Entries from Alaska

Sunday June 29, 2025 - 10:49 pm PT

It was the ultimate luxury to lie in until the sun came around this morning. We ate our last bagel breakfast and lounged about in the sunshine. We rested, but we also schemed and plotted our ascent for the next few days, and that scheming got tougher as the day progressed. We became aware that the teams at 17K had turned around from their summit bids after finding avalanche conditions on the "autobahn". Of course we will need some improvement in that condition by the time we reach the same terrain, so the team will have the challenge of trying to remain optimistic and positive while acknowledging that a problem lies ahead. We said goodbye to Dom's RMI team as they descended through 14 camp, we ate our dinner and we prepared to climb. 

- RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Sunday, June 29, 2025 - 12:24 am PT

1 step, 1 breathe. 2 steps, 2 breaths. On and on, the rhythm continues as we leave 14,200 feet, move up the fixed lines, around Washburn's thumb, over the exposed yet beautiful West Buttress, and crest the hill to grandma's. Kidding about that last part, but we did finally arrive at 17,200 feet. Again, the tabloids misconstrue, do not listen to them, listen to us! :) it has been a long wait at Camp 3, but a huge shoutout to our entire team for sticking it out; Together! Its hard to wait for the right window while hanging with a bunch of strangers, but this Brady's bunch ain't no strangers no more. So, we're not done just yet. Tomorrow will test the reason we came here in the first place. Making it to the top of North America has already proven itself difficult. We're either gonna bring it home hot or bring it home cold. It's up to us. Cheers to everyone back home following along, we miss you, we're close, wish us luck, and we'll see you soon.

RMI Guide Ben Luedtke & Team 

Saturday, June 28, 2025 - 10:28 pm PT

Today was the day for us to get up on the West Buttress. But it was the day for everybody else to get up on the West Buttress too. We had no choice but to climb in a crowd. That said, it was a crowd of pretty nice folks all around. We didn’t try to be the first out of camp, there was no desire to race anybody. We had a leisurely breakfast and geared up in time to leave by around 10 AM. There were perhaps thirty climbers ahead of us and thirty behind. The storm and waiting for snow to stabilize had put everybody on the same schedule. The downside of that was that we couldn’t go at our own pace, the upside was that we didn’t have to break trail. Patience was the word of the day and that paid off for us. It was neither cold nor windy and we could afford to be patient. The entire team did just fine on the much anticipated “fixed rope” section and then we topped out on the ridge at 16,200 ft, shattering altitude records for Bailey, Calvin, Rahul and Frederick. We cached our food and fuel and got down to camp by 5 PM. Tomorrow will be a rest and recovery day and we’ll be keeping fingers crossed for Dom Cifelli’s RMI team to ring the summit bell. 

- RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Wednesday, June 25, 2025 - 10:19 pm PT

Today, life at 14,200 was pretty easy compared to yesterday.  We had a slow breakfast and then roped up to retrieve our cache down at 13,500 ft.  The day started with a cloud cap on the South Peak. As we went about our business that gradually morphed into cloud everywhere and a snowy day. But our timing was right and we got our work done before the snow.  It only took 20 minutes to walk down to the cache, perhaps another 20 to dig it up and a little more than an hour to climb back up to camp. We were home by a little after noon.  Then it was a tent afternoon while the snow fell.  It was light, but persistent. Still snowing now at 8:40PM but without any wind.  Certainly we’ll hope for some clearing in the night or tomorrow morning.

- RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Wednesday, June 25, 2025 - 8:51 pm PT

It’s been 8 days since my last dispatch. Eight days since those heady times at 11,000' Camp, when our pounds and pounds of food seemed excessive, when trading for extra toilet paper and coffee were moments of mirth; now we covet our remaining pounds of food, and those trades seem like masterstrokes of genius.

Our first week at 14,000' is coming to a close, our team has experienced wind, snow, and searing heat. Being simultaneously as hot and cold as we have ever been in our lives. While the recent weather has not been as amenable to a quick summit as we would have liked, this past week has still been an incredible and hard to describe experience. The views (when they are available) are breathtaking, reminding us of how lucky we are to be here at all, and how thankful we are for our family, friends, and coworkers supporting us back in the real world allowing us to stay focused on our goal.

The team’s morale remains high, supported by our amazing guiding team of Dom, Ben, and Mike, who keep us active, both physically and mentally, every day. Special shoutout to Dominic’s wife for providing the team a rousing trivia night via satellite messaging a few days back.

As we enter our second week at 14,000', the team is a coiled spring, ready to launch as our hopeful weather window approaches, but until then thank you for all the love and support as we wait out the weather (but god save us if the hot sauce runs out).

RMI Climber Tate Bishop 

Tuesday, June 24, 2025 - 10:24 pm PT

As soon as we poked our heads out of tents this morning at 6 AM we knew we were going to be able to make the big jump to 14,000'.  Still, it took until a little after nine to get on the trail… or, more correctly, onto where the trail should have been. The new snow was boot deep and there wasn’t a single track left on Motorcycle Hill so we had some good hard work to drag sleds up it.  Things got a little better on Squirrel Hill as there was less snow and a team coming down the mountain left tracks that we were able to make occasional use of.  There was only a 3 mph breeze at windy corner, so we were able to get around without too much trouble.   Then we pushed on up into sun drenched Genet Basin to find a wonderful and welcome surprise.

Dom Cifelli’s RMI team was in the process of flattening out an excellent camp sight for us.  They built us a deluxe latrine and even gave us water to get our kitchen started.  Before long we were set up and good to go.  They saved us a ton of work.  We had a nice dinner and crawled in to the tents while the sun was still high in the sky.  It is going behind the West Buttress now -at 9 PM- and we expect some of our first cold temps of the trip.  Just as it should be way up here in our new home. 

- RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Tuesday, June 24, 2025 - 9:03 pm PT

Top Ten Things Happening at 14,000' Camp right now:
10. Snow on the inside of the tent and blue skies outside the tent
9. Running out of snacks and entertainment (but we’re good on toilet paper)
8. Secret Aardvark
7. Buzz Lightyear sightings around camp
6. Walking laps and laps on the 14k Main Street
5. Walking out to the Edge of the World, which overlooks the Valley of Death, to take precarious photos*
4. Texas dice and Wizard
3. Welcoming the next RMI team coming up from 11,000' camp
2. New flavors of bowlines—on a bight, snap, etc.
1. SPAM

RMI Climber Nate Brunner
*While roped in

It was a snowy night at 11,000' Camp, followed by a snowy morning and snowy day. We stayed put.  The team ate a slow and leisurely breakfast in the dining tent, followed by a protracted debate and story telling session, followed by naps books, tv and podcasts.

By afternoon and evening we were getting a little sun and blue sky but it was still snowing lightly.   It was a storm day… which worked pretty well as a rest day too.  We hope to be back in action tomorrow.

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Monday, June 23, 2025 - 10:21 pm PT

I have this idea for an experiment. All type- A individuals are eligible for sign up. I’ll entice  them with the allure of a once in a lifetime challenge that will test their physical and mental aptitude. Maybe a tall mountain or something. Now, we’ll observe as we keep these folks in one spot, with 2 rooms, and one hall as we wait….and wait…. and wait. While they once filled their time with stair steppers, tire pulls, and long hikes. We’ll fill their time with overfilling meals, books they wish had more words, card games, and time. Lots of it.

Climbing books, movies, stories always glaze over the reality. The waiting. What most think is filled with lung searing, adrenaline pumping climbing is often times just half the tale. The part that everyone skips is the patience of it all. Expedition climbing forces you to slow down and take it one step at a time. While the climbing has you honing in on the next step, the next breath,  the next stretch. The waiting has you broadening your appreciation for the little things. A meal with good conversation, quality time with friends loved ones, a good snuggle with a pet, or… a flushing toilet and a good shower. All of it’s important in its own way and it’s why this style of climbing is like no other. We don’t do this to just have the experience of climbing a peak, but also to show us all what we have at home and appreciate those reading this blog more and more.

Last night it snowed half a foot on us and we awoke to a winter wonderland. Our first real storm day. Boots full of snow, belly’s full of salmon and bagels, and competitive tendencies satiated with games. We will continue to wait. Just like the days before. But that’s ok. I fricken love both sides of this coin. And there’s no game like the game of strategy that expedition climbing provides. When to move, when to wait, when to launch. Best game in the whole world.

So thank you to those who let us step away, to train for hours and climb for weeks. Your patience with our masochistic hobby does not go unnoticed.  Now it’s time to have our 14 Camp trivia night courtesy of my lovely wife Emily. Thanks to all the questions!!

RMI Senior Guide,

Dominic Cifelli

Sunday, June 22, 2025 - 9:30 pm PT

Forecasts weren’t great for today, but when we looked out in the morning, the actual weather wasn’t bad. We packed up and got our spikes on by 8:20AM to begin working up Motorcycle Hill. It was great to be climbing in crampons and using an ice axe again. We took our first rest break in the middle of Squirrel Hill and our second in the Polo Field just under the end of the West Buttress. It was a little breezy, but since temps weren’t very cold it wasn’t at all uncomfortable.

Most of our day was spent in brilliant sunshine with blue sky, while clouds filled in below us. Windy Corner wasn’t particularly windy, and the travel conditions were good, so we made it to our cache target of 13,500 feet in four hours. We did a bit of hard digging to keep our things safe from ravens.  After one last look at the great South Peak of Mt. McKinley (our destination) we dropped back around the corner and had an easy climb down to Camp at 11k. The final 30 minutes was in a mild whiteout as we descended into the clouds. 

The round trip was a pretty respectable 6 hours and got us back in plenty of time for a restful afternoon while it snowed lightly on our tents. Fingers crossed for moving weather tomorrow as we would like to get to 14k camp.  

- RMI Guide Dave Hahn