Entries from Alaska

Received June 15, 2025 - 12:04 pm PT 

June 14, 2025

Today is day 6 since we first met at Anchorage airport.
After waking it at 2 AM and taking all my strength to get out of my sleeping bag in the cold night (the worst part of the day for me!), we climbed from camp 1 to camp 2 and made our biggest elevation gain yet, 1000m, with moderately heavy bags and sleds. It was quite the workout! | arrived with a small headache, hopefully not related to altitude because it's what scares me the most. When you arrive at camp, you do not just install your tent and call it a day, you have to shovel the hell out of that place to build your toilets and dining tent. We try to help the guides but they are doing a tremendous job.

Once again, I was impressed by the power of the elements, the sun is so strong at this latitude in summer and it reflects on the snow everywhere so you're literally cooking. That's why we have walked at "night" up until now (it's never really dark). We haven't experience the other hazards of nature yet, such as bad weather, extreme cold or high altitude. The mountain imposes respect. Despite that the harder is yet to come, I think the group has a good start!

Considérant le contexte géopolitique actuel, je suis également soulagé de bien m'intégrer en étant le seul Canadien dans un groupe 100% American (although one was born in Ireland and is very comedic). I don't feel that they want to invade my country, they are rather very friendly. Ceci dit, personne n'a encore osé mentionner celui-dont-on-ne-doit-pas-prononcer-le-nom lo!! Salutations à Samu, maman, papa et mes amis, hâte de vous revoir! On se croise les doigts que tout se passe bien!

RMI Climber Etienne

P.s. Joyeux anniversaire et bonne fête des pères papa!

Saturday, June 14, 2025 - 11:25 pm PT

Nobody missed a flight and all the bags arrived just fine.  They came from Norway and New Zealand and a few places in between.  Our team -8 climbers and four guides- got together as planned in the Anchorage airport.  We talked gear and logistics briefly before relocating to the curb for our van shuttle to Talkeetna.  It was a day of blazing sun and wide open blue sky in Alaska. 
We broke up the three hour drive with a stop for groceries in Wasilla and then pushed on to Talkeetna, rolling in at about 6:30 PM.  Along the way we had been granted a few breathtaking views of the Alaska Range.  Our first stop was the K2 Aviation hangar to drop off the big bags of gear.  Next we checked in at the Swiss Alaska Inn.  The team then strolled ten minutes through the birch forest and over the railroad tracks to beautiful downtown Talkeetna.  The town was bustling with tourists and the odd climbing team.  We ate our fill at the brewery and then walked the 100 meter length of town to the banks of the mighty Susitna River.  McKinley, Hunter and Foraker shot up into the sky across the river… impossibly high.  Or maybe just possible.  We’ll see.  Tomorrow we get started… packing and prepping in earnest. 

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

The RMI Team led by Dustin Wittmier climbed strong from 17,000' Camp to the summit of Mt. McKinley. They gained the summit ridge at 4:45 pm local time and continued to the summit at 20,310' arriving at 5: 28 pm Alaska time on Saturday, June 14th.  

After enjoying some time on top, the team descended to 17,000' Camp reaching camp around 10 pm local time where they spent the night.

Congratulations to today's climbers!  

June 14th

The teams made it to the top! We've got a lot to say, but for now it's a late night and we are trying to eat dinner and get some sleep. Everyone pushed hard, and it was a beautiful summit day! About 11-12 hours round trip, primarily filled with sunshine.

RMI Guide Nikki Champion

Wednesday, June 11, 2025 - 10:22 pm PT

Today brought the perfection we've been waiting on since our journey began. Blue skies, sunshine, warmth. We walked up the fixed lines with the sun on our backs. The most technical climbing we have seen to date, we secured ourselves to the fixed lines with our ascenders and made our way to the ridge where we placed our final cache. We made it back to camp around 5pm, greeted with more sunshine, and re-hydrated before dinner. Mac'n'Cheeze was in the menu for the evening accompanied by chatter of a potential summit window. We look forward to a day of rest tomorrow, and are hopeful to move to 17,000' Camp Friday.

Fingers crossed!

Thanks for tuning in.

xoxo RMI Guides Hannah, Nikki, & Leif

Wednesday, June 11, 2025 - 9:21 pm PT

We’ve Landed

We’re officially on the glacier.

After spending, as Dom puts it, “the right amount of time in Talkeetna,” we loaded into the Dehavilland Otters this morning and flew into the heart of the Alaska Range.  Jack, our pilot, confirmed that “of all the RMI groups this year, this is the nicest day to fly.”  Jack was kind enough to take us around for a view of the climbing route.   It is difficult to describe the scenic majesty of the jagged snow-capped peaks as we circled around and made our landing approach.  We have base camp practically to ourselves, and it’s very peaceful and quiet, with a few clouds drifting in the blue sky above.  After setting up, and spending time learning how to rig the sleds, and how to pack as to not look “like traveling merchants on the Kahiltna glacier,” we settled in for a break.  

Tonight we’ll have some pizza for dinner, the last trace of civilization (apart from the 9 inReach units our group brought along. . . )

For now, the focus is rest. We’re planning to head out with our sleds sometime around 3 a.m., taking advantage of the firm snow and cool conditions for travel on the lower glacier.

Signing off from Kahiltna Base camp,

RMI Climber Nate Brunner

The June 9th Mt. McKinley Expedition has loaded up in Talkeetna in the K2 Aviation Twin Otters and is heading to Kahiltna Base Camp. Their next check in should be from the glacier.

Good luck team!

After our big day yesterday, today was some well deserved R & R. We slept in a bit and had a slow morning of bagels and bacon. We then headed to the edge of camp to dig up our cache. After a few hours of rest we then took some time to review fixed rope skills to prepare us for tomorrow, to carry up the fixed lines up above 16,000'.

We then enjoyed some dinner of potato soup and chicken sausage and called it a night.

RMI Guide Nikki Champion

The Team is Packed and Ready for the Flight in!

Welll we did it. We packed. We’re ready….. we hope. 

Today is quite the bear of a day. What starts as a nice leisurely breakfast at the Swiss Alaska quickly turns into a packing, sorting, repacking, resorting conundrum. We have to pack for a 3 week trip with all of our food, gear, and shelters for the trip. It’s a task. BUT, we did it in style. 

The team worked through the maze of duffels, carabiners, and a million ziplocks to finally weigh in and separate our gear for the flight tomorrow. We’ll be eating up and soaking in the last bit  of creature comforts that Talkeetna has to offer. We’re excited to let the gun go off and the trip to officially start. Once we’re on the mountain, the jitters fade and the fun begins. Wish us luck and be sure to look for your climbers name at the bottom of these dispatches. We’ll pass this blog around the team so that you can hear about the journey from your loved ones. 

Be on the lookout and talk to you all following along from Kahiltna Basecamp! 

RMI Guide Dominic Cifelli 

Monday, June 9, 2025 - 10:21 pm PT

Today was a long day. Around midnight the snow finally stopped and the skies begun to clear. This morning we woke up to lingering clouds, but a few hints of sunshine and finally, a day without snow. After a quick breakfast and hot drinks, we began to shovel out our camp, that had taken a real beating over the last few days of really heavy snowfall. Once we shoveled our camp, we began to pack up the gear we needed for 14,000' Camp, and gather the gear we were going to leave at 11,000' Camp until we came back through. This included snowshoes, one trekking pole, and for everyone besides the guides - the dreaded sleds. We also left behind trash, and food we realized a week in we might not eat in the remaining two weeks. Once our cache was buried and left, we strapped on our crampons and began the slow trek up Motorcycle Hill. It was no easy feat, the trail breaking was close to waist deep in places. We continued our way up Squirrel Hill, across the Polo Fields, and around Windy Corner - which was less windy than a few days ago. And finally made it to the promised land, 14,000' Camp. Greeted by friends and sunshine, it was nice to finally make it to our launching point for the rest of the mountain. We quickly built camp, and eventually enjoyed a late dinner of ramen. The team did great, everyone pushed themselves, and showed up.

Tomorrow we will sleep in and take a well deserved rest day at our new camp.

RMI Guide Nikki Champion