RMI Expeditions Blog

Tuesday, May 26th 11am PST

An early dinner with early bedtime made for an early morning start out of Camp 1. Our team woke up at 5 am and were headed back up ski hill by 7. We got our first glimpse of the top of Denali on our way out of camp.

In our current game of cache or carry - today was a carry day. We set out with sights set on 11 camp. We hauled sleds, did maths in our heads, and considered would you rather have constantly rotating or eternally damp socks. Our bluebird day turned cloudy, eventually giving way to snow and wind at 9500 feet.

We were happy to arrive at camp at 11,200 ft and after a quick group effort our camp was up and functioning again. We tucked ourselves in our cook tent with hot tea out of the wind and snow, and entertained alternative uses for tea bags. Now waiting for our impending delicious dinner from our amazing guides, we look forward to tomorrow and what the weather will have in store for us. I leave you with a quote I often utter as I hoist my body up this cold mountain. As a wise Mexican chihuahua once said “With my bean and my sombrero, the candy is never far away”

-RMI Climber Julia (aka Juls/Jube)
 PS - Shout out to my mom and dad, who are currently watching my dog so I can run around Alaska for 4 weeks, my family/my best friends/my girls at Pennsy following along/my child dog Coco.
 

Monday, May 25th 11:30pm PST

Today was a tough day. We woke up to clear skies, and the signs of high winds at upper elevations. We quickly tore down camp and finally started the move to 14 camp. The first stretch was pleasant, but by the top of motorcycle hill we were met by strong winds the winds only persisted up squirrel hill and across the polo fields, but it was at windy corner where we were met by the worst of the weather. A cloud overtook us, winds increased and visibility decreased, but the team pushed through and gained visibility by the cache site. Eventually, we made it to 14 camp and set up our new home. We wrapped the night up with pad thai.
 

RMI Guide Nikki Champion & Team

Monday, May 25th 11pm PST

Hey ya'll, it’s Haley!
Coming to ya from 14 camp. It feels like we are in a Katy Perry song because the overwhelming description is “it’s hot then it’s cold.” We have experienced very chilly nights followed by sweaty tent afternoons but we take it all in stride. Something I love about Denali is that it’s anti-alpine start. We woke up around 9:30 to stunning views of Mt Foraker and clear skies all around. Our first order of business is to fill our empty water bottles from the night which includes applauding those who kept them warm in their sleeping bags and publicly chastising those who let them freeze. It’s called efficiency bullying up here! After a lovely breakfast of egg hash, we tromp off to get some much needed fixed line and picket clipping practice. The result is a cacophony of yelling “ANCHOR!” & “CLIMBING!” while each of us is managing the war between our mega mitts, the rope, and a wiregate carabiner. All in all, it bolstered our confidence to take on the challenges that come ahead if we get our summit window. We were hoping to spend an afternoon of clear skies touring other parts of the famous 14 camp such as the Edge of the World Overlook and the Poop Cravasse! But just like the guy at the bar you don’t want to talk to, the clouds sauntered over and blocked our views of all things good. So instead, we traded snacks from our recently recovered cache and relaxed. With three solid days of acclimating at 14 camp, all that’s left is for the mountain to decide if it will let us go up. So fingers crossed for a weather window in our future! Too blessed to be stressed,

RMI Climber Haley

Love you Kevin!! Thanks to everyone sending encouraging notes and support our way!
 

5/24 - Our team woke up to beautiful views back down heartbreak hill which we had conquered the day before and cloudy skies up the mountain towards which we set our sights. Breakfast consisted of granola and powdered milk and as much hot coffee as we could get down before rigging our sleds and packs.

With lighter loads than day 1 we slowly made our way up ski hill, eventually reaching our cache site around 9800'. Our guides dug a large 6-foot hole and we piled in bags filled with our extra clothes, gear, and food that we will grab in a couple days for the higher mountain. The cache was then topped with the extra snow and plenty of bamboo pole flags to mark it and we headed back down with empty sleds and lighter packs. 

Cloudy skies when we arrived back at camp broke and we again had some sun. A couple of us started charging our batteries with solar panels we brought and we relaxed, snacked, and dried our gear in the greenhouses of our tents.

We just finished a delicious early dinner of hearty pan fried burritos and cookies. Tomorrow we will cache some of our extra food and used clean mountain cans (CMCs) which we’ve taken turns using after meals here at 8k feet and make our way to 11k camp.

Denali continues to loom large across our camp above us, occasionally peeking out to show off its raw majesty. While we usually can’t make out the top above the clouds, we continue to set our sights there as we make our way closer and closer, day by day.

RMI Climber Climber Treavor

P.S. Hello to all our friends, family, and coworkers following our progress!

5/24 - Today's haiku brought to you by Candice.

Signs of clearing skies

Brings us hope as days count down

May the weather hold.

While we are geared up to move to 14 camp, we sadly woke to another day of poor visibility and light snowfall. We used the down day to prepare camp to move tomorrow, but most of the day was filled with time in the chaos cantina. The favorite Mexican joint around 11 Camp. Where we enjoyed breakfast burritos in the morning, and beef and bean burritos for dinner. We wrapped the evening up to the sweet melody of Gasolina (let's go Daddy Yankee), and some friendly tortilla wars with our neighboring camps. Let's hope for tomorrow.

RMI Guide Nikki Champion & Team

5/24 - We had an active rest day as our bodies slowly adjusted to the new altitude. The active part was heading down to the cache garden to recover all the gear we had left earlier in the week. The rest part was spending the afternoon in the sun fueled warmth of our tents. Books read, snacks eaten and naps had. The team is slowly getting stronger as we adapt to this new height. Tomorrow brings more rest and training so we can be ready to strike should the weather provide the opportunity to set forth for the summit.

Cheers,

RMI Guide Jack and the Team

We woke up to full-on winter on Huayna with several inches of snow outside and more coming down- quite the contrast from the summer-like conditions we experienced on Pequeno Alpamayo just a few days prior. We dragged out feet a bit and drank some more coffee to give the skies time to clear. Finally at 2:30 am we geared up and headed outside. It was still snowing lightly but without much wind the temperatures were honestly quite pleasant for climbing.

After scrambling through a few hundred feet of rocky terrain to the toe of the glacier we roped up and began a gradual ascending traverse. The snow continued falling steadily, but the winds remained minimal and everyone settled into their hypoxic headlamp bubble as we trudged up the glacier. Hannah, our local guide Marcello and I were constantly digging small hand pits in the snow and assessing the potential avalanche conditions- we were pleasantly surprised to find the storm snow well bonded to the surface and generally unreactive, so we continued climbing as into thinner air despite the snow becoming gradually deeper the higher we got. Finally at around 18,600' we were faced with a steep traverse and a change in the snow- what was previously benign fluff had changed to a fairly concerning wind slab. Add in the increasing severity of the terrain and a gaping crevasse underneath the traverse and the decision to turn around was disappointing, but easy to make.

We turned tail and made quick work of the descent, stepping off the glacier onto the rocks just as the sun crested the horizon. The snow had stopped and the skies remained clear for a few minutes, and we were treated to an absolutely stunning sunrise as we made our way back down to the hut. More coffee, a second breakfast and a brief nap for some followed, and before long we were making our way down the steep and rocky trail to the base hut. While always disappointing not to reach the summit, our team did everything in our power to make it happen, and I'm confident that with more favorable conditions we would have summited in great style. We're back in La Paz now getting some well earned rest.

RMI Guide Henry Coppolillo & Team

May 23, 2026

The weather was on our side today. Broken skies and light snow in the morning gave way to sunshine as we made our first move of the trip. We left base camp and descended down to the Kahiltna carrying heavy packs and fully loaded sleds. The weight on this first day is always a rude awakening to the trip but the team took it well and soon got into a groove. After several hours of true work we arrived at the base of ski hill and set up camp. We hope to carry to 10,100' tomorrow and are happy to have the first day behind us.

RMI Guide Seth Burns & Team

Hello friends and family! This is Karen (in the yellow jacket from the latest picture) and I’ll be taking over the daily dispatch from Nikki tonight (Hi Mom and Dad!!).

We woke up to silence which usually means no/little wind. I strained my ears to hear what I call the “meeting of the minds” aka Nikki, Rosie, and Nick deciding what the plan is for the day. At around 8:30am we got the call “hots and breakfast in 10min.” IT WAS A MOVE DAY, WOOHOO!

After a nice oats and blueberry breakfast we started to pack our bags and decide what food we wanted to cache just below 14k camp. Nikki came around and asked everyone if they wanted to add the most important piece of gear, GLITTER! At around 10:45 am our bags were packed, our faces full of glitter, and we were off like a heard of racing turtles.

We climbed Motorcycle hill then Squirrel hill, then crossed the Polo Fields before a break to put our helmets on before rounding Windy Corner. To my disappointment, I didn’t see a single motorcycle, squirrel, or person riding a horse, but it’s ok because there was also a lack of wind at Windy Corner. When the sun peaked through the clouds, the views were breathtaking up there.

After 4 hours of hiking, we arrived at our cache site around 13.5k ft. After our cache, we were off, back down to camp at 11k. We took some time to chill before a dinner of creamy potato soup with chicken sausage. If weather allows, we will head to 14k camp tomorrow!

With that, I leave you with tonight’s Haiku:

Move day, move day, yay!

Rope teams so strong as we go.

Champion leads all!

Karen, RMI Guide Nikki Champion, and Team  

Well it’s safe to say no one expected that we would make 11k camp our home for 9 days but the mountain is our mistress and the weather has the final say. Finally our patience paid off and the weather was ideal for moving to 14k camp.

This morning we packed slowly, waiting for the sun to hit camp and raise the mercury to positive digits. It took a significant effort to dig up and breakdown camp since we had weathered multiple storms here. Our team wasn’t the only ones prepared to move in the good weather. Almost the entirety of camp emptied out and ascended up the mountain, either to move to 14k camp or to cache supplies to prepare for their own move in the following days. It’s safe to say we were in and out of conga lines of mountaineers all throughout the day.

When we finally rolled into camp - the team was tired but elated to finally be at our new home. The mantra was slow and steady as we built camp in the thin 14,000 foot air. The ambient air temp is chilly willy as we snuggle into our large down sleeping bags and think warm thoughts. We will not leave these cocoons until the sun hits our tents tomorrow.

Cheers,
Jack and the Team