RMI Expeditions Blog

Saturday, June 6th

Burns & team make it back to Talkeetna.

Congratulations everyone!

Saturday, June 6th - 8PM PST

Late last night, the guide team received news of the passing of an NPS ranger in a tragic accident. The morning greeted us with crystal clear skies, sunshine and the mountain shining and glowing extra special. The day was spent reflecting and remembering the fallen Ranger. A mountain guide, Ski patroller, Nurse, and Denali NPS pro Ranger, she dedicated her life to selflessly serving others in the front country and in some of then most austere environments. She will be missed and celebrated. Also in our thoughts today are the RMI guides currently on NPS volunteer ranger patrols, all previous volunteers, the Pro rangers and pilots. These folks give their time, effort, and sometimes lives to make Denali the special and life changing place that it is.

The team had smooth move day to 11 camp.  We dug in Camp deep in anticipation of a short storm. Now at 11 we are looking forward to starting the acclimatization process and setting ourselves up to move further up the mountain.

-RMI Guide Team

RMI teams led by guides Will Ambler and Joe Crawford made their summit attempt this morning. As a result of recent snow accumulation and strong winds on the upper mountain, they found evidence of snow instability and decided to turn around at 12,450'. The teams had made their way back to Camp Muir and are doing additional training for the remainder of the morning. 

Nice work team! 

The Four Day Climb led by RMI Guide Dominic Cifelli and Ben Luedtke reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today. The teams were in and out of the clouds as they climbed into a cap to reach 14,410'. It was cold with a steady breeze, but the team pushed through to reach the top.

Congratulations Team!

Friday, June 5th - 6PM PST

Greetings!

We had a successful day caching at 10000’ and getting ready to move to 11 camp tomorrow. The guides have taken to the Zeppathon, listening to all of Led Zeppelin’s albums and discussing their favorites. Led Zeppelin IV seems to be a favorite. The climbers are doing great and had so much fun helping their guides dig the cache (they offered). Conversations amongst the clients have ranged from ‘how many siblings do you have’ to ‘what is your spirit vegetable?’ One of the our climbers noted what great posture one of our female guides on the trip has. Spirits are high and the sun is hot. Dinner tonight is burritos with more discussions of getting to know each other. The topic tonight is biggest regrets in life.

Cheers!

-RMI Guide Mac (with the good posture)

Friday, June 5th - 8PM PST

Welcome to Serenity Ridge! This is a rare opportunity to purchase a premiere piece of Alaskan wilderness. Nestled on a wide ridge at 14,200’, this new subdivision offers sweeping views of the Alaska Range, including Mt. Foraker, and easy access to the Autobahn, the local chess club, and the beloved eatery “The Soup God,” where you might catch a glimpse of Chef Ray in his apron. Stop by The Alonso Drafthouse for a film screening or take a walk to the National Park Service outpost. Grab a snack at The Cache! Property includes access to private helipad. Adjoining easement with Denali National Park ensures no new development. This is truly the end of the world!

This off-the-grid home was lovingly built by hand and features a cathedral ceiling, built-ins with ample storage, solar power, and two enclosed porches. Sit with your coffee in the morning and watch the clouds roll in over the tundra below! Recently remodelled with reclaimed materials in June 2026. You’ll love the rustic feel. Improvements include a reinforced foundation and a detached kitchen and bathroom, the latter of which has been well loved. With no running water, power or heat, monthly costs are low — and there’s no lawn to mow!

Don’t miss this opportunity! This is all about location, location, location! Two remaining homes for sale — two and three-person occupancies, measuring between 32 and 40 square feet. The mansion on the block — a four-person dwelling currently occupied by two — has already sold. Neighbors are quiet. (Minus the snoring.)

This is communal living at its finest!

For information on the open house, please comment below.

Listed for: One fresh package of cookie dough, two Sherpas and access to a hot shower.
Listing agent: Jackson Breen

Walkability: 20
Public transportation: 0
School system: 0
Municipal services: 0
Hospital access: 0
Nightlife: 0 (Shocker!!) 
 

Friday, June 5th - 11:30PM PST

Sleep at 17 camp is never glorious nor sound. We woke up our tired and stiff bodies feeling better the more we moved. The sun was hot on the tent, and encouraged us slowly out of our sleeping bags. Once again, the day was splitter, and we broke down camp excited to climb down the buttress.

Spectacular climbing led to one more trip down the fixed lines and back to 14 camp. We made a quick stop at 14, digging up our cache and saying hi to friends. We rigged up the sleds and wrangled them down to 11 camp where we now enjoy dehydrated meals to a short nights sleep.
 

The Four Day Climb (June 2-5) led by Joe Hoch and Ben Ammon turned at the top Cathedral Gap (10,640’) early this morning due to strong winds that were making climbing and continuing uphill very difficult. They are back at Camp Muir and plan to descend from Paradise later this morning. They will be back in Ashford this afternoon. 

Way to hang in there team!

Friday, June 5th - 12:15AM PST

Guest dispatcher Joe reporting in from Denali.

The DDM Expedition (Daniel/Drew/Mac) departed Talkeetna this morning in good order. Blue skies and calm  air made for an easy flight for our daredevil K2 Aviation bush pilots so everyone enjoyed a little extra sightseeing swooping through the peaks along with a couple barrel rolls just for a little spice. Deposited safely on Kahiltna Glacier early, the group repacked yet again for foot travel and proceeded directly to Skill Hill Camp. The exceptional weather persisted throughout the day, with just a few chill winds interleaved with atypically hot sections. Arriving with plenty of energy, the team stomped out a camp area and got down to the real business of the day: Mac's Mac & Cheese.

On a more tragic note though, departing Talkeetna also meant departing Zach's lunch meats and cheeses abandoned in the hangar fridge. Although he'll survive just fine having apparently packed at least 50lbs of other snacks, this was an emotional blow for his and your reporter's Rope Team Hoarding Marmots, and honestly an affront to our venerable mascots. Tomoki also left a few things in that refrigerator but him and his companions Chris and Paxton on Rope Team World Best #1 Rope Team weren't as loud about it so our guides still don't know and they villainously avoided their fair share of judgement and demerits.

Meanwhile under Sarah's strong leadership and Erik's silent execution, Rope Team Erik and the Squatters continues to be all Rope Team We're So Perfect We Show Up Two Minutes Before Every Meetup And Had All the Gear We Were Supposed To Have And Didn't Leave Anything In The Refrigerator. Some people your faithful chronicler just doesn't understand. Tomorrow the expedition will make an outing to cache supplies and gear uphill in preparation for a hoped-for move to 11 Camp ahead of an expected downturn in the weather.

-RMI Climber Joe
 

Thursday, June 4th @ 8:20PM PST

“No jump tonight! The channel coast is socked in with rain and fog.” Just like the airborne drop just prior to the Normandy invasion in WW2 was postponed in Band of Brothers, our move up to the 14,000 foot camp was also postponed. One of our teammates woke up under the weather so the team, led by Jackson’s sound thought process, decided to stay here at 11,000 feet. As much as we wanted to hear Jackson mimicking Mr. Miagi in the Karate Kid when he says “packs on, packs off,” to signal the start and end of our rest breaks while in the trail, we are all grateful that individual wellness is valued and prioritized. Today, for all 13 readers of the blog, (we went up in readership or at least that’s what I’m telling myself) you will get a glimpse in what we do on a rest day. 

Each member of the team has been giving it their all, their daily 100% for the team. Earlier in the week we all carried team gear and personal items to higher in the mountain for our teams success. Today’s 100% was spent resting so our teammates can stay strong on the upper mountain. We had some folks engaging in “light” reading of quantum mechanics and discussions about the concepts, many cinephiles, some naps, and language study. So many snacks were eaten, shared, and personal snack preferences turned into lively and spirited debates about which Oreo is the best (it’s double stuff by the way). Some tent teams place all their snacks in the middle of the tent, like a small family of squirrels in their burrow, while they read, watch movies, and listen to audio books.

Others played backgammon and trivia while counting the number of times Peter walked in front of the tent to get his step count in. We’ve decided that we all make an incredible and formidable bar trivia team.

Our team has also developed some enjoyable routines. Each morning we talk about the dreams we had while we all huddle over our hot drinks in the kitchen tent. Each evening we have intriguing and often intellectually challenging conversations. One of those was how do you connect John Travolta to Tom Cruise, similar to the game degrees of Kevin Bacon. We’ve also argued over our favorite conspiracy theories. We are really a cohesive group. If someone could leave a comment to help us explain who Kevin Bacon is we’d greatly appreciate it.

RMI Climber Matt