Entries from Alaska
Posted by: Daniel May, Joey Manship
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska
Wednesday, May 7, 2025
We made use of being in the full white out of a snow globe to continue our skills practice at camp and have a few nice big meals in between. The sound of crashing avalanches and falling ice seracs filled the air all day, an eery feeling not being able to see them yet hear them.
Camped in the middle of the glacier has put us at a safe distance from any overhead hazard as we continue to fortify camp amongst all this new snow!
RMI Guide Dan May
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Ruth Glacier Seminar May 2, 2025
Posted by: Daniel May, Joey Manship
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska
Tuesday, May 6, 2025
We woke up to a surprising blue bird day. The frosty tents and cold night told us the skies were clear. Taking advantage of the good weather we hiked along the relatively flat Ruth Glacier heading deeper into the gorge eyeing new terrain along the way. We caught a glimpse of the east face of Mount Dickey, basically two El Capitans stacked on top of each other and riddled with snow and ice. After a whole day of exploring we made it back to camp just in time for a dinner of some tasty burgers. The team has decided that to counter the incoming bad weather we keep hearing about, they will work on digging underground tunnels from their tents to our cook tent using only sporks. Results to come in future posts.
RMI Guide Dan May & the Ruth Glacier Team
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Ruth Glacier Seminar May 2, 2025
Posted by: Daniel May, Joey Manship
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska
Monday, May 5, 2025 - 10:50 pm PT
Another day of unsettled weather and our fair share of snow. We hunkered down at our camp with the intent to fortify in lue of the impending snow storms. We boned up on our technical skills under the presence of the awe inspiring granite sentinels around us. Good lessons are being learned. It’s easy to make plans prior to entering a place such as the Alaska range but quickly we learned our plans are nothing compared to the mountains indifference. Our fingers are crossed for the high pressure lurking in the forecast. Until then we will continue to explore around us while learning the finer points of alpine climbing and mountaineering. In our downtime we etched a friendly ephemeral snowman to greet any passerby’s of our basecamp. Talk soon
RMI Guide Day May & the Ruth Glacier Seminar
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Ruth Glacier Seminar May 2, 2025
Posted by: Daniel May, Joey Manship
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska
Sunday, May 4, 2025 - 10:44 pm PT
Hello from the Ruth Gorge! We landed in the amphitheater today to some fickle weather and unsettled clouds, but K2 was able to sneak us on. After trudging through some knee deep snow for 3-4 hours, we got to work building camp below the granite spires of the gorge.
Seems like more weather is on the horizon so we will cross our fingers and take what we can get!
RMI Guide Dan May and the Ruth Glacier seminar
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Ruth Glacier Seminar May 2, 2025
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Jackson Breen
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 14,200'
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May 17, 2024 11:54PM PT
Today was super successful. Things were quite warm at camp and looked enticing enough to rouse everyone and start making preparations to leave.
Excitement was in the air as everyone in camp had similar thoughts - whether they were carrying or moving. Teams filtered out of camp uphill, and we made final adjustments, and then shouldered packs and headed up Motorcycle Hill.
We moved really well - caught a little breeze over the top of squirrel, then kept swinging along the polo field. It was a bit chilly again around Windy Corner, but the wind died on the other side and the oven turned on and we started pulling off layers.
We cruised into camp and set about building our home for the next several days tough work at 14,200’. Everybody is now recovering horizontally.
Tomorrow should be a much easier day, dropping back down to grab our cache and returning to camp with all our treasures.
Pete
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Denali Expedition, May 7, 2024
Posted by: Nikki Champion, Leif Bergstrom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 7,800'
May 17, 2024 11:22PM PT
First mountain day in the books. After a pretty grim weather forecast, we had planned to sleep in a bit and have a later breakfast. To our surprise, K2 Aviation called us at 7:30 AM to tell us the weather looked great and to make our way over to the hangar.
By 9 AM, we had changed into our mountain boots and loaded into the plane. After a beautiful flight, we landed at basecamp - unloaded, organized, and rigged up the sleds, buried a basecamp cache for our return, and made our way out onto the lower Kahiltna.
It was a long heavy day - the one day of the trip we carry everything we brought.
Under blue skies, we rolled onto the base of the Ski Hill, built camp, and settled in.
We had a dinner of mac and cheese with bacon and got gear ready to cache tomorrow.
Hoping for another beautiful day, but just glad to be moving.
Check in tomorrow!
RMI Guides Nikki Champion, Leif Bergstrom and Team
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Denali Expedition May 14, 2024
Posted by: Dustin Wittmier, Daniel May, Lacie Smith
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 11,200'
May 17, 2024 9:53PM PT
Well, I can't speak for the rest of my team, but my pictures are definitely not doing this place justice. I keep thinking about my sister, who's a professional photographer. She'd lose her mind over the views. (shameless plug - check her out at Alaska Light Photography). So far, the team has participated in some excellent bonding. We've covered important topics like the merits of various dinner bowls, pros and cons of carrying frozen carrots up 2,000 vertical feet, and what types of rare Pokémon would live up here. (Or is it Pokémen? Pokémon’s? Unknowable at 11,000 feet). Time and distance are different up here. 15 minutes can feel like 2 hours. The vastness of the terrain tricks the eye and a camp "just around the corner" is still an hour away. So, we take one step at a time, one breath at a time, and trust that every step is one step closer to the goal we’ve been working towards for months.
We’ll do it all over again tomorrow.
- Sarah and the Team
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Denali Expedition, May 12, 2024
Climb Strong , Climb High Dustin and Team!!!
Farmer Dave
Posted by: Dave Kestel on 5/19/2024 at 3:29 am
Posted by: Mike Walter, Jess Wedel, Michael Murray
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 11,200'
We're resting and acclimating at 11k today. After a chilly night, the team enjoyed a leisurely morning and brunch with ample amounts of eggs, hashbrowns, and reindeer sausage.
Lounging, reading, and small talk make up the bulk of today's activities.
We'll also be sorting our gear in preparation for our carry up around Windy Corner, which, weather permitting, is on tap for tomorrow.
But for right now, we're enjoying the hang.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
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Denali Expedition, May 5, 2024
Posted by: Mike Walter, Jess Wedel, Michael Murray
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 9,400'
We woke to 6-8" of snow at the base of Ski Hill. Light snow was still falling as we ate breakfast, but the trend was improving so we started packing up camp.
By the time we started climbing it was mostly sunny and quite warm. Climbing up Ski Hill in base layers was a treat. Clouds increased and winds ramped up during our climb. By the time we got to our second break, visibility was down to near zero, winds were steadily increasing, and temps had dropped enough to remind us we're in Alaska. It was obvious that conditions would continue to deteriorate, so we put our camp in at 9,400'. It's pretty nasty outside but we're all safe and cozy in our tents. We guides are suiting up to go set up our cook tent so we can fire up stoves and get everyone fed. Hopefully this weather passes overnight, and we can push camp up to 11,200' tomorrow. Time will tell, but 9400' will be our home for tonight. We'll check in again tomorrow with an update.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
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Denali Expedition, May 5, 2024
Posted by: Andy Bond, Jack Delaney, Joey Manship
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 7,800'
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Thursday, June 8, 2023, 9:52 pm PDT
This morning we woke up to Joey the Guide’s scrumptious pancakes. Does he moonlight at Benihana’s? Conditions weren’t favorable so we made it a rest day. We ended the day with dinner and optimism for a move to Camp Two tomorrow. And now, a poem:
All day we were stuck at Camp One
Blueberry chocolate chip pancakes are fun
Tomorrow we’ll try for 10 And if this happens again
Call our team the cloistered nuns
- Lenhardt Stevens and the June 4 Denali Expedition Team
--
Scott, hopefully the weather clears quickly so your third attempt proceeds safely!
Posted by: Roger Coffey on 6/10/2023 at 11:28 am
Hopefully today the weather is more favorable. We are all rooting for you Mikayla and your team! One may walk over the highest mountain one step at a time. -Barbara Walters
Posted by: Larisa Corbett on 6/9/2023 at 9:37 am
Thank you for the updates! You guys are all doing great! Sending you well wishes for a safe climb!
Posted by: Abby Roberts on 5/19/2024 at 9:21 am
Great start. Keep the good weather coming and climb safe
Posted by: Doc Peters on 5/18/2024 at 5:28 pm
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