RMI Guide Walter Hailes checked in this morning from Camp Muir. The Muir Seminar team is back from their summit bid. Due to unstable snow conditions, the teams turned after Ingraham Flats. The team had a mix of weather during their week-long seminar- some spectacular views and also some stormy weather of high winds and blowing snow. They learned a lot of mountaineering skills to take home with them after a week on Mount Rainier.
The starry skies that covered us when we went to bed gave way to a thick cloud deck and by 5am this morning it was blowing and snowing on our tents in Condoriri Basecamp. Thankfully the team all slept hard from our efforts the day before and by the time we started breakfast at 8am only a thin dusting of snow and partly cloudy skies remained.
This set us up perfectly for a relaxed day of travel. After breaking down the tents, we hiked out of the valley and met the transport vehicles.
Even though only 20 odd miles separate the Condoriri Valley from Huayna Potosi the terrain requires back tracking through the edge of La Paz, making the trip closer to three hours. We were rewarded with incredible views of the mountain, which grew larger and more stunning as we arrived at our refugio.
This evening the team is relaxing and enjoying a reset before our next big push.
RMI Guide Eric Frank
Thursday, May 23, 2019, 10:36 PM PT
Good evening lower 48, it is us up here in the northern state of Alaska. The team gathered this afternoon in the Anchorage airport with a high stoke level for what is to come in the next ten days. The next ten days will bring beautiful views of pristine glaciated terrain that will be our classroom for learning the skills needed to do a Denali Expedition in the future. We made our way to Talkeetna, the launching pad to Denali and are all getting use to the 24-hour light as we settle into our hotel. Tomorrow will be a busy day of packing and shuffling gear so we can hopefully fly onto the Kahiltna Glacier.
Keep your fingers crossed for blue skies,
RMI Guide Hannah Smith and team
Thursday, May 23, 2019, 6:17 PM PT
We went to sleep last night surrounded by some of the biggest, most beautiful mountains on earth. When we woke up this morning, all we could see was white. Our blue skies had been replaced by clouds and light snow. Luckily, the change in weather did nothing to slow our progress. We rolled out of our tents, packed up what seemed like a totally unreasonable amount of food and gear, and then headed uphill. We hauled our packs and sleds up to 10,000', dug a hole in the snow, and buried all of our things. In a few days time we will be back to retrieve them, and move them farther up hill. After squirreling away our gear, we boogied back down to camp. The team made excellent work of the downhill, which is always a good sing. We are all dried out and are eating burritos now. Not much else to report from the day. The view were minimal. The work was hard. The plan is to go to bed early and move our camp to 11,000' tomorrow if the weather cooperates. Either way, we are having a great time here on the Kahiltna!
RMI Guide JM Gorum
Thursday, May 23, 2019 3:28 pm PT
Today the team focused on fortifying camp, finishing the snow walls that shield our tents from the wind. The Mountain treated us to beautiful morning views above the clouds while we worked, but the weather turned snowy by afternoon. Later in the day, the team practiced using ascenders in order to be prepared for our eventual trip up the fixed lines. Weather allowing, we are hoping to put those skills into practice tomorrow, leaving a cache of summit food at 16,000 feet.
RMI Guide Steve Gately
This is such exciting adventure to follow! I am so proud of my Grandson James!
It is such a pleasure to read each word on every blog—Thank you all for this! On to the Top of the
Denali World with safety!!
Posted by: Pat Howell on 5/25/2019 at 12:37 pm
The blog makes it sounds so beautiful! Stay safe and can’t wait to see your pictures and hear your stories.
Posted by: Jill and Kristi Snow on 5/24/2019 at 4:21 pm
Thursday, May 23, 2019 9:31 am PT
We had a good, long day of climbing on the West Buttress yesterday, pushing all the way the 17,200' camp with our cache.
The day started early and cold as we fired up our stoves hours before the sun was on our tents. After an efficient breakfast of granola and hot drinks, we prepared for our day of climbing. Except the mountain had different plans for our early start: a lenticular cloud cap had formed, indicating high winds. Plumes of blowing snow were visible from the summit down to the top of the fixed ropes (16,200'). So we pumped the breaks, stayed warm in our tents, and watched the weather unfold. Finally the winds seemed to abate and we left camp at 10:15. We encountered good climbing conditions and perfectly cool temperatures as we ascended out of camp and then up the fixed ropes. The lower part of the West Buttress was equally enjoyable. Once we topped Washburn's Thumb, around 17,000' we were met with 15-20 mph winds. Those wind speeds are generally not that alarming for mountain climbers, but at this altitude and the cold temps of Denali it made the climbing cold and more challenging.
Six hours after leaving camp we arrived at the 17,200' camp where we spent and hour and a half digging a cache hole, sorting gear, and breathing the rare air of altitude. The descent back to camp took us three hours, so vestibule to vestibule we had a 10 1/2 hour day--good training for summit day!
Today we are resting and I am about to fire the stoves for breakfast--this time a more leisurely affair with smoked salmon and cream cheese on toasted bagels, a true luxury at 14,200' on Denali.
The weather forecast is calling for a strong storm through the weekend. We'll watch how that develops, and hopefully get a weather window for an unmitigated bid early next week. But for now we will rest and fortify camp in anticipation of the weekend's storm.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
Hope all is well and you are enjoying the adventure. Sounds WAY harder than sailing to Hawaii, despite the smoked salmon and bagels! The scenery looks incredible. Stay warm and safe.
Naomi and the UBC PAR nurses
Posted by: Naomi Roddick on 5/24/2019 at 11:49 am
Wonderful to hear you had such a successful climb yesterday!
Praying for your safety throughout the weekend.
Jim, think about sailing in the warm winds of codorus while you wait it out!!
I’ll be waiting.
Wednesday, May 22, 2019, 11:30 PM PT
Well, we are on the Kahiltna Glacier. We have begun the climb! We flew on early this morning with perfect weather, a smooth ride, and amazing views of the Alaska range. After landing, we consolidated and re-organized our gear, picked up fuel from base camp, rigged our sleds, and started walking. After about five hours of travel time, we arrived at 7800 feet, our first camp on the Kahiltna. After setting up tents and building a kitchen we moved into an early dinner. We’re going to try to wake up a little on the early side tomorrow. Our plan is to carry a load up to 10,000 feet. Hopefully, with an early start, we can be back down in camp hiding from the sun during the hottest part of the day. Everyone did really well today despite the warm temps and heavy loads. We’ll check back in tomorrow afternoon.
RMI Guides JM Gorum, JT Schmitt and Dustin Wittmier
The team woke up to gorgeous weather and we enjoyed another lengthy breakfast of eggs, hashbrowns and bacon before heading down to 13,600ft to grab our cached gear. We spent the afternoon fortifying our camp by quarrying snow blocks to build walls around our encampment. With a little time left to spare before dinner we all walked out to an area known as "The Edge of the World". By walking out to the edge of Genet Basin, where 14K Camp sits, you're met with 6,000ft of relief straight down to the Northeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier. One by one each climber is belayed out to a perch of rock that overhangs the immense exposure. Easily some of the most epic and grand photos you'll ever take in your lifetime. We're back at camp now and ready to dive into another dinner. Tomorrow the plan is to take another rest day and finish fortifying our camp ahead of some stormy weather arriving this weekend. The team is all doing great and enjoying their time here at 14,000ft.
RMI Guide Steve Gately
Update: May 22, 2019 - 5:29 pm PT
An early alpine start at 2am had us walking under starry skies and a nearly full moon to the base of the glacier. After four hours of glacier climbing around crevasses we found ourselves at 17,400’ at a sub peak offering us amazing views of Pequeno Alpamayo and Huyana Potosi. We descended 400’ of rock, that led to steep ridges and the final 500’ of steep ice and rock to the summit. The summit did not disappoint with views of the surrounding mountains and our next mountain objective Huyana Potosi. Lucky for us, after twenty minutes of descending off the top we were engulfed in a cloud. After a twelve hour summit day we’re enjoying some relaxation before dinner.
RMI Guide Eric Frank
May 22, 2019 - 6:39 am PT
Good morning this is Eric Frank calling from 17,839' on the summit of Pequeno Alpamayo. We're having a beautiful morning up here. The team did incredibly well. We had four out of five climbers make it to the top of Tarija peak and four out of five climbers make it to the top of Pequeno Alpamayo. It's a gorgeous morning, light winds. We are sitting on top enjoying snacks with a view in every direction. We are going to hang out here for another 15 or 20 minutes and then head back downhill. We look forward to checking in this afternoon when we get back to camp. Thanks for following along.
RMI Guide Eric Frank
RMI Guide Eric Frank checks in from the summit of Pequeno Alpamayo.
Tuesday, May 21, 2019 8:43 pm PT
The winds from the previous day had subsided overnight an we woke up to mostly clear skies. You could see the south winds hammering the pipe West Buttress from camp. By the time we made it through breakfast, the winds dropped and we were in camp. With warmer temps forecasted and only light winds in camp we opted to try for the move. Long story short, it was windy. The kind of wind that your walking straight into for hours. The team did well taking care of hands, feet and faces. We finally found a break from the torrent at 13,600ft. A long hard day brought us to our new home here at 14,000ft. With camp finally set up, we're all looking forward to a hot drink and a big dinner. Tomorrow we'll try and back carry to 13.6k to pick up our cached gear then enjoy the afternoon off to rest and recover. That's all for now, life is good!
RMI Guide Steve Gately
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
So excited for your good weather and great progress! We are all pulling for great weather going forward and successful climbing
Posted by: Ellen Smith Eaton on 5/25/2019 at 7:28 pm
Thanks for the updates! Love you Dad! Rooting for you and hoping for good weather!
Posted by: Katie Knudsen on 5/24/2019 at 8:11 pm
View All Comments