Entries from Locations

Hello from 11,000' Camp on Denali!

After a quick breakfast of oatmeal, we tore down camp and retraced our steps from yesterday. As we worked our way in and out of the clouds and limited visibility we finally pushed past our cache site, and continued to 11,000 ft. Once we rolled into camp, the work for the day wasn't done. We made quick work setting up tents and building camp. After many hours of hard work we finally wrapped up the evening with some ramen as it lightly snowed at camp. Tomorrow we will make the quick jaunt downhill to our cache and get the rest of our gear. Check in tomorrow!

RMI Guide Nikki Champion

Sunday, May 19, 2024 - 8:56 pm PT

Of Hypoxic Dreams, Luxury Items, and the Suspension of Olfactory Senses I was sitting at dinner, sipping a glass of aged Saperavi wine with a perfectly-cooked ribeye steak, describing to my friends an expedition up Denali. One of my friends then asked "so what happened after Camp 2?" I stared down into my glass and a panic set in: why couldn't I remember anything else of the trip? I shot awake, back to the reality of where I was: in a Trango 4 tent, at 11,000 feet, in the middle of the sunny night, cold, with my tent mates Chris & Ilya. There are still weeks to go. Our tent, tent 2, as it were (we have no idea which ones are 1 and 3, but we're in the middle, so we'll call it number 2), has been affectionately (or derogatorily?) referred to as the "manferno" and "the pile." And it was beginning to smell, as you might imagine after 6 days without showers, but the mind has a way of shutting out the involuntary gag reflex when confronted with fermenting sleeping bags, excessive sunscreen, and jambalaya in a confined space, heated by the nearly all-day sun.

Today was a rest day for the team, apart from a crampon refresher, to recuperate from the last few days of dragging sleds uphill, and to acclimate. A day to eat, and relax. In tent 2 today, we prepared a charcuterie board with various cheeses, meats, olives, chocolates, hot sauces, and crackers. The olives in particular added the missing ingredient in our mountaineering potpourri. With the aforementioned lack of breathable oxygen, you might even say that tent 2 is the perfect place to prepare for higher altitudes. Each of us finds solace with some small item to still feel human on days like today: a pillow, a paper book, or, in my case, an electric razor to avoid looking like a grizzly mountain hermit–at least from a distance, the smell would surely give it away up close.

Off we go tomorrow, crampons beating against the ice, sleds pulling on our backs, on to cache gear higher up to build the next pile.

RMI Climber Skyler Parkhurst

RMI Guides Joe Hoch, Sam Marjerison & Tom Skoog led a team of skiers and climbers to 7,500' on Mt. Baker.  Although the snow conditions were good, poor visibility with whiteout conditions prevented the team from going any higher.  They were able to do some additional skills training and enjoyed the days spent on the mountain and skied really fun powder back to camp.

We're resting in camp today. It's cloudy and snowing lightly. There's a big lenticular cloud cap up high. Our plan is to practice fixed rope travel in camp today and hopefully put in a cache at high camp tomorrow if the weather allows. We'll keep you posted.

RMI Guide Mike Walter

Saturday, May 18, 2024 - 10:35 pm PT

Everyone seemed to agree that last night was one of the best nights of sleep they've had. Something about a big day, hard work building camp, and the impetus to climb deep inside your bag to hide from the cold at 14,000' made for a good night. We let sun hit the tents and warm things before rousing for breakfast, then strolled back to our cache at 13,500' to retreive the rest of our food and belongings. It was a good active rest mission, stretch the legs but not work too hard. An afternoon of naps and snacks led to a quick fixed line refresher before dinner. We're happily settled in at 14,000' now with all of our stuff and looking for the next opportunity to head up for a trip along the West Buttress to 17,000' camp. That day will be another carry and cache, but we are getting closer to the goal. Everyone is psyched to be up at 14,000' where the living is good and the views endless. We'll touch base tomorrow.

RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer

Saturday, May 18, 2024 - 10:11 pm PT

Another solid day in the books. We woke up to clear skies, and cold temperatures. After a later dinner yesterday, we opted for a Slightly more casual start time. After a quick breakfast of granola and blueberries we packed up about 2/3rds of our group food, fuel, gear, and personal food and started up Ski Hill. After many hours of climbing we ran into Dustin's team digging up their cache around 9,900', and decided that would be a good place to put ours. We unloaded all the gear and food we wouldn't need for the next few days, buried it, and marked it with some wands. Then strapped our now empty sleds to our back and made our way back to the base of Ski Hill. We finished the evening up with the weather and some beef burritos. The plan is to move to 11 camp tomorrow if weather allows. Everyone is doing great on this first few challenging days. Check in tomorrow!

RMI Guide Nikki Champion

Saturday, May 18, 2024 - 4:29 pm PT

Mission accomplished. We had sunny weather with a light, but chilly breeze for our back carry. It took us 15 minutes to get back to our Windy Corner cache and an hour to get back up to our camp in Genet Basin. A good leg stretcher. We will likely rest tomorrow and try to carry to high camp on Monday.

RMI Guide Mike Walter

May 17, 2024 11:54PM PT

Today was super successful. Things were quite warm at camp and looked enticing enough to rouse everyone and start making preparations to leave.
Excitement was in the air as everyone in camp had similar thoughts - whether they were carrying or moving. Teams filtered out of camp uphill, and we made final adjustments, and then shouldered packs and headed up Motorcycle Hill. 
We moved really well - caught a little breeze over the top of squirrel, then kept swinging along the polo field. It was a bit chilly again around Windy Corner, but the wind died on the other side and the oven turned on and we started pulling off layers. 
We cruised into camp and set about building our home for the next several days tough work at 14,200’. Everybody is now recovering horizontally. 
Tomorrow should be a much easier day, dropping back down to grab our cache and returning to camp with all our treasures. 

Pete

May 17, 2024 11:22PM PT

First mountain day in the books. After a pretty grim weather forecast, we had planned to sleep in a bit and have a later breakfast. To our surprise, K2 Aviation called us at 7:30 AM to tell us the weather looked great and to make our way over to the hangar.

By 9 AM, we had changed into our mountain boots and loaded into the plane. After a beautiful flight, we landed at basecamp - unloaded, organized, and rigged up the sleds, buried a basecamp cache for our return, and made our way out onto the lower Kahiltna.

It was a long heavy day - the one day of the trip we carry everything we brought.

Under blue skies, we rolled onto the base of the Ski Hill, built camp, and settled in.

We had a dinner of mac and cheese with bacon and got gear ready to cache tomorrow.

Hoping for another beautiful day, but just glad to be moving.

Check in tomorrow!

RMI Guides Nikki Champion, Leif Bergstrom and Team

May 17, 2024 9:53PM PT

Well, I can't speak for the rest of my team, but my pictures are definitely not doing this place justice. I keep thinking about my sister, who's a professional photographer. She'd lose her mind over the views. (shameless plug - check her out at Alaska Light Photography). So far, the team has participated in some excellent bonding. We've covered important topics like the merits of various dinner bowls, pros and cons of carrying frozen carrots up 2,000 vertical feet, and what types of rare Pokémon would live up here. (Or is it Pokémen? Pokémon’s? Unknowable at 11,000 feet). Time and distance are different up here.  15 minutes can feel like 2 hours. The vastness of the terrain tricks the eye and a camp "just around the corner" is still an hour away. So, we take one step at a time, one breath at a time, and trust that every step is one step closer to the goal we’ve been working towards for months.
We’ll do it all over again tomorrow.

- Sarah and the Team