RMI Expeditions Blog
May 8, 2016 - 9:05 am PT
We are writing from our new home for the next few nights, 11k on Denali's West Buttress. We has splitter weather today and made slow, but efficient progress up the Kahiltna Glacier. Now we're in our sleeping bags after setting up camp, rehydrating, and watching the sunset.
Tomorrow, we plan to return down the Kahiltna to retrieve the cache of food and fuel we left there yesterday.
Thanks for checking in.
RMI Guide Mike Walter and the team
On The Map
May 7, 2016 - 8:31 pm PT
Good evening everyone,
The team is hunkered down here at 9,600' camp near the base of the east face of
Kahiltna dome. It was a fine warm day to drag our loads out of 7600' camp and set ourselves up for an attempt on the dome tomorrow morning. Lots of snow here off the beaten track so we are going to have some work to venture up the east face. Our team of four paired themselves down to one tent in order to lighten the load and sleep a bit warmer at night. Early to bed for us and an early rise in the morning. Hope everyone at home is warm and comfortable.
RMI Guides Leon Davis & Mike King
Friday, May 6, 2016 - 11:19 p.m. PDT
Our
Denali expedition has hit the ground running. After flying on to the Kahiltna Glacier yesterday, we took advantage of good weather and traveled up glacier for 6.5 hours to our first camp at the base of Ski Hill at 7800'.
Light snow started after we had camp set up, and continued through most of the night. When we woke up, there was only an inch of snow and temps were warm. After a delicious breakfast of smoked salmon and cream cheese on bagels, we loaded up our packs and sleds and headed up to 9400' to cache a load of fuel and food before returning to camp.
All is going well, and we're hoping to move camp to 11,200' tomorrow. We'll keep you up to date. Thanks for checking in!
RMI Guide Mike Walter and the team
On The Map
Friday, May 6, 2016 - 9:40 p.m. PDT
We held our breath this morning peering outside the vestibule, expecting to see a foot of snow and nothing else. Instead we found an inch of new snow and a cloudy glacier with low visibility. We enjoyed a pancake breakfast and packed as much gear as we could without taking the tents down. By late morning the cloud ceiling rose just high enough for us to see and that was good enough. By one o'clock we we walking down Heartbreak Hill with enough supplies to last four days. It was a beautiful quiet walk up the main flow of the Kahiltna and by 4:30 we were at the base of Ski Hill making camp next to Mike Walter's
Denali team and a group of soldiers. Our crew is strong and looking forward to moving camp tomorrow to 10,000 ft, provided we can double down on our bet that the weather forecast will prove wrong one more time.
RMI Guide Leon Davis
Today the
seminar team had a fine time learning and drilling crevasse rescue techniques. Colder today than the previous few, we bundled up and traveled a few minutes from camp to a nice staging area above a deep blue hole. The team first drilled pulling a snow-filled duffel out before practicing with a live load. Everyone got the opportunity to experience the inside of a crevasse as well as pulling a teammate out of one. Clouds are starting to build over Foraker as a southwest flow moves it's way into our area and by late morning, silence filled the arena that hummed with the activity of planes flying into Basecamp. Before dinner we rigged our sleds and packed some gear for our anticipated move from
BC and up the Kahiltna glacier tomorrow. An early and quiet goodnight from the expedition skills seminar.
RMI Guide Leon Davis
On The Map
Thursday, May 5, 2016 - 10:17 a.m. PDT
The RMI Office received word that
RMI Guide Mike Walter and the May 3rd Denali Expedition has departed Talkeetna enroute to base camp on the Kahiltna Glacier. The team boarded K2 Aviation's Otter planes round 9 a.m. local time for their 45 minute flight into the
Alaska Range.
The RMI Denali climbing season is officially underway!
On The Map
Wednesday, May 4, 2016 - 10:29 p.m PDT
Today the team went out to stretch their legs and explore the various corners of the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier. We left camp early in the cold, biting air of morning and made our way up to a basin on the north side of the
Radio Tower. Recent snow made for a lot of trail breaking to gain the north ridge. After crossing the bergschrund, we found the ridge to be very steep, firm underfoot, and very exposed. Our options were limited with the gear we had and the nature of the potential consequences. So we made the summit ridge our high point and descended to set up some fixed line work and anchor building. The team is in good spirits, eager to learn, and attentive to their well being. Tomorrow we explore the inside of a crevasse to see how deep the rabbit hole really goes.
RMI Guides
Leon Davis and
Mike King
On The Map
Wednesday, May 4, 2016 - 9:01 p.m.
Here we go! Everyone's travel arrangements worked out brilliantly the past couple of days and we all met in Anchorage yesterday afternoon and drove north to Talkeetna, a quaint little climbing village and the gateway to the Alaska Range.
This morning we had an early orientation meeting with the National Park Service in Talkeetna where we discussed the route, leave no trace practices, and some of the history of
Denali climbing.
Then, after brunch at the historic Talkeetna Roadhouse, we spent the rest of the day at K2 Aviation's hangar checking our equipment and packing for our expedition. After a long day of sorting gear and weighing packs, we are confident that we are ready for out expedition on the
West Buttress of Denali.
The plan is to fly in to Base Camp on the Kahiltna Glacier tomorrow morning, weather permitting. From there, we'll be busy climbing for the next few weeks towards the apex of North America. We will be sending dispatches via satellite interface, and will try to make that technological magic work on a daily basis. Thanks for following along!
RMI Guides Mike Walter, Billy Haas, Blake Votilla and the Team
Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - 9:31 p.m.
This morning we woke up to a few inches of light snow and little visibility. Our goal today was to fortify camp with walls cut from snow and our team worked fast together. By early afternoon the sun cast a blue light down glacier and the north buttress of Hunter made itself present with its steep rock and ice. The team finished by 1300 and relaxed for a short while under a warm sun. Before dinner we sat together to review some knots and hitches and prepare for a climb up
Radio Tower tomorrow morning. Every once in a while I catch the team standing quietly, shovels in hand, pausing to take in the surrounding splendor before returning to their work. All is very well here in our snowy castle.
RMI Guide Leon Davis
Monday, May 2, 2016 - 10:03 p.m.
Greetings Blog Followers!
Our first
Alaska Mountaineering Seminar - Expedition is doing fine at Kahiltna Base Camp! Our morning in Talkeetna, AK was anything but slow and leisurely as we performed many logistic moves in order to get ahead of the changing weather forecast. We made it onto
K2 Aviation's Otters by noon and made camp quickly in great weather. Despite being thrust into action on a compressed time schedule, the team worked very well together displaying great work ethic and sense if humor. It's 9:00 p.m and we are all warm and happy in tents looking forward to fortifying camp tomorrow.
Good night friends and family from the southeast fork of the Kahiltna Glacier; we'll check in again tomorrow.
RMI Guides Leon Davis and Mike King
On The Map
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Great to hear of your progress. Keep up the good work all. David, the birds and fish are fed, pond pump is working, plants are watered, lawn is mowed, storm windows are not down…missing you molto!
Posted by: Nancy Hines on 5/9/2016 at 7:23 pm
Hi Rogan and rest of the team.
I saw this quote some time ago, and it reminds me how much respect I have for you all.
“I suggest going out to the nearest pub and getting completely, and utterly, wasted. Make sure you smoke at least 1 pack of unfiltered Camel’s. Get the full ashtray, pour a drink in it and then pour the mixture into a water bottle.
When you get home (ideally around 3:30am) stick the vile mixture into your freezer. Put on your best goretex and thermal layer. Climb in. At 5:30am, get out, drink (chew?) the mixture and go run the biggest flight of stairs you can find. Run until your heart threatens to explode.
Your dehydration caused by the alcohol should adequately simulate what you may experience at higher altitudes. Your lung capacity should be sufficiently impaired by the smokes to simulate a oxygen poor environment. The freezer episode should adequately replicate a bivy. Drinking the booze/butt mixture should simulate your lack of appetite…..
Oh — once your finished your workout, go to work (to replicate the long walk out).”
- Greg Hamilton suggesting an altitude training methodology.
To be honest, I am more than a little bit jealous. Enjoy every step and every moment, even when it’s tough.
Pieter and the Nel family from Cape Town, South Africa
Posted by: Pieter Nel on 5/9/2016 at 2:42 am
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