RMI Expeditions Blog
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Jackson Breen
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 7,800'
After a couple of big days, today was a good one to rest. The sun decided to show too, and we could finally see the awesomeness of the peaks of the Alaska Range around us. Until now we've moved around in relative murk with the peaks above obscured. The scene around us is stunning and humbling, and for much of the day we could see clear to the summit of Denali. The sun also warmed the tents and us, giving us a nice dose of heat after a couple days of pretty chilly weather, even for Alaska. Some yoga, napping, and reading was most if the day's activity. Tomorrow we plan to move to Camp 1, rested and ready to climb this stretch one more time.
RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer
New Post Alerts:
Denali Expedition, May 7, 2024
Posted by: Mike Walter, Jess Wedel, Michael Murray
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 11,200'
Today we had much kinder weather than the last few and we enjoyed a nice leg stretcher back to 9,700' to retrieve our cache from a few days ago. We're back at 11,200' camp chilling before dinner. It feels good to reunite with all of our gear so we can prepare for the next stage of the climb, which will be establishing a cache up around Windy Corner. We haven't decided yet if we'll try to get that done tomorrow or the next day. In any case, our bodies are busy producing red blod cells as we adapt to living at altitude. One last note for today: Happy Mother's Day to Jeanne, Liz, Valari, Kristy, Karen, Kate, Dorothy, Tracy, Becky, Megan, Kathie, Fiona, Susan, Angela, Lynda, Veronique, Fatemeh, Joyce, Mary, Betty, Dee Dee, Anne, Sarah, Tania, Elaina, Dione, and Meredith.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
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Denali Expedition, May 5, 2024
Posted by: Seth Burns, Charlie Harrison, Joey Manship
Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades
Elevation: 10,781'
RMI Guide Seth Burns and Team were on the summit of Mt. Baker this morning. They enjoyed some great turns on the Squak glacier during their training yesterday. Their training came in handy to help them get to the summit of Mt. Baker today.
Nice work team!
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Jackson Breen
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 9,400'
Saturday, May 11, 2024
We got most of our food and fuel pushed all the way to 11 today. We went into the day with a plan to carry as high as we could and made sense. It's been quite snowy on the Kahiltna below Kahiltna Pass. We were in the sun in the morning but it looked socked in above, so we dragged our feet a bit. We didn't see much evidence of wind, and a could of teams headed up, so with some trail breaking ahead of us, we decided to go. As expected, the light turned flat pretty quickly. But we were moving along well. We caught the last team in front of us around 9,700', and trail breaking became our job. We had a chilly breeze coming from behind, and we thought we might just lose it and get some better visability around the corner towards 11,000'. That worked, and then we were only 20 minutes from camp, so why not go the distance! It was a proud effort from the team. We dropped our loads, stowed sleds on packs, and with minimal weight on us for the first time on the trip, stretched our legs out on the descent. It had snowed yet more below, so we broke trail back downhill again, but made easy work of that. It was pretty pleasant and surreal, with snowflakes filtering silently down around us, and the snow on the ground absorbing every sound, we moved through a silent, empty landscape, the sound of our own passage swallowed up. It was a long day capped with a restorative bowl of ramen and then off to sleep.
New Post Alerts:
Denali Expedition, May 7, 2024
Posted by: Steve Gately, Avery Parrinello, Drew O’Brien, Calvin Jiricko
Categories:
Elevation: 11,200'
The Four Day Climb May 9 - 12 led by RMI Guides Steve Gately & Avery Parrinello reached Ingraham Flats, 11,200', today before poor route conditions forced them to turn around. The teams enjoyed a beautiful morning on the mountain and did a bit of training, then returned safely to Camp Muir. As of 9 am they had begun their descent from Camp Muir to Paradise. We expect to see them back at BaseCamp in the early afternoon.
Posted by: Mike Walter, Jess Wedel, Michael Murray
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 11,000'
Saturday, May 11, 2024 - 7:10 pm PT
Skies were blue above us when I fired the stoves this morning. A foot or more of fresh snow blanketed camp and temps were frigid. Bagels, bacon, and coffee were warranted. By the time we left camp the skies were obscured. Deep snow, cold air, and a stiff breeze were the constants all day. Our team climbed strong and we arrived at 11,000' Camp by 2 pm. After a few hours of digging in a camp, some tent chilling ensued while the guides fired the stoves for dinner. Tomorrow we plan to retrieve our cache from 9400. We'll let you know how that goes. It's dinner time now and life is good at 11,000'.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
New Post Alerts:
Denali Expedition, May 5, 2024
Posted by: Casey Grom, Sam Hoffman
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 11,200'
The Four Day Climb led by RMI Guides Casey Grom and Sam Hoffman climbed to Ingraham Flats at 11,200' on Mt. Rainier. The team had the most amazing views of the Northern Lights, and Sunrise. They spent the morning practicing their mountaineering skills at the flats before descending back to Camp Muir.
That is gorgeous!
Posted by: Some guy from Puyallup on 5/12/2024 at 1:16 pm
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Jackson Breen
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 9,400'
Friday May 10, 2024 9:02 pm PDT
Everything that we could not see last night was visible and resplendent this morning. Skies were crystal blue, and Hunter, Foraker, and Denali were all standing proud. It was the perfect morning to start moving. Some breakfast and quite a bit of organizing, caching, measuring out ropes and sleds, etc., and then we were ready to start walking. First down Heartbreak Hill to the lowest point of the trip, then steadily up the gentle inclines of the lower Kahiltna. It should be the only day of the trip where we move with everything at once, so our loads were HEAVY! But the team did great churning the legs and we sidled into camp at the base of Ski Hill around 5.
Throughout the day the weather deteriorated, and we went from staring at these Alaskan beauties to being able to see 20 feet in really flat light. We went from stripping to sun hoodies, to putting on puffies, and set up camp in similar conditions with light snow. The sun is poking out now as the stoves roll towards dinner. Soon we'll be crawling into sleeping bags.
We'll check in tomorrow.
RMI Guide Pete VanDeventer & Team
New Post Alerts:
Denali Expedition, May 7, 2024
Pete and crew…Wishes for a great expedition. Will follow along from the cornfields and basketball courts of Indiana. Waltero [Spanish name I heard I needed 12 years ago at Aconcagua, Argentina L O L] Be Safe.
“Stand up straight.”
.
Posted by: Walter Glover on 5/12/2024 at 11:36 am
Posted by: Mike Walter, Jess Wedel, Michael Murray
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 9,400'
We woke to 6-8" of snow at the base of Ski Hill. Light snow was still falling as we ate breakfast, but the trend was improving so we started packing up camp.
By the time we started climbing it was mostly sunny and quite warm. Climbing up Ski Hill in base layers was a treat. Clouds increased and winds ramped up during our climb. By the time we got to our second break, visibility was down to near zero, winds were steadily increasing, and temps had dropped enough to remind us we're in Alaska. It was obvious that conditions would continue to deteriorate, so we put our camp in at 9,400'. It's pretty nasty outside but we're all safe and cozy in our tents. We guides are suiting up to go set up our cook tent so we can fire up stoves and get everyone fed. Hopefully this weather passes overnight, and we can push camp up to 11,200' tomorrow. Time will tell, but 9400' will be our home for tonight. We'll check in again tomorrow with an update.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
New Post Alerts:
Denali Expedition, May 5, 2024
The Expedition Skills Seminar Muir led by RMI Guides Dave Hahn and Joe Hoch spent a week honing their mountaineering skills in preparation for future big mountain objectives. This starts with ice axe use and cramponing techniques, and moves on to more advanced skills such as anchor placements, various self and team crevasse rescue techniques, steep technical ice climbing, belays, rappelling, knots, route finding, avalanche forecasting and fixed rope travel. Evening discussions included such topics as mountain weather, medicine for mountaineering, altitude wellness and equipment. The team climbed to Ingraham Flats, but were unable to travel higher on the mountain due to unstable snow conditions.
Congratulations Team!
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Sounds like everyone is doing great!! Keep up the good work!
Thank you for keeping all of us at home up to date on our friends progress!
Posted by: Jackie Millen on 5/13/2024 at 4:31 pm
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