Entries from Alaska

Wednesday, May 13, 2026 - 12:56 am PT

Goodbye world, hello Denali!

Sorry for the late blog post, it's been a wild couple of days! We spent all day Monday ready to go at a moments notice. The weather was fickle, the clouds were playing games and the sunshine was promising flight potential. Finally around 4pm we received word of a potential window so we loaded planes and launched towards Kahiltna Base Camp. Sadly the clouds decided to reappear and we had to turn around back to Talkeetna. After about 30 minutes of sitting in the hangar, the pilots told us another gap in the clouds had appeared. Again we loaded up and took to the skies! Yet again the clouds were sneaky and by the time we got there they had cut us off from our destination. We circled for 20 minutes hopeful the clouds would shift and clear. Finally the pilots made the call - back to the Talkeetna again! We had a hearty dinner and were off to bed to try again in the morning.

Morning came quick with a 8am text from K2 saying the skies were clear! The team kicked into overdrive and within 30 minutes we were loaded up and flying! Smooth sailing took us right into Kahiltna Base Camp. We then got ourselves organized and took off up glacier towards our first camp, Ski Hill! Several hours of slogging later plus a couple more hours of hard work, we had camp established! It was a long day but we did it.

We were here. Our Denali expedition has officially begun.

Cheers,

RMI Guide Jack Delaney and the Team

Sunday, May 10, 2026 - 11:19 am PT

Hello bloggateers!

Today was a busy day. The name of the game in Talkeetna is "Hurry up and Wait" - and hurry up we did. It was flurry of packing and organizing. The key to making sure you have everything for climbing Denali is pulling every item out of your bags, looking at them one by one, making sure you really need the item and then repacking them. After thoroughly examining everything we had and shedding any excess weight, we began weighing our bags. The pilots need the weights of all our gear and persons so they can calculate how to evenly distribute the weight amongst the planes and the gas needed to fly into the Alaska range. Finally we were able to able to call it a day and head to dinner. We enjoyed the fine ales and delicious food of the Denali Brew Pub. It was then off to another early bedtime in the hopes of flying off the next morning. 

Cheers,

RMI Guide Jack Delany and the Team 

Weather moved in overnight and we hunkered down and enjoyed a mellow breakfast this morning. After the storm lifted and precipitation slowed to a halt, we went for a walk towards 747 pass to put in a track and check out conditions. The trail breaking was deep and after a few miles we turned back and had a restful afternoon in camp.

 We enjoyed a wonderful evening filled with ramen and card games. Now, we patiently wait for an opportunity to begin climbing on Mount Dickey in the coming days!

RMI Guide Sam Marjerison & Team

Hello world!

Greetings from Alaska! After a long day of travel from all over the US and Europe, we all assembled at the Ted Stevens Airport in Anchorage. We then loaded up the shuttle bus with our eccentric driver Ross and drove the two hours to Talkeetna. We then checked into the Swiss Alaska Inn and got the lowdown on the winter Talkeetna gossip from the Inn's proprietor Critter. After a brief break to get settled in we enjoyed some fine pizza at Mile High Pizza Pie. The team finished the evening off with a walk to the river front where we witnessed a large ice flow break up at the confluence of the Susitna and Talkeetna rivers.  Then it was off to an early bedtime to prepare for an early start the next morning to begin gear checking and packing. 

Thanks for tuning in -

RMI Guide Jack and the Team! 

Saturday, May 9, 2026 - 12:15  am PT

Today started slow, similar to our previous days in Talkeetna. We walked the rainy streets, drank copious amounts of coffee and waited patiently. By mid afternoon, we were ready for a nap! Suddenly, the clouds parted and we were greeted with the first blue skies of the trip. We loaded the planes and took off from Talkeetna towards the Ruth Glacier.

We flew past rivers beginning to thaw after the long Alaskan winter and our planes shadow danced below against the rocky moraine covered with fresh snow. After circling the massive East Face of Mount Dickey, we landed and made quick work of setting up camp.

After a delicious dinner, we lingered outside and enjoyed a perfect sunset.

The skies continue to be clear and blue in the midnight sun and we are excited for tomorrow!

RMI Guide Sam Marjerison

5-8-2026 4:09pm PDT

Sam and team have been able to Fly onto the Glacier. earlier today. Keep an eye out for posts fromt the Ruth Glacier! 

Today was another rainy and overcast day in Talkeetna. After another great breakfast, we shifted our focus to skills at the K2 Aviation hangar. We covered friction hitches, anchor construction and sled rigging before we sat down for a round table discussion on weather and mapping! Tomorrow, we wait and cross our fingers for the skies to clear and the opportunity to fly!

RMI Guide Sam Marjerison

Friday, July 4, 2025 - 1:33 AM PT

After we got in the tents at 11k last night, there was a violent thunderstorm passing over with inches of hailstones. We awoke at 2:00 AM to fire the stoves, choke down some oatmeal and get ready for a big day. It was party cloudy but mostly clear, which led to easy  walking conditions. We were walking by 4:00 AM and and fairly soon, we’d reached the upper regions of Ski Hill and then our old camp at 8k. It only took us a further three hours to reach base camp. For late season, conditions were amazing. We never had to cross an open crevasse. We stayed busy at base camp sorting our own gear and helping others to load planes. Our flights came in around 1:00 PM and then we were headed to Talkeetna. Our team had donated pizzas in their mouths within 5 minutes of landing in Talkeetna. K2 Aviation did an excellent job bringing us home. In checking out with the National Park Service, we learned that we had been the absolute last team on the mountain and that the success rate for the season had only been 36%.

We sorted gear for the afternoon and then celebrated with a dinner at the brew pub. We celebrated a safe and enjoyable climb that didn’t reach the summit. That seemed appropriate given how much we enjoyed the effort of simply trying to get up the mountain.

RMI Guide Dave Hahn and Team   

PC: Dave Hahn

Wednesday, July 2, 2025 - 10:43 pm PT

There are amazing views every step of the way from the crest of the ridge, but with heavy packs and steep terrain to negotiate, we didn't take so many pictures. Sure enough, the wind was still blowing and the slope was still loaded when we woke at 17,000' this morning. We packed up and started down the West Buttress at 11AM. The fixed rope section went smoothly and we were digging up our 14,000' cache by 2PM and continuing our descent by 3:30. Much snow had fallen on Windy Corner since we'd last been there and the walking and sled pulling was a little challenging as a result. We persevered on down the Polo Field, Squirrel Hill and finally down the reflecting oven that Motorcycle Hill tends to be in late afternoon. At 11,000' we got right to work building a hasty camp and running the stoves. We'd been in blazing hot sun but as soon as we sat down to an outdoor dinner, a spectacular hailstorm hit. But we were hungry and sat through it. 

Folks are getting a few hours rest now. We'll get up in the night and make a push for the airstrip in the early morning hours.

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Tuesday, July 1, 2025 - 10:04 pm PT

Today was windy from start to finish, which we weren't quite expecting from the forecasts. There was plenty of sunshine though and so it wasn't uncomfortable. But we mostly hung in the tents, just coming out occasionally to look at the world stretched out below. And to look at the route to Denali Pass, over and over. The avalanche hazard still exists and we can't will it away by staring at the slope. The team is agreed that we'll look at it one more time -tomorrow morning- but then, without some dramatic change, we'll descend, as the teams around us have done.  The forecasts are calling for strong winds up high now in any case. 

It is a tough situation.  Luckily we are climbing with tough people.

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Tuesday, July 1, 2025 - 2:53 am PT

We are back on flat ground.  After descending 10,000 feet in just over 19 hours, with 2 hours of “sleep” in the middle, we arrived at basecamp at 8:30 am, and our hearts leapt to see the red K2 planes bank sharply left and land at the lower landing field about 9 am. Seemingly landing on the lower landing area never occurs this late on the season (it’s good to know Dom is wrong sometimes, and that damned 20” of snow brought us some good luck).

As we descended through the snow and the rain, I thought how little we knew about what we were undertaking, as we begun our journey just 20 days ago.  Did we understand the physical challenge, the might of this great mountain, the real beauty of the Alaska range and the wild vistas and beauty we were about to experience, the hardships, the dangers, the nerve tingling emotion and anxiety of traversing the West Buttress?   Did we know our true physical and mental strength, whilst knowing how effectively useless and powerless we were on this extreme place?  Did we know that none of what we achieved could have been achieved without our three amazing guides - Dominic, Ben and Mike?  They are the true heroes of this journey. 

They have received passing words of praise from my team mates in the recent blogs. However, no words can describe their role, their effort, their workload, their expertise.  

If we carried 70 lbs in our backpacks, they carried over 100. If we pulled 50 lbs in our sleds, they pulled 100.  When we bolted to our tents after caching gear at a higher altitude, they went immediately and prep’d dinner and hot water. They prep’d, served, clean up after every breakfast and dinner. Bagels and bacon, bagels and smoked salmon, burritos, quesadillas, cheesecake, tortellini and chicken (and Aardvark!), ramen, and never to forget Mac’n’cheese with bacon bits - I never knew how many dishes could have bacon bits- OR CINNAMON!!

They dealt with faulty gear, our mental and physical challenges - “Ben, I have a blister” which would be followed with Ben applying a gel pack to my pinky toe.  “Mike what layers should we wear on this next leg?”  They were positive and honest at all times, cheerleaders and coaches, story tellers, fun facters, and quiz masters.  Without them the last three weeks could not have happened.  I think it is fair to give special mention to Dominic. He gets to make the big calls, to say when to move, when to stay, and finally when not to proceed on safety grounds.  I have met and observed many leaders, -the good, the bad, and the ugly -, in my career. I can say without hesitation that Dominic’s leadership skills rank with the best I have seen.  

We are honored and fortunate to have spent the past 3 weeks with Dominic, Ben and Mike.  They make dreams come true. 

RMI Climber Myles O'Neill