RMI Expeditions Blog

Friday May 28, 2021 - 7:39pm PT 

The winds and snow moved out for us today and we got to enjoy some sun and warmth in camp. We could still see winds moving quickly at times up above us on the west buttress, but it was nice to have pleasant conditions for a bit. We took the opportunity to build some truly monumental walls to protect against an expected wind event tomorrow, then refreshed and practiced our fixed line travel to prep for when the weather and conditions let us go higher.

Tomorrow is almost certainly a tent bound day, but the trend looks good for us going into next week. For now, we're happy to be acclimating and getting strong at 14,000', and to be within striking distance of our objective.

RMI Guides Pete, Matias, Chase, and Team

Thursday, May 28, 2021 - 7:43pm PT

Today was a slow day for us on the Kahiltna. We alternated between blue skies and whiteout, and the wind blew a steady 20-30mph all morning. We made hash browns, eggs, and quesadillas for brunch, traded card tricks, and talked about a few climbing related things.

The wind has now died down, and we’ve got a little bit of evening sun. Everyone is well rested and ready to get moving around tomorrow, so hopefully the weather cooperates. That’s it from us on the lower Kahiltna, another good day in the books!

RMI JM Gorum and Kahiltna Seminar Team. 

Friday, May 28, 2021 -  5:09pm PT

We had another stormy night here at the base of ski hill. We woke to clear skies and decided to try and move some food and fuel towards Kahiltna Pass and the turn up to 11,200’ camp. 30 minutes into the day the wind picked up and the loose snow started spinning. With some warm gloves and a few layers we leaned into the very consistent and very cold 15 mph wind and took it an hour at a time. Eventually we got to 9500’ which met the goal for the day. The ravens will dig up shallow caches so we dug a deep hole and buried our food and fuel. We beat feet down to camp and are currently enjoying some sun on the tents while that very consistent 15 mph wind spins snow everywhere.

We’ll see what we get tomorrow and a move to 11,200’ is planned.

RMI Guide Mike King & Team

The Four Day Climb led by RMI Guide JT Schmitt turned just above Ingraham Flats today. The team had clear skies for climbing, but significant wind loading on the upper slopes made it unsafe to travel on the upper mountian. The team has started their descent and will be back to Paradise early this afternoon.

Congratulations to Today's Team!

Friday, May 28, 2021 - 1:04pm PT

We expected weather to move in last night, but it was definitely windier than we thought it was going to be. Thankfully we had a strong camp built up and, besides waking us up throughout the night, the gusts really caused us no issue.

We hoped to break down camp early and get moving up the main fork of the Kahiltna, but it didn’t make sense to risk losing a tent breaking down camp in the wind. The sun stayed out for most of the morning, so we just sat around hiding from the wind and playing two truths and a lie until about noon. By this point, the wind had died down significantly so we decided to pack up and venture out to find a new home. We left camp around 2pm, walked downhill onto the main fork of the Kahiltna glacier, and turned north. We had scattered clouds and moderate winds, keeping the temperature comfortably cool. In full sun and light winds, it can be uncomfortably hot on the Kahiltna, so we welcomed our all-natural A/C.

Setting up camp just north of Mount Crosson took no time at all. Everybody is a pro by now. We’re all in our tents now hiding from the wind again. There are plenty of climbing objectives in our new neighborhood, but we’ll just see what the weather allows.

RMI Guides JM Gorum & Team

Thursday, May 27, 2021 - 10:37pm PT

An uncertain forecast greeted us this morning as we packed up to move to Camp 3. We ate breakfast in a windy snow storm, but in a stroke of luck the clouds lifted as we climbed away from camp. Our good fortune was tragically short lived. By the time we got to Windy Corner, the wind was gusting so hard our sleds were blowing sideways. Sharp crampons, good footwork, and strong legs got us through our obstacle. After picking up a few items from our cache, we pushed through two feet of fresh snow all the way to Camp 3, at 14,300 feet. 

We built camp in a mild blizzard and quickly hopped into our sleeping bags. Today was a tough day.  Days like these are when you really earn your chance to be on the mountain. We’re proud of how our team performed and got the job done.

RMI Guide Eric Frank & Team

Thursday, May 27. 2021 - 8:48pm PT

We flew onto the glacier late yesterday and did little else but get camp set up and ate some dinner. By midnight there was a blizzard that moved in until 9 am. After rigging our sleds and packs the wind had died down to a dull roar and the sky turned blue. We packed up and headed out around 12:30 pm with the sun to help balance the cold breeze. The route down heartbreak hill and onto the Kahiltna glacier was straightforward but windy. The wind would not abate for the next 5 hours as we leaned into it and got to camp. Heavy packs and sleds have us happy to be eating dinner and getting ready to sleep.

We’ll see what this storm brings tomorrow, but for now our fully bellies and tired legs could care less.

Thanks for following along,

RMI Guide Mike King and Team

Thursday, May 27, 2021 - 6:39pm PT

It sounded like rain drumming off the tent at a consistent staccato all night, into this morning. The problem was that there was frost in the tent and the temp was below zero. So was it rain? Nope. Graupel. Lots of graupel. As well as snow. And wind to move it. We had planned to rest anyways and that was perfect for today. We had a big bagel and smoked salmon brunch, then tucked back into tents to stay warm and dry.

The snow is anywhere from ankle to well over knee deep through camp. The wind have started to subside some this afternoon, but our world is still really white, with snow filtering down from the sky.

We'll do dinner and some warm tea and crawl into our sleeping bags to see what tomorrow brings.

RMI Guide Pete, Matias, Chase, and Team

Thursday, May 27, 2021 - 2:13pm PT

Yesterday we did some training on rope travel techniques for up above 14k. The weather was clear and cold, with a chilly breeze.

Last night a true Denali storm came in with snow and wind, and we’ve been spending the morning digging out our tents, trying to stay warm, and hunkering down.

The storm is forecast to continue through Saturday, with 60 mph winds here at camp; needless to say, we’re not going up anytime soon. We’re also anticipating high avalanche hazard on the slopes above camp and the autobahn due to the new snow load and the wind transported slabs.

We’ll keep you posted on how this shakes out. For now, we are focusing our energy on defending our camp and staying safe.

RMI Guide Mike Walter & Team

The Denali Expedition May 25, 2021 led by RMI Guides Mike King, Alex Halliday and Abby Westling arrived in Anchorage on Tuesday, May 25th.  The team made their way to Talkeenta with a stop for groceries and fresh food to fly with them onto the mountain.  Once in Talkeetna they sorted and packed gear, met with the National Park Service and prepared to begin their adventure on Denali.  The forecast for Wednesday evening looked to have a break in the weather that would allow them to fly to Kahiltna Base Camp.  And sure enough, the team loaded up in the K2 Aviation Twin Otters and headed into the mountains around 5 pm local time.