Entries from Alaska
Posted by: Mike Walter, Nikki Champion, Ben Luedtke
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 14,200'
Tuesday, June 29, 2021 - 4:25 pm PT
The sky was blue and winds were calm at 14k this morning. Up higher it was a different story, with a lenticular cloud cap on the summit and long plumes of spindrift streaming out to the east. We enjoyed a morning jaunt to the Edge of the World, where we could look down almost seven thousand feet below us to the Kahiltna Glacier and our camp at the Base of Ski Hill at 7800'.
We also spent a few ours reviewing and practicing some climbing techniques that we will employ up higher.
Our next task is to establish a cache up high, above the Headwall on the West Buttress proper. Weather willing we'll do that tomorrow. Now it's time for some reading and resting before dinner.
We'll be in touch tomorrow.
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Dominic Cifelli, Matt McEttrick
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 11,200'
Sunday, June 27, 2021 - 8:18 pm PT
An easy day for our team with mostly sunny and calm conditions. We only needed a few of us to snowshoe back down to 9,500 ft to retrieve cached food and fuel. The gang sorted gear and got ready for carrying up past Windy Corner. We hope for nice weather in the morning for that mission.
Best Regards,
Posted by: Mike Walter, Nikki Champion, Ben Luedtke
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 14,200'
Monday, June 28, 2021 - 9:02 am PT
With clear skies and light winds we retraced our steps from a few days ago up to Genet Basin. This time, though, we had our whole kit with us and now we've a established a comfortable camp at 14,200'. Today will be a rest day for us, and we will review the skills necessary to travel on the fixed rope above us on the head wall.
Happy Birthday, Jim!
Posted by: Laura ODonnell on 6/30/2021 at 1:50 am
Keep up the good work guys! #teamAaron
Posted by: Emilee on 6/29/2021 at 10:22 am
Posted by: Hannah Smith, Dustin Wittmier, Devin Guffey
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 14,200'
Saturday, June 26, 2021 - 9:51 pm PT
Hello all,
Our waiting game is coming to an end. If we wake tomorrow and the winds look good we will head to 17K Camp to get in position for the summit. Camp has been very busy with teams carrying to 17K, moving into 14K Camp, and others getting ready for their move to 17K Camp. Lots of excitment and chatter roaming through the camp. We will see what happens. I know we are all ready to tackle the remaining six thousand feet of this mountain. We have been staring at it for over a week. Since tomorrow may be an early day, its early to bed for the team. We may have a big day ahead of us.
Goodnight,
RMI Guide Hannah Smith and team
It’s all about the timing and you earned your window! May the stars align & let you enjoy the experience!
Anxious to hear and see what the view is like.
Beanie will not be letting you out the door!
Posted by: Judy collins on 6/27/2021 at 2:57 pm
Praying for great weather and your successful summit!!! Onwards and upwards you all go…
“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.”
— T.S. Eliot
So crazy proud of my daughter Julia and the entire team!
DJ aka DeeDee
Posted by: Daysi Johansson on 6/27/2021 at 2:17 pm
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Dominic Cifelli, Matt McEttrick
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 11,200'
Saturday, June 26, 2021 - 10:40 pm PT
The bad weather hadn't finished, but we made our break for 11K Camp just the same. What is Denali without some wandering in whiteouts?
It took about four hours and that put us into 11K at 3PM. So nice to see our friends in Mike Walter's group. We dug in right next door to them. Still light snow falling and a lot of cloud, but we are delighted to have different scenery when we can see it. Tomorrow we'll go back down to retrieve loads.
Hello Dave Hahn. Matt McEttrick & company:
While you are at 11K with deep snow & cold on Denali;
The weather conditions are quite different in the Lower Forty Eight!
In the west including CA, WA and OR temperatures are flirting with
100 degrees F. For the next few days in Boston Ma temperatures
will be in the 90 to 100 degree range! Much of the US has similar
conditions,
Our best to all! Joe & Marion McEttrick
Posted by: Joseph P McEttrick on 6/27/2021 at 8:11 pm
Posted by: Mike Walter, Nikki Champion, Ben Luedtke
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 11,200'
Saturday, June 26, 2021 - 3:45 pm PT
When we got in our tents last night it was clear and calm, but the clouds, wind, and snow returned overnight, although with much less vengeance than before. We fired up the stoves early with hopeful anticipation that the cloud deck would drop below us and winds would abate, but that was not the case. We decided to stick around 11k another day, with an improving weather forecast ahead of us.
The hope is that tomorrow is our day to bump camp up to 14k. We're rested, acclimatizing, and our team has already tackled the climb to 14k on our carry day; while it will still be strenuous, the team is well prepared for the move to 14k. And we're looking forward to it.
I'll check in again tomorrow, hopefully from a higher vantage point.
We miss you. You are always in our thoughts and prayers. Stay safe and healthy.
Your fan club,
The Arnolds
Posted by: Jeannette Arnold on 6/29/2021 at 4:19 pm
GO AARON!!!!
Posted by: Emilee on 6/27/2021 at 6:11 pm
Posted by: Hannah Smith, Dustin Wittmier, Devin Guffey
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 14,200'
Friday, June 25, 2021 - 9:51 pm PT
Good evening,
Winds continued today with the first half being rather cloudy. Camp remained quiet with very little climbers out and about. As the clouds faded and the wind lessened, camp came alive. With a bit of nicer weather for the second half of the day, everyone was excited to get out of their tents and enjoy the sunshine but most of all not to be horizontal. All our tent platforms are no longer flat and smooth but now have troughs, bumps, and tilts from the warmth of our bodies melting away at the snow. This is a sign we need to move to a new camp. We are still monitoring the weather for our moment to move to 17K Camp. Once the winds calm down we will take our chance at the summit. We are getting antsy and ready for a change of scenery but we are also committed to being patient. Our patience will pay off.
Patiently waiting,
RMI Guide Hannah Smith and team
Do Well Hannah + team, Waltero
Posted by: Walter Glover on 6/28/2021 at 9:13 am
Happy birthday to Mike!!! I hope you get at least a bit of a celebration with your group, but I hope even more that mother nature will give you the best gift possible with clear weather so you guys can summit soon! I miss you and can’t wait to hear all about your trip! The pups and I send our love!
Posted by: Alex Ament on 6/26/2021 at 12:26 pm
Posted by: Mike Walter, Nikki Champion, Ben Luedtke
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 11,200'
Thursday, June 24, 2021 - 12:48 pm PT
It's been windy and snowy today at the 11,200' Denali Camp, although we caught glimpses of blue sky above us occasionally this morning. We're all cozied up in our tents after a big breakfast. We're content to rest and relax, enjoying some reading and some napping. We're at a great altitude for acclimatization, so we're (hopefully) getting stronger for our next mission, which will be to move up to Genet Basin at 14,200'. That will happen on the next good weather day, perhaps tomorrow but more likely Saturday or Sunday. We'll keep you apprised of our status. But for now we're happy, hydrated, and comfortable in our current camp.
Beautiful team, magestic scenery…keep up the great work Daryl.
Posted by: Pat on 6/24/2021 at 10:39 pm
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Dominic Cifelli, Matt McEttrick
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 9,500'
Thursday, June 24, 2021
It clouded up a bunch in the night, just as the forecast said it would. By 1 AM when we hoped to get up and climb, it was snowing and socked in, just like they said it would be. We kept checking it for a few hours and it kept seeming wet and a little ugly -poor conditions for moving camp. We stayed put and then conditions improved. But we were already a little past what we’d calculated to be the optimal time of day for traversing the sometimes tricky lower glacier. Then conditions improved considerably.,. Where we’d been led to believe that we’d have a snow/rain day to wait out, instead we had a “bluebird” beauty of a day -to rest- when we hadn’t really thought we needed a rest. Oh well. We slept, we read, we ate, we drank. We went through our gear and supplies one more time, thinning out and weeding excess weight wherever possible. We listened to a thousand giant avalanches. We heard so many rocks fall off nearby Mt. Francis, that it was something of a surprise to come out for dinner and see her still standing. We bided our time. That forecast was still calling for cloud and sloppy weather at basecamp tonight… perhaps we’ll see that, but otherwise it looks perfect for moving this time when the cool hours roll around.
Best Regards,
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Dominic Cifelli, Matt McEttrick
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 9,800'
Wednesday, June 23, 2021
At 2:30 this morning, things looked pretty optimal for moving on up the hill. There were still clouds coming and going, but the glacier surface had frozen up nicely and there wasn’t much for wind. We dressed up, ate, packed up and got moving by just after 5 AM. Ski Hill needed climbing. Definitely tougher terrain to move on than yesterday’s level stretches, but far fewer crevasses to deal with. One hour took us halfway up, a second hour brought us to the flat at 9,000 ft and a final pull got the team onto the rolling plateau at 9,500 ft. We were plotting out a new camp in the snow by 8:35, just before the sun hit the upper reaches of the Kahiltna Glacier. It was pleasantly colder in our new home… just the way it should be. We hope that any storms will now be snow rather than rain, but we shall see. One is forecasted for tomorrow. We may have to wait it out here, but our hope is to sneak up to 11,000 tomorrow morning before it hits. We rested away the afternoon as the clouds built up. Even with them we enjoyed some views far down the glacier. Not quite to its terminus 44 miles away, but in the neighborhood for sure. Dinner was devoured in our comfy dining tent on benches cut in the snow. All are feeling good and pulling strong.
Best Regards,
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“There is no chance, no fate, no destiny, that can circumvent hinder or control the firm resolve of a determined soul”
The summit is yours, go get it!
Bob
Posted by: Bob Telford on 6/28/2021 at 10:48 am
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