Entries from Locations
Greetings from Talkeetna, Alaska!
We are wrapping up our first day of the
Alpine Skills Seminar. Everybody arrived on schedule to Anchorage yesterday, and a rainy drive took us to the gateway of the Alaska Range. As planned, we spent the morning getting ready with the pertinent logistics prior to loading the bush plane equipped with skies to take us to the glacier. As our appetite climbed for what we hoped to be the last served meal of the week, the thick clouds brought the rain (snow in the range) that would keep us grounded.
We took advantage of the delay, and practiced some skills at the K2 Hangar. We got familiar with our tents, reviewed knots and hitches and mastered crevasse self extrication to make the most of a wet afternoon. Our hopes are to fly tomorrow morning straight onto the Pika Glacier. We´ll keep you posted!
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
Good evening warm comfortable people!
The team here at base camp continues to thrive midst the constant storm. We needed to stick our heads in it so we packed our sleds and made our way to the main flow of the Kahiltna and started walking upstream. Although the visibility was only a few hundred meters and the snow fell wet, we managed to make a seven-mile round trip journey up the expansive long frozen river. Everyone performed well and lessons in self care were earned. With the weather outlook looking bleak, we may have to take the first flight out tomorrow morning. Hopefully in time to call our mothers on Mother's Day!
RMI Guide Leon Davis
Greetings from inside the tent! Well we hoped to get a break today and move our bodies across some glaciers, but, the sky gods had different plans. Lots of snow falling and we can't see much past the tents, but the team is taking it in stride and they are
master knot technicians! Tomorrow is a new day so stay tuned.
Good night and good luck,
RMI Guide Leon Davis
Well the weather gods have not changed their disposition yet, and we're still in
Talkeetna waiting for the weather to improve so that we can fly in to Base Camp on the Kahiltna Glacier.
In the mean time, we took advantage of ample free time to review anchors and crevasse rescue systems in the K2 Aviation hangar.
We'll keep you up to date...
RMI Guide Mike Walter
We woke early today, hopeful that last night's forecast would be wrong. Alas, the snow that had been predicted had shown up overnight, so we hit the snooze button and rolled over to wait it out. Well, after an hour and a half it became apparent that the snow was here to stay, so we got up and got the day underway.
Our breakfast of bacon and eggs fueled up the bodies for another day of training. We had hoped to head up the main Kahiltna Glacier towards some climbing objectives, but the lack of visibility combined with the unsettled weather kept us in camp. We made the most of the day by focusing on more involved crevasse rescue systems, more technical training, and swapping stories about the adventures we've experienced.
Dinner was a welcome break from the cold and snow, and the laughter and conversation from our posh tent drifted over the glacier as we wound down the day. The snow continues to fall, so we're nestling in for the night, excited to be here in the heart of the
Alaska Range. Hopefully we'll see a break in the weather, but we'll see what it looks like when the alarms go off tomorrow! Stay tuned, thanks for reading.
RMI Guides Leon Davis, Garrett Stevens, Bridget Belliveau and the team
On The Map
RMI's 2015
Denali climbing season has started. Our team is assembled in Talkeetna and is preparing for our expedition. Yesterday we started with our National Park Service orientation, and then spent the bulk of the day packing...double and triple checking every last detail of equipment for our trip.
Now that we are packed and ready, we are hoping to fly in to Base Camp on the Kahiltna Glacier today. We are about to head down to K2 Aviation to load out gear onto the single propeller airplanes that will fly us into the Alaska Range. We will keep you updated on our expedition's status.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
May 7, 2015 12:39 am PT
Greetings,
Today the team spent a full day doing technical training, building foundational knowledge in hopes of breaking camp tomorrow and moving towards our next objective:
Kahiltna Dome.
The weather has so far been excellent, so if you are out there reading this, do a little anti-snow dance for us!
Cheers from Alaska,
RMI Guides Leon Davis, Garrett Stevens and Bridget Belliveau
On The Map
May 5, 2015 11:27 pm PT
Hi everyone.
Another beautiful sunny day on the glacier! Perfect to go out for a bit of
climbing and training. We left this morning in the cold shadow of Mt. Hunter and made our way up into a small basin on the north side of Horiskey's Hump. Stopping periodically to study the glacier and identify some key features that make this frozen river so interesting. The team made great time and we were able to stand on top while getting some good practice on fixed line travel. By late afternoon the team was back at camp building a few more walls and celebrating Cinco de Mayo courtesy of John and his guacamole. Good night.
RMI Guide Leon Davis
On The Map
May 4, 2015, 9:46 pm PT
Good evening friends & family! The first
RMI Alaska Seminar of 2015 is on the SE fork of the Kahiltna Glacier. Our team spent today buffing out camp, which overlooks the airstrip, with snow block walls and a bathroom. We taught a clinic on climbing fundamentals, watched Mt. Hunter shed some large ice blocks and enjoyed a nice dinner of burritos in the cook tent. Tomorrow we will venture to the north side of Horiskey's Hump for some more training and climbing. Good night from a cold sunny glacier far far away.
RMI Guide Leon Davis
On The Map
Hello from Talkeetna, Alaska! The
RMI Alaska Mountaineering Seminar is underway here, and so far it's nothing but blue skies, sunshine, smiles and excitement. The team all arrived yesterday in Anchorage, and despite one delayed flight we were all able to rendezvous with our shuttle and make tracks north. A short shopping stop in Wasilla let us get all the final little treats that we'll want to eat on the glacier for the next week or so, and then we finished the drive to this quaint little town at the end of the road.
After a good night's rest, the team met this morning for breakfast at the fabled Roadhouse, followed by a stop at the ranger station to complete all our paperwork. We headed over to the hangar to finalize our packing and preparation, and then it was off to the races with training. Tent craft and now rope work, with the team learning a lot of new skills that we'll use over the course of our program.
We're scheduled to fly onto the Kahiltna Glacier this afternoon, so once we get the final weights of all our gear, we'll suit up and head into a very different world! We'll trade the trees and grass for snow and ice, but that's what we've all come to do.
Keep it tuned in for more updates, and thanks for reading!
RMI Guides
Leon Davis,
Garrett Stevens,
Bridget Belliveau, and the expedition team
Looking forward to updates. Stay safe and have fun! Thinking of you, Taylor—and Eagan is praying for your safe return.
Posted by: Brad & Lori Briggs on 5/10/2015 at 4:55 pm
View All Comments