Entries from Locations
Posted by: Win Whittaker, Mike Uchal
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The American Lung Association Climb for Clean Air, led by RMI Guides Win Whittaker and Mike Uchal, reached the Mt. Rainier summit early this morning. They experienced nice weather and 25 mph winds. After spending some time on the summit, they began their descent back to Camp Muir at 6:30 a.m.
Congratulations ALA Climbers!
RMI Team Russia is safely down at Cheget in the comforts of our hotel. How was our summit day? Check out the video!!
RMI Guide JJ Justman
My climbing/guiding career on Denali (Mt McKinley) spanned four decades. Some of the most memorable trips were independent ventures with friends in the early 1970’s. I have been witness to innumerable changes over the years, and always find it fun to look back at the way things were. The mountain hasn’t changed, but we have certainly refined and improved our means and methods of climbing it!
Dateline 1972
- My friend, Dave Campbell, and I drove a VW bug up the Alaska Highway, which in those days included 1200 miles of unpaved surface (dirt!). His V-dub gave up the ghost in the Yukon, about 100 miles short of the Alaska border, so we hitch-hiked to Anchorage and took the Alaska Railroad to Talkeetna. Two guys in a pick-up, moving to Alaska after time there in the army, went hundreds of miles out of their way to deliver us to Anchorage. That anybody would pick up two straggly dudes along with 1,000 lbs of backpacks, food and gear, left a most favorable impression with me.
- Later in April, my first day in Talkeetna. It was snowing mightily as I stepped from the train and observed a wedding procession passing by the Fairview Inn on Main St. The bride and groom were mushing a sled dog team to the delight of revelers lining the street. Being a ‘Cheechako’ (tenderfoot/greenhorn/newcomer) I couldn’t help but wonder if the couple planned to honeymoon in a nearby igloo.
- Our 4-man team brought 30 days of food: breakfast, lunch and dinner for four, packed inside two dozen 3-gallon metal containers (to thwart cache-raiding birds). As it turned out, we needed every morsel as we were on the mountain a total of 33 days (and didn’t make the summit; must be some kind of record!)
- We had elected to fly with Don Sheldon’s competitor, Cliff Hudson. Cliff headquartered out of his home; a quonset hut, strewn to the absolute brim with various electronics and innumerable airplane parts (plus, his wife Ollie, and four young sons). There was no Talkeetna State Airport that I remember. Rather, we took off and landed from the ‘village strip’ across the street from the Fairview (a wind sock was strategically placed on the roof).
- Climbers did not pay a Special Use fee, but the NPS required each party to have a radio capable of reaching Talkeetna from Base Camp. It was rented from ABC Communications in Anchorage, and required a $500 deposit (a fortune to us at the time). Cliff Hudson provided the necessary 12-volt car battery and jumper cable to power the radio, as well as a dozen 12’ spruce boughs (which he crammed into the fuselage of his Cessna 180, along with our food cans, group and personal equipment, and finally, us!). The small Cessna’s that pilots preferred in those days meant multiple trips to and from the mountain, transporting climbers.
- Base Camp was approximately 7300’ on the SE Fork of Kahiltna Glacier. We dug a snowcave for leaving the radio, battery, spruce boughs, and misc. personal affects. We marked the roof circumference with willow wands and a 15’ section of PVC pipe (it snows a lot there), adorned with a small flag, to denote the cave entrance. Over three weeks later we returned and located the cache (which required extensive digging to excavate). The spruce boughs were lined up in a row on the glacier surface, and radio antennae wire strung from the cave to each, like a telephone pole in the middle of nowhere. Power was connected to the radio, and we commenced trying to reach Cliff in Talkeetna to inform him we were ready to be picked up. If the radio didn’t work (some years it wouldn’t) our backup was the CB radio (Citizens Band), potentially capable of reaching a passing aircraft. In those days, bush pilots were acutely aware of location and progress of ‘their’ groups on the mountain, in order to guesstimate when pick up from Base Camp would be needed (in case the radio didn’t work).
- In 1972 sleds were not in vogue, and the four of us carried back and forth in between camps to fully stock the next, higher, site. That required as many as three days of stockpiling. In retrospect, we wasted a lot of good weather while low on the route, and experienced unsettled conditions during the time we spent at high camp.
- Underway, we observed three people descend from Kahiltna Pass, early-on in the trip. It turned out their fourth member had been evacuated from 14K with suspected pulmonary edema. These were the last human beings we saw for the better part of the next three weeks, until we were descending the ‘infamous’ fixed line between 15,000’ – 16,000’ (we met a party coming up the rope; worst spot on the whole route to pass!).
- All nine RMI Denali expeditions reached the summit of Mt McKinley (May, June, and July).
- 87% of our 2015 Denali clients reached the summit.
- The vast majority of guides and climbers jet to Alaska and ride a shuttle to Talkeetna.
- K2 Aviation’s fleet of de Havilland Beavers and Otters can transport an entire team to Base Camp in a single flight.
- Satellite phones and daily dispatches of expedition progress take the guess work out of when to pick up climbing parties.
- RMI expeditions averaged 18.4 days roundtrip this season.
- Guides and climbers alike raved about the new Expedition Sleds.
- There were no accidents or injuries requiring evacuation or hospitalization on any RMI Denali expeditions this season. _____
Joe Horiskey began guiding for RMI Expeditions in 1968 at the age of seventeen. Since that 1972 expedition, Joe has participated in 23 Mt. McKinley expeditions and has 235 summits of Mt. Rainier along with expeditions to peaks across the globe. Joe is a co-owner of RMI Expeditions and director of our Mt. McKinley expeditions. Have a question or thinking about climbing Mt. McKinley? Call our office and talk to Joe; he loves to talk all things Alaska!
Well joe , I have a dvd copy of our climb of Denali, less the sound track
But just throw on some moody blues
While watching. Tim really did a outstanding job producing this 30
Some minutes of our historic climb.
You can reach me anytime @
360 746 - 5867
Old climbing buddy Dave C
Posted by: Dave Campbell on 8/19/2022 at 12:12 am
Wow Joe ! What awsome surprise to stumble apon
Your story of back in the early days” very very enjoyable & congratulTions on your recollection on the details that long ago” I too remember it well. Sure be great to talk sometime or g-mail me anytime”
Your old climbing buddy
Dave Campbell
Ph (360) 961-7641
Posted by: Dave Campbell on 12/22/2015 at 8:39 pm
Hello again everyone!
It was another beautiful day here in Africa with clear skies and a gentle breeze that kept the temperature perfect for climbing. We have left Karanga Camp and moved up to our high camp that's called Barafu. This camp sits on a ridge line around 1,000 ft, which eventually leads to the summit of Kilimanjaro. It's a relatively large camp spread up and down the ridge and we are sharing it with all the other climbers using this route, I'd guess that there's around 70 other climbers here with us.
Everyone is doing very well and we are excited to start our climb early in the morning. The team will have a early dinner and If all goes according to plan we hope to have breakfast and be hitting the trail right around midnight. We'll have a nice slow pace that should take us around eight hours to reach the summit. So keep your phones handy as I said one lucky climber will get to call home from the "Roof of Africa". That will be around midnight for those on the east coast.
Wish us luck!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
I don't mean to brag, and I don't mean to boast. I do like Russian peanut butter and jam on my breakfast toast! But what else I do like is 100%! Every single climber on the summit of Europe's highest mountain, Mount Elbrus. Hey everyone, this is JJ Justman. We are doing the final little stretch here to get to the tippy top of Mount Elbrus. Team, what do you say? [Team hollers!] These guys are doing great, strong as can be. We just had a beautiful day coming up to the summit. We just have a few more steps to go but it's a done deal. We are going to hang out on top and take some photos. We will touch base with you when we get back down. Am I excited? Heck yeah I'm excited! These guys are really strong and they did a great job today. We'll touch base when we get down. This is JJ and the entire summit team on the summit of Mount Elbrus! Bye bye.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
RMI Guide JJ Justman calls from the Mount Elbrus summit
On The Map
Hey JJ and Team-
Great job gang! Have a safe descent.
Posted by: Larry Seaton on 7/18/2015 at 7:41 am
What a beautiful view. Congrats JJ and the team. Have a safe trip back down. Way to go Stephanie!
Posted by: Ivan on 7/18/2015 at 6:22 am
...And hello again from "Arwaycoccha" Camp, aka BC, for climbers. We just returned from Moraine Camp, where we went this morning for a carry and acclimatization hike. Covering the 800m of elevation, that rise straight up from camp, was nothing out of the ordinary for the team. Hardware, fuel and some food is already waiting for us when we start the move towards the top. We have been able to ditch the weather the last couple days, and only hope we can continue to do so, unless the Gods of Meteorology do it for us, and we can start to move under clear skies. We're going to start our "chilling" program for the next 40 hours; we'll let you know how that goes.
RMI Guide Elías de Andres Martos and team
K—Told ya I would post!!!!....Ok I like BC, much easier to pronounce and remember. What’s up with the weather? Missed your call, but I will have a phone near me at 2 PM ET. Any good pics or is the cloud coverage tough? I know, you need a weatherman to send you a pic!!!! Be safe and have fun!!!! M
Posted by: Michael on 7/17/2015 at 7:00 pm
Jambo everyone!
Things are going well and the team is doing great here on Kilimanjaro.
Today the team had a leisurely start as we wanted the sun to warm us up before our only semi-technical part of the climb. The trail out of camp starts off relatively mellow and then quickly ramps up as we ascend the great Barranco Wall. It's truthfully not as intimidating as it looks, but when does a thousand-foot cliff ever look easy. Thankfully the route winds its way up the cliff through ramps and small rock steps and eventually on to easier terrain. Everyone did a great job of taking it easy and I actually think they all enjoyed the challenge we had. We took a break on top of the wall to enjoy the views then slowly made our way to the next camp here above the Karanga Valley.
It was a relatively short day for us as this will be our last camp before we move up to our high camp tomorrow.
We are spending the remainder of the day relaxing and enjoying the royal treatment by our gracious staff here on Kili.
As usual we've had a trivia challenge that one lucky winner will receive a satellite phone call from the summit. It won't happen until we reach the summit, but that's not too far away. I'll let everyone know when that might happen on tomorrow's dispatch. So stay tuned!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
Team Russia is ready! This morning we spent a good part of the day reviewing various mountaineering skills such as ice axe arrest, cramponing and rope travel. Everyone is doing really well and we are all getting excited for our summit day.
Tomorrow is looking good so we are getting ready for an early departure from camp. Stay tuned and with a little luck our next dispatch will be from the highest mountain in Europe!
RMI Guide JJ Justman
On The Map
Posted by: Mike Walter, Leon Davis
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Mount Rainier Summit Climb, led by Mike Walter, and the Expedition Skills Seminar – Paradise, led by Leon Davis, crested the crater rim at 7:06 a.m. The teams reported a beautiful day with 10 mph winds. After spending over an hour on the summit, they began their descent.
Congratulations to today's teams!
So grateful to have had the chance to meet, climb, sweat, overcome and summit with these characters. Big shout out for my rope team…40/50 is the new 18.
Posted by: Jamie Moon on 7/18/2015 at 6:19 pm
Way to go Gabe! So proud of you and thrilled you were able to experience such an awesome adventure. Your hard work paid off. Thanking God, saints and angels for your safety.
Posted by: Judith Apple on 7/17/2015 at 4:01 pm
Posted by: Mark Tucker
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
A conservation area and a World Heritage site, Ngorongoro Crater, a large volcanic caldera is recognized by one private organization as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Africa- the unparalleled beauty of one of the world's most unchanged wildlife sanctuaries.
Teams Top Ten for today-
*Infant elephants in a large group doing their thing
*Hippos in the pool doing their thing
*Our 4th of the Big 5 the infamous black rhino
*Serval cat walking along side us for as long as we liked seeing prey on point
*Zebra cuddling with head on bum of other
*First sighting of ostriches in the wild
*The tiny vibrant colored sunbird in contrast with the Kori Bustard the worlds heaviest flying bird
*Our great local staff of drivers ability to pick game out of the bush
*A warthog that must have been to beauty parlor with beautiful swept back hair and double tusks
*Elephant in a tussle trumpeting as we leave the viewing area hearing them for a while after
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
What adventure! All my life I have dreamed of what you are actually doing. With so little time left, don’t sleep, Allison and I look forward to hearing every detail of your every day on the Dark Continent.
Posted by: Carl on 7/17/2015 at 1:44 pm
Go ALA Team & Congratulations!
Posted by: Sue Newby-House on 7/19/2015 at 8:19 am
Thanks RMI for another great ALA climb! We appreciate your special care and partnership.
Posted by: Joe on 7/18/2015 at 10:02 pm
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