RMI Expeditions Blog

The Fuhrer Finger climb led by RMI guide James Bealer pivoted to climbing the Kautz route due to unstable snow conditions in The Finger. On their summit attempt, they turned around at 12,100' due to extreme winds and unstable snow. They are on their descent from the Wilson Bench this morning and will return to Ashford later this morning.

Nice work team!

RMI teams led by guides Henry Coppolillo and Nick Sinapius attempted to summit Mt Rainier this morning, but turned around at 11,500', just above Ingraham Flats due to deteriorating route conditions.They returned to Camp Muir and are on their descent back to Paradise. They will be back in Ashford this afternoon. 

Friday, June 12th - 11:30PM PST

Sorry forgot to post yesterdays dispatch. Here is today’s:

The team had a good active rest day today. After sleeping in, we enjoyed a good hot breakfast. We then hiked over to the edge of the world to enjoy the beautiful vista, and to get our legs good and warmed up for tomorrow. This afternoon, we practiced rope skills for tomorrow's anticipated acclimatization trip up the fixed lines. With bellies full from dinner, we are ready for another good night of sleep at 14,000 feet. 

- RMI Climber Paxton
Junior Assistant Dispatcher (In training)
 

Friday, June 12th - 10PM PST

Upward progress continues as the team takes advantage of early momentum on the mountain. Conducting their first carry of the expedition, nearly half of their equipment, food, and gear was moved up to just below 11 camp at just above 10k feet. Slighter cooler temps made for a more pleasant push, and the team made the round trip effort in just over six hours. The rest of the day let way to rest and a timely dinner, finalizing with packing for the push to the next camp. All is well and stoke remains high as the team prepares to continue onward and upward.
 

Friday, June 12 - 8:20PM PST

Welcome to your Denali Wrapped!

Hello all, and welcome to your end of climb playlist, fam. Congratulations to us on making it to the top, on forging lifelong friendships along the way, learning new mountaineering skills and pushing ourselves harder than we thought possible to achieve incredible things in one of the most beautiful places in the world. Here are some songs that we curated to help us remember the grand adventure.

They say the summit is only a small fraction of the joy of climbing , so why don’t we start with the beginning? The journey from the airstrip to our first camp at the base of ski hill was a heavy and hot one; with full sleds that tripped us up so who can’t help thinking of Tubthumping by Chumbawamba? We get knocked down, but we get up again, at least until the heat of the day began to make our sun shirts stick to our backs and warmed us all the way to our toes, and then maybe our thoughts turned to Blister in the Sun by the Violent Femmes. Thank goodness for Leuko tape and Compeed pads. But eventually we got to drop our sleds off at 11k camp, with Can I Kick It? By A Tribe Called Quest summing up our relationship with our bright orange friends.

Ski Hill and 11k were wonderful camps, notable for the amazing weather we had and easy time we had slowly caching gear higher on the mountain. Notes of Hot in Herre by Nelly, Vanilla Ice’s Ice Ice Baby, and Ice Cream and Sunscreen by Martha were punctuated by real bonds being formed over games of backgammon, trivia, conversations about our families, and working together towards our goals.

We didn’t hear much of the music from the guide tent, but what we imagined them playing on repeat were: That Don’t Impress me Much by Shania Twain, I’ll Make a Man Out of You from Disney’s Mulan, and, on hard mornings when we were tired and our guides pushed us to our limits, You Always Hurt the Ones You Love by the Mills Brothers was heard floating softly through some headphones. So thank you for pushing us to our limits, even when we complained or threw up, for creating the space and opportunities for us to realize we were stronger than we ever thought. For doing the hard thing, even when we complained about the lack of time for our pourover coffees or how cold and uncomfortable we were. Thank you for Betting on Us (Francis and the Lights) For you, Jackson, Ray, and Lacie, we listen to Whitney Houston’s Higher Love on repeat. The higher you get, the higher you are. 

When things got rough from Windy Corner onwards, we certainly sang The Kids Aren’t Alright by the Offspring to ourselves, In Too Deep by Sum 41, and perhaps there were one or two members of the team still dreaming of a miracle man to carry their load singing Holding out for A Hero by Bonnie Tyler. Some of those days had the Proclaimers Over and Done With as our camp anthem, and who couldn’t help humming Jame’s Arthur’s Say You Won’t Let Go while we went up the fixed lines or Bon Jovi’s Living on a Prayer while shivering on the Autobahn? 

We tried to add an bassoon song for Lacie, but we don’t know any. For Ray and his rays of sunshine, we will always be listening to the spiciest latin beats. And for Jackson, our favorite JBL, his song isn’t a song, but rather every single inspirational locker room speech in film history. 

Overall, we collectively spent more than 408 hours on the mountain living out the song “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” on repeat! That makes us Marvin Gaye’s top .0001% fully embodied fan! Our second favorite song was Miley Cyrus’s The Climb, and today in Talkeetna, some great recovery tunes have included Hips Don’t Lie by Shakira, My Neck My Back by Khia, and I’m So Tired by Lauv. Enjoy the sun, my fellow climbers, you’ve earned it. 

For the one crazy member of our team spotted running in his very short shorts the day we returned, Lenny Kravitz’ Always on the Run is just for you. For our favorite Brolonzo, obviously our staple is Danger Zone by Kenny Loggins. For the girl who is 5’2 but somehow thinks she’s 6’5, there’s Bad Mutha by Lord Finesse. For the guy who does a cracking impression of Lacie; I’m a Goofy Goober from SpongeBob made the cut. For the climber who looks like Gaston from Beauty and the Beast, we obviously gotta give you the song Gaston. And finally, for the man with a million degrees, I Love College by Asher Roth. 

Not all of us made it to the top, but all of us are gonna make it home, and we are all leaving with lifelong bonds and real love in our hearts for one another.  That seems pretty lucky to me. While the mountain summit may have been the goal, the real gift was the friends we made along the way. As The Wind and the Wave sing, Happiness is Not A Place, it’s the people who make your heart feel fullest. 

So, thanks for the one last dispatch, and until next time. Xoxo

-RMI Climbers

Antisana was a challenging, but rewarding experience for the entire team. In contrast to multiple other parties of the previous peaks, we had the mountain to ourselves. A midnight start allowed us to climb the route in only six hours, summitting right at sunrise. The route on Antisana is a great mixture of rocky moraines, glacial ice, big crevasses and steep pitches. We felt fortunate to have it on the itinerary for this trip. 

Today, we are at an eco lodge several hours from Antisana recovering from our efforts and preparing for the next mountain. We had a lazy breakfast with lots of coffee and group yoga. This afternoon we plan to nap, read books, check email and catch up with friends and family. 

RMI Guide Eric Frank & Team

Five-day Kautz climb led by RMI Gudie Sam Marjerison turned around shortly after heading up into the ice chute after snow and ice conditions proved to be inadequate to climb. The recent snow and wind has continued to affect the Ingraham Direct route, and the Kautz is seeing a similar result, as well. The team will return to Ashford this afternoon. 

Nice work team!

The four-day climb turned around at Ingraham Flats on their summit attempt this morning due to avalanche conditions. They enjoyed a beautiful sunrise! They will be descending back to Paradise later this morning. 

Friday, June 12th @ 4AM PST

Today we undid all of the work we spent the last 14 days doing in just 14 hours. We woke up to a clear cold morning at 17k camp. We descended the West Buttress in chilly conditions but were treated to nice weather and familiar faces when we saw our RMI family at 14k camp! Best of luck to Dan May and his strong team of climbers! Down we continued to 11k camp where we dug up our cache and enjoyed some relatively warm temps and sunshine after having been at over 20,000’ less than 24 hours ago. Still further down the mountain we went to camp one to pick up another cache where we saw Ben Luedtke and another RMI team. Finally we retraced the very first day of our trip and walked our way back to the airstrip on a tranquil Alaska range night. The day was truly unbelievable. We were treated to views of Hunter, Foraker, Denali, and the rest of the central Alaska range. Days like today stir up a great deal of gratitude for the privilege this life is and an overwhelming reminder of how small we are. We arrived at camp under the midnight sun and treated ourselves to refreshments, charcuterie, and friendly conversation before finally turning in for the night. Morning? The sun doesn’t set. Who knows? More importantly, who cares?! We achieved so much more than our goals and with any luck we will be flying back to Talkeetna and returning to the “real” world tomorrow. We can’t wait to see you all and tell you about the wild journey we had together!

Best,
Jackson

Friday, June 12th - 12:20AM PST

Woweewow! What a day. As planned, we made it onto the glacier this morning. The views flying in? Epic. The mountain?  Stunning. The plane flying away and leaving us here? Welcomed. We are ready. And in fact, we already moved. We arrived at Camp 1 just in time for dinner and "sunset."  After a long hard day carrying ALL of our gear, we feel ecstatic. But the work to climb the tallest mountain in North America doesn't stop. Tomorrow we will carry and cache just below our next camp. Sweet dreams y'all, update you tomorrow!

-RMI Guide Ben Luedtke & Team