Entries from Alaska

Wednesday, June 4, 2025 - 11:35 pm PT

Told you we were feeling optimistic, and it panned out. We were up this morning to light snowfall, but better visibility than we've had in days. We blasted stoves, and had a quick breakfast of oatmeal before taking down camp and packing everything back into our heavy packs and sleds. Once we were saddled up, we followed in line behind many other teams who had the same idea and weaved our way up Ski Hill, through the 9,500' camp, past our cache, and finally up the final hill into 11,000' Camp. Upon our arrival we saw many familiar faces, as weather has been especially bad at 11,000' and climbers haven't been able to move up or cache for over a week. So after some hellos, and searching the crowded camp - we were able to find a spot to settle for the next few days, built platforms and dug out a kitchen before having a filling meal of ramen, and crawling into bed. Tomorrow weather looks favorable for our back carry where we will be reunited with our other 2/3 of food and fuel.

Looking forward to sleeping in a little.

RMI Guide Nikki Champion

Wednesday, June 4, 2025 - 10:14 pm PT

When we think of Sisyphus, we think of a man cursed to repeat the same arduous task each day with no end in sight. Each day he must think this is it - he has rolled this massive boulder to the top of the mountain, and surely his quest must be complete, right? Yet he awakes each day to the boulder back at the foot of the mountain, only to start again. How tragic! How crushing!

Or is it? In his essay, “The Myth of Sisyphus”, Albert Camus posits that perhaps Sisyphus is not doomed to a life of despair, but is actually a deeply satisfied individual. (Mind you, I have never read this essay and have only a surface-level knowledge of French existential literature let alone Greek mythology, so take this with a Denali sized grain of salt). But consider: this man wakes up each day with a clear task. It’s tough work rolling that boulder but he has some sweet views along the way. Every day he completes his task and must feel satisfied with a day of hard work. He goes to sleep feeling accomplished each night. How many of us can say that we have a clear task each day with no other distractions, a sense of satisfaction at the end of the day, and the delicious feeling of going to bed bone-tired which always produces the best sleep?

Our team made it back to Kahiltna Base Camp today, the last leg of an epic three week expedition. We now wait for skies to clear enough for a flight back to Talkeetna. Although the mountain’s infamous weather system ultimately prevented our team from making a summit bid, we are deeply satisfied with the gifts that The Great One has provided us. We were awed by the austere beauty of the Kahiltna and and vastness of the surrounding peaks and ridges. We were pushed to our limits and learned to dig deeper than ever before; whether it be cramponing on blue ice, being blown around on Windy Corner, struggling with all things altitude, or keeping our extremities warm in -40F windchill. We - a group of strangers prior to May 13 - became not only friends but teammates, encouraging each other in our hardest times, cheering each others’ successes, and cracking the most ridiculous and obscene jokes all day and late into the night.

Climbing Denali/Mt. McKinley has been physically and mentally the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Yet each night I went to sleep in the tent feeling a deep sense of gratitude and accomplishment.

Thank you to our incredible guides (Seth, Jackson, and Ray) for showing us the way, and more - from whipping up breakfast and dinner each day, to performing minor foot surgery, to digging Sisyphusian amounts of snow on the daily, to dealing with all of our client shenanigans. You each have unique gifts that helped me get farther than I thought possible.

Thank you to the rest of the team - the  Dont-nalis :) Shannon, David, Ethan, Will, Juan, and of course my other half Jason. I am deeply grateful to have met and befriended each of you. I look forward to our paths crossing again on this great expedition of life.

Love,

RMI Climber Grace

Wednesday, June 5, 2025 - 9:09 pm PT

Surrounded by a majestic you cannot see morphed into our first true view of the epic beauty that surrounds us. Lord of the Rings minus the hobbits, Gandalf, and everything other than really the mountains. Bad analogy but it’s the best I can do.

We cached at 9,900’ and tomorrow, weather permitting, we enter the gauntlet again to Camp 2. I figured making a list of all the things learned so far might be fairly entertaining for all the loved ones back home.

1. Individual snack bags are the way to go. Shoutout to Bob’s daughter, what a game changer.Sifting through a duffel of snacks in 30 MPH winds and snow hitting you in the face makes the See’s Candy not taste as good.

2. Leave a crack in the tent zipper at night. Humidity is very very real, and a damp tent is far from ideal. 

3. Nobody will beat the chess savage, Connor. I don’t think Magnus Carlson has much interest in a game up here in the Alaskan range. 

4. Falling while skiing naked in Colorado is not a good plan at any point in your life.

5. Some adults use binkies, in public, and carry a car seat we believe for themselves? I am as confused as you are, trust me. Hot sauce is the most essential condiment. And under no circumstances can you only bring one.

6. While in Louisiana triple AAA provides world class home cooked service, local errands included.

7. Hot sauce is the most essential condiment. And under no circumstances can you only bring one.

8. Tea tree oil and baby powder is life changing. Bring it, you will not regret it.

9. While training with your pack remember to wear your harness. Your hip bones will thank you a million times over. Seriously, wear it, as stupid as it may look the pack and the harness are enemies.

10. Be organized. Use every tent pocket imaginable. And always, always put things in the same place. Life isn’t easy up here but knowing where your crap is makes a world of difference.

11. When the guides offer you two bagels take the second one with a smile. There’s a method to the madness, don't ask questions and find a way to get it down. Politely refusing a second bagel is a mistake you will only make once. 

12. When you are going downhill use a sled brake. The friction from the rope keeps the back person from playing sled dodge ball. Bumper cars with a 90 pound sled on a glacier is more reminiscent of bowling, you are the pins and the sled gets to be the ball. 

I almost forgot,you can never bring enough skittles. Sure they freeze, but frozen skittles taste as good as room temperature skittles. The originals only.

Thank you for all the prayers, thoughts, and awesome people to come home to.

We wouldn’t be here without the village behind us.

Love,

RMI Climber Caroline and team

Monday, June 3, 2025 - 7:22 am PT

We awoke to low visibility and fresh snowfall on our tent.  We waited a few hrs in hopes that the clouds would rise and visibility  would improve . We never left camp to start our carry and we are thankful we didn’t because the weather deteriorated more that afternoon and into the evening. While staying at camp we snacked, napped, read and organized camp. We then had some delicious, spicy  burritos for dinner and talked about writing a guide book for hot sauces. 

Shout out to all our friends and family back home!

Best,

RMI Guides Lacie, Dustin, Will and team

Monday, June 2, 2025 - 11:25 pm PT

We woke up to the muffled sound of snowfall on our tents. Once we made our way out of the tents, it was obvious that a challenging morning would be ahead of us. Seeing if weather or visibility would improve enough to break trail back uphill, past our cache, and to 11,000' Camp. After wandering around camp, chatting with all the other guide teams and sipping a cup of coffee. We began breakfast, a mellow morning of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and fig bars. As we ate, we waited to see if weather improved, and waited, and waited some more. Sadly weather did not improve, snowfall just became more heavy and the winds began to increase. Around 10A we officially made the call that it would be a weather day. So everyone made their way into the tents and hunkered down. Movies were watched, books were read, and world problems were solved. Finally around 7P we all came back to share dinner. World famous jambalaya chef'd up by Hannah, and made a game plan to hopefully move tomorrow.

Fingers crossed.

RMI Guide Nikki Champion

Monday, June 2, 2025 - 11:07 pm PT

We slept soundly last night despite strong winds and snow thanks to the fortress our team built. After breakfast, we discussed the intense stormy weather we are currently experiencing and the forecast that has no adequate weather windows in site. This lead our team to the tough decision that we need to start heading down the mountain. The team took this in stride as they have taken everything throughout our program. With any luck we will start our journey down the mountain tomorrow picking up caches and shaking hands with other RMI teams along the way. Once back at Basecamp we will wait patiently for our brilliant pilots at K2 to come whisk us away and take us back to Talkeetna!

RMI Guide Jackson Breen

Monday, June 2, 2025 - 3:45 pm PT

We woke up at 17 Camp to large plumes of snow sublimating off Denali Pass. We slow rolled putting on every layer of clothing we had waiting for water to boil, hoping the wind would subside by the time breakfast was ready. To no avail. By the time we were packed and headed downhill the wind had reached our front door and we were blown down the West Buttress back to 14 Camp with our tails between our legs. Reuniting with friends back at camp and worsening weather reassured us that we had made the right decision. 

We have gained a lot over the last couple of weeks; new friendships, good conversations, silly jokes, and some peace from the fast pace of modern life. Though reaching the summit isn’t out of the cards yet for our team, we are beyond satisfied with what the mountain has given us so far. Climbing brings people to their best and their worst, it can cause great joy and great fear. It is a very vulnerable and intimate relationship.

In this world of rat races and anonymous faces it is refreshing to be with good people in a beautiful place. Thank you Mt. McKinley for brining us all together.

Peace, love, gratitude--
RMI Guide Ray Holt

Monday, June 2, 2025 - 10:30 am PT

After our last post after descending to 11,000', things happened quickly. We went to bed to moderate snowfall on the tents and woke to something of the same. With clouds all around, and a cloud cap above on the mountain, and after three big days, we didn’t rush out of 11,000' Camp, but took the time to get some coffee, breakfast, and repack into sleds, duffels, and packs for the snowshoe to Base Camp. By midmorning we were ready, and started out. That walk is always special, as the clouds and light played on the lower peaks of the range, there is a certain quiet and reflectiveness to the descent as we contemplate all we have just done, and how soon we will hopefully be home and this will all start to feel like a bit of a dream. We passed several teams headed uphill, still looking fresh, stubble only a day or two old, excited for everything to come. We made a brief stop at the base of Ski Hill to pick up our cache, then continued through the long flat stretches of the lower Kahiltna. Finally it was time for one more burn, the roughly hour stretch up Heartbreak Hill that would bring us to our destination. All day we had walked in and underneath clouds and didn’t hear much in the way of airplane traffic. Quite truthfully as we took our final steps into Base Camp, a message arrived via inReach from K2 asking if we were at Base Camp yet - weather hadn’t been flyable that day, but things were turning. So we arrived, but rather than sit and recover, we continued the movement and prep, quickly pulling apart sleds and bags, organizing, digging up our Base Camp cache, and shortly thereafter we got the news that two planes had launched to come get us. Just before 7 pm, the two red otters dipped out of the sky on the final approach to Base Camp. We loaded, and before we knew it, were being whisked back to town. Just as we seemed to swing into a stroke of luck with our summit day window (there hadn't been one since), we walked into quite a bit of luck with flying off as well. By 8:45 pm that evening, we were showered and sitting on the deck of the Denali Brew Pub enjoying a meal that hadn’t been boiled in water. 

Nick, Ben, and myself would like to thank this team for the incredible dedication they showed throughout this expedition, to themselves, to each other, and to us. That teamwork and selflessness was the key component in the success of our climb and it was such a pleasure for us to climb with this team.

Signing off for this year,

RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer

Sunday, June 1, 2025 - 7:20 pm PT

We have arrived at the base of Ski Hill after flying on yesterday evening. Due to our late arrival, we setup at Basecamp and spent the evening reviewing skills and learning how to build an expedition glacier camp. Now our heaviest move of the trip is complete and we are hoping to carry tomorrow.

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier

Wednesday, May 28, 2025 - 7:27 pm PT

We’ve officially made it to Talkeetna! After a long travel day yesterday for most of the team, we all finally met up at the Anchorage airport and started our journey north. A few hours (and some great scenery) later, we rolled into Talkeetna, dropped our gear at K2, and made a beeline for Denali BrewPub. Over burgers and beers, we got to know each other a bit better—swapping stories and sharing what brought each of us to Denali this season.

This morning kicked off our first full day together, and it was a busy one. We started with a deep dive into the packing list, making sure everyone is dialed for the climb ahead. Mid-morning, we took a short walk over to the National Park Service office for our official briefing. We were lucky to have fellow RMI guide Alan Davis—who’s also working for the Park this season—lead our session. Afterward, it was back to the hangar for final packing, sorting group gear, and manifesting everything to get ready for tomorrow’s flight.

The team is looking strong, stoked, and ready to get this expedition rolling. We’re hoping for good weather and an early flight into the Alaska Range tomorrow so we can hit the ground running. Stay tuned!

RMI Guide Nikki Champion