RMI Expeditions Blog
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Nick Sinapius, Ben Thorneycroft
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
It was a pretty full day, prepping everything for a few weeks of glacier living and making sure we get it right. We started with an orientation from the Park Service this morning, before diving in to unpacking our kits, and repacking them for the flight to base camp, where we will unpack them again, to pack for climbing. It's a lot of shuffling but we're feeling confident that everything is set to go. And everyone was buoyed as the skies were clear as could be all day. These clear days are when Denali (McKinley) shows off, encased in white and gleaming brightly on the skyline. Weather continues to look good for tomorrow, so we are prepped to fly first thing and get this expedition truly underway!
RMI Guides, Pete, Ben, Nick, and Team
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Denali Expedition May 8, 2025
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Nick Sinapius, Ben Thorneycroft
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
The team all made it without snags yesterday, and we hit the ground running, packing into the shuttle and heading for Talkeetna. After dinner, we ambled down to the river - the mountains were socked in but the icebergs floating by provided the ambience. The amble then magically led our feet to the doors of the Fairview, for a quick pint and an acoustic rendition of despacito. Then to bed in the arctic daylight. We’ll pack tomorrow and things look good for flights on on Saturday!
RMI Guides Pete, Nick, Ben and Team
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Denali Expedition May 8, 2025
Posted by: Daniel May, Joey Manship
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska
Today we waited out the snow by having our own avalanche course right here on the Ruth glacier. Skies cleared to a beautiful evening during dinner. The team is excited to go explore some new terrain tomorrow under blue skies!
RMI Guide Dan May & Team
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Ruth Glacier Seminar May 2, 2025
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: Seth Burns, Hannah Blum, Raymond Holt
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Expedition Skills Seminar – Muir, May 4–9, led by RMI Guide Seth Burns, successfully reached the summit of Mt. Rainier at approximately 9:15 AM today. The team encountered cold and windy conditions during their ascent from Camp Muir to the top of Disappointment Cleaver. However, upon reaching 13,200 feet, the winds eased, giving way to sunshine and clear skies.
Over the past several days, the team has been based at Camp Muir, where they focused on building essential mountaineering skills. They will spend one final night on the mountain before descending to Paradise tomorrow.
Well done, team!
PC: Hannah Blum
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: Casey Grom, Calvin Jiricko
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Five Day Climb May 1 - 5 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today led by RMI Guides Casey Grom and Calvin Jiricko. Casey reported strong winds but otherwise clear and sunny.
This is the first RMI team of the season to reach the summit. What a great start!
Congratulations to the today's climbers!
Posted by: Daniel May, Joey Manship
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Seminar
Elevation: May 2, 2025
Saturday, May 3, 2025 - 10:33 pm PT
First couple days were spent meeting up in Anchorage and shuttling our way to Talkeetna via the scenic drive toward the Alaska range. After arriving we quickly got to packing, sorting gear and setting ourselves up for when the weather would allow us to get into the range. Sadly today wasn't our day in that regard but time was still well spent. Rest, rope and camp skills were the name of the game to further put as at advantage once on the great Ruth Glacier.
We are hopeful that tomorrow's weather will grant us passage into the amphitheater to begin our days amongst the peaks.
The RMI Guides Dan May & Joey Manship and the Ruth Gorge Team
New Post Alerts:
Ruth Glacier Seminar May 2, 2025
Good luck team! Have a great flight to the glacier today and enjoy setting up your first camp amongst the peaks!
Posted by: Jeremy Rutter on 5/4/2025 at 10:04 am
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Good luck on this climb of a lifetime!
Posted by: Maxine Hill on 5/10/2025 at 7:47 am
Keep her lit!
Posted by: Sinead on 5/10/2025 at 2:26 am
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