to realize that climbing in these conditions was far less than ideal. So just short of 18,000ft we called it good. Then quickly descended back to the hut to escape the maelstrom.
The team is currently relaxing in our comfortable hotel and looking forward to another nice meal before catching our flights back home early tomorrow morning.
Thanks for following!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and the soggy but happy crew
Friday, June 14, 2019 - 3:35 PM PT
RMI's June 11th
Denali expedition is officially under way. After an orientation with the National Park Service that focused on safety and environmental stewardship, as well as information about the West Buttress climbing route, we spent the rest of the day packing supplies for this three week expedition.
We flew into Basecamp on the Kahiltna Glacier yesterday and promptly hid from the scorching sun as we crawled into our tents. We waited until the snow surface to freeze before we went anywhere which entailed an alpine start at 3 am. The glacier was in great shape and we traveled smoothly without the need of snowshoes for flotation. Here, at Camp 1, at the Base o Ski Hill (7800') we repeated the process of hiding from the sun. Tomorrow we will again take advantage of colder temps and firmer snow and get an alpine start to shuttle supplies up to somewhere around 10,000'. We'll keep you posted as to how it goes.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
Thursday, June 13, 2019 - 9:32 PM PT
We’re back down here in the thick air of
11,000’! We were so excited to wake up to another beautiful day at 17 Camp this morning, and we were still ecstatic from a fantastic summit day yesterday. Despite some crunchy, achy bodies this morning, we were up and attem as early as reasonable to start making our way back down to the airstrip, and eventually home. We’ve paused our descent for just a few hours here at 11 Camp to get some rest and recovery, and we’ll then continue our way to the airstrip tonight around midnight, when the lower Kahiltna Glacier is firmed up overnight. Hopefully the weather allows for a flight off the glacier first thing in the morning. Wish us luck, and hopefully see all you friends and family soon!
RMI Guides Robby Young, Joe Hoch, Nick Scott and Team Homeward Bound
On The Map
The
Four Day Climb Led by RMI Guides Walter Hailes and Josh McDowell reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. The team reported clear skies above the heavy marine layer sitting at 7000'. and very calm winds.
Congratulations to today's team!
Thursday, June 13, 2019 - 5:18 PM PT
Today we got a casual but cold start to begin our carry to 16,200’ at the top of the fixed lines. The route heads out of camp and ascends moderate glaciated slope that terminates at the bergshrund. From there we clip our ascenders on a fixed rope to climb the 35-40 degree slope and gain the
West Buttress of Denali. There was a lot of traffic on the Buttress from teams descending and ascending. We opted to cache our food and fuel at the top of the lines rather then play a game of red light/green light above 16,000'. The Team did well, we will make a few refinements for our second lap on the lines for our move day to 17,200’ Camp. We are all back safely at 14,000' Camp and looking forward to a rest day tomorrow. From there we will have to see what the weather does. Everyone is acclimating well and appetites have remained strong. Currently there are lots of laughs and conversations happening in our kitchen tent. We high fived Robby Young’s RMI Team on the fixed lines after their successful summit yesterday. Thanks for following along, the amazing views and beauty of the Alaska Range continue to astound.
RMI Guide Mike King
On The Map
The June 10 - 13
Four Day Climb teams led by
RMI Guides Andy Bond and Steve Gately reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Andy reported light winds, sunshine and clear skies. The teams began their descent from the crater rim around 7:30 AM. Once back at Camp Muir they will repack and continue down to Paradise. Their program concludes at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
Wednesday, June 12, 2019 - 10:00 PM PT
Greetings Loyal RMI Blog Followers!
Today, at approximately 2:20pm, our entire team stood on
top of North America! This team put in a heck of an effort and were rewarded with an amazing summit day! We wanted to call from the summit, but the only wind we had all day was the top 20’ of this climb. Despite the cold, the team spent a good joyful 20 minutes on top before making our descent back to 17,000' Camp. I couldn’t be more proud of this team today, digging deep and climbing hard! Tomorrow, we begin our long descent back to civilization. Ideally, we’ll be sleeping at 11,000’ camp tomorrow night in the thick air we miss so dearly. The weather looks like it may cooperate for the next couple days so wish us luck!
RMI Guides Robby, Nick, Joe, and Team Summit!
On The Map
Hello Everyone-
We had a nice relaxing day here in the beautiful Highlands of Ecuador. Some of the team took naps while others explored the local town of Machachi. Everyone enjoyed our down day here and and are excited to head to
Cotopaxi tomorrow for a little climbing.
The staff here at Chilcabamba has been keeping us well fed with plenty of home cooked food, and very warm with fires in our rooms.
One last night of good sleep to recharge us for our next adventure.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Wednesday, June 12, 2019 - 4:45 PM PT
After 7 days of work the Team wanted 10 hours of sleep/tent time and the guides were happy to wait until the sun hit our tents before we had a casual breakfast of hash browns, scrambled eggs and bacon. There’s not much going on today since it’s our first full rest day. People have been reading, writing in journals and walking around camp. We are just back from some fixed line rehearsal on the little hill outside of camp. This practice got everyone tuned up for a potential carry of gear on the
West Buttress tomorrow morning. To gain the Buttress we ascend a moderate slope and then get on the fixed lines with our ascenders. There is some snow currently falling through a thin cloud that is making the tents an optimal temperature for napping so with that we’ll check in after our cache tomorrow. Thanks for following along.
RMI Guide Mike King
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Hi Gaz. Keep going bro! Amazing progress. Good luck to you and all the team. Lots of love xxxx
Posted by: Stu on 6/15/2019 at 7:06 am
Talk about “There’s adventure out there”! Your team is amazing and it is thrilling to follow you.
Hope you have a great day today climbing to 17,200 feet (whew!) and a glorious summit coming up.
The photos are wonderful and we look forward to more.
Posted by: Stephanie on 6/15/2019 at 5:52 am
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