RMI Expeditions Blog
Posted by: Jack Delaney, Jess Wedel, Calvin Jiricko
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska
Elevation: 7,800'
Wednesday, May 13, 2026 - 12:56 am PT
Goodbye world, hello Denali!
Sorry for the late blog post, it's been a wild couple of days! We spent all day Monday ready to go at a moments notice. The weather was fickle, the clouds were playing games and the sunshine was promising flight potential. Finally around 4pm we received word of a potential window so we loaded planes and launched towards Kahiltna Base Camp. Sadly the clouds decided to reappear and we had to turn around back to Talkeetna. After about 30 minutes of sitting in the hangar, the pilots told us another gap in the clouds had appeared. Again we loaded up and took to the skies! Yet again the clouds were sneaky and by the time we got there they had cut us off from our destination. We circled for 20 minutes hopeful the clouds would shift and clear. Finally the pilots made the call - back to the Talkeetna again! We had a hearty dinner and were off to bed to try again in the morning.
Morning came quick with a 8am text from K2 saying the skies were clear! The team kicked into overdrive and within 30 minutes we were loaded up and flying! Smooth sailing took us right into Kahiltna Base Camp. We then got ourselves organized and took off up glacier towards our first camp, Ski Hill! Several hours of slogging later plus a couple more hours of hard work, we had camp established! It was a long day but we did it.
We were here. Our Denali expedition has officially begun.
Cheers,
RMI Guide Jack Delaney and the Team
New Post Alerts:
Mt. McKinley Expedition May 8, 2026
Today, we got an early start and walked over to the base of the Root Canal Glacier and climbed a small 800’ gully adjacent to the West Ridge of the Moose’s Tooth. We had expansive views of Denali, Mount Barille, Dickey, Bradley, Wake and Peak 11,300’. Warm temperatures forced us down early and we enjoyed an afternoon of avalanche viewing across the East Faces of Dickey and Bradley.
We are back at camp and enjoying another overcast night with hopes to fly out of the Range tomorrow!
RMI Guide Sam Marjerison
New Post Alerts:
Ruth Glacier Seminar May 2, 2025
Monday, May 11, 2026 - 10:13 pm PT
Today, we bring you a poem from the team:
Snow always falling
It never stops
Saw the sun for five minutes
We nearly blew our tops
Then yet again,
The snow returned
What will tomorrow bring?
Soon we will learn…
RMI Guide Sam Marjerison
New Post Alerts:
Ruth Glacier Seminar May 2, 2025
Posted by: Jack Delaney, Jess Wedel, Calvin Jiricko
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 348'
Day 3 – Sunday, May 10, 2026
Hang time in Talkeetna!
With unflyable weather, the gang spent the whole day on standby. We practiced the critical Denali skill of hurry up and wait, and also practiced our ping pong (table tennis for those who are serious) skills.
K2 Aviation lost the Talkeetna ping pong tournament to TAT (Talkeetna Air Taxi) last year, so luckily the RMI team was there to train with the K2 pilots. Hopefully, K2 will take a win in 2026!
We also reviewed our sled rigging and had an excellent team dinner at the Lattitude 62.
All eyeballs are looking towards the weather forecast for tomorrow for flyable weather!!
RMI Guide Calvin Jiricko & Team
New Post Alerts:
Mt. McKinley Expedition May 8, 2026
Posted by: Joe Hoch, Hannah Blum
Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades
Elevation: 10,781'
Sunday, May 10 11:19 AM PT
As we woke at 3:30am for our summit day, excited with our mostly sunny forecast, a wet cloud settled into camp and over the Squak glacier. Crowds of skiers passed us up into the white-out, but we decided to have another cup of coffee in our tents. The weather will do what it wants on Mt Baker it seems.
And lucky for us, an hour later it decided to grant us a little clearing, and by an hour into our tour uphill, not a cloud in the sky. This added a lucky euphoria to the already stunning views of the North Cascades all the way to Mt Rainier.
It was a solid refreeze overnight, and as we cramponned up a solidly frozen Roman Wall, the question of skiing this steep frozen mogul field weighed on everyone. But we had a wild card up our sleeves.
After our triumphant photo session on Mt Baker’s summit, we clicked into skis and skied directly into the Barbeque Run, straight off the summit into the smoking crater of the volcano. It has a little more east exposure and a little volcanic activity, and was perfect soft carving!
A short skin took us to the top of the Squak Glacier, and as we carved perfect shiny corn snow for the next 4000 vertical feet, the only reason to stop was to give the legs a little break. It doesn’t get much better than 20 minutes of perfect carving snow to camp.
We packed up camp and were treated with a fun session of snow to forest floor to snow patch skiing which had everyone giggling like kids. Doesn’t get much better on Mt Baker!
RMI Guide Joe Hoch & Team
Posted by: Jack Delaney, Jess Wedel, Calvin Jiricko
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska
Elevation: 348'
Sunday, May 10, 2026 - 11:19 am PT
Hello bloggateers!
Today was a busy day. The name of the game in Talkeetna is "Hurry up and Wait" - and hurry up we did. It was flurry of packing and organizing. The key to making sure you have everything for climbing Denali is pulling every item out of your bags, looking at them one by one, making sure you really need the item and then repacking them. After thoroughly examining everything we had and shedding any excess weight, we began weighing our bags. The pilots need the weights of all our gear and persons so they can calculate how to evenly distribute the weight amongst the planes and the gas needed to fly into the Alaska range. Finally we were able to able to call it a day and head to dinner. We enjoyed the fine ales and delicious food of the Denali Brew Pub. It was then off to another early bedtime in the hopes of flying off the next morning.
Cheers,
RMI Guide Jack Delany and the Team
New Post Alerts:
Mt. McKinley Expedition May 8, 2026
Today we launched for 747 Pass but were turned back halfway through our day due to 2-3ft of trail breaking. We are now back at camp and battening down the hatches for another round of weather! We’ve had the great pleasure of passing time with plenty of card games and a delicious dinner of Pad Thai. Tomorrow we plan to work on skills and wait until the weather breaks!
RMI Guide Sam Marjerison
New Post Alerts:
Ruth Glacier Seminar May 2, 2025
Posted by: Sam Marjerison
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska
Weather moved in overnight and we hunkered down and enjoyed a mellow breakfast this morning. After the storm lifted and precipitation slowed to a halt, we went for a walk towards 747 pass to put in a track and check out conditions. The trail breaking was deep and after a few miles we turned back and had a restful afternoon in camp.
We enjoyed a wonderful evening filled with ramen and card games. Now, we patiently wait for an opportunity to begin climbing on Mount Dickey in the coming days!
RMI Guide Sam Marjerison & Team
New Post Alerts:
Ruth Glacier Seminar May 2, 2025
The Four Day Climb, led by RMI guide Dan May, reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. Dan and his team reported a great route, cool temperatures, and some cloud cover. The team is now descending and en route to Camp Muir.
Congratulations, team!
Posted by: Jack Delaney, Jess Wedel, Calvin Jiricko
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Mt. McKinley
Hello world!
Greetings from Alaska! After a long day of travel from all over the US and Europe, we all assembled at the Ted Stevens Airport in Anchorage. We then loaded up the shuttle bus with our eccentric driver Ross and drove the two hours to Talkeetna. We then checked into the Swiss Alaska Inn and got the lowdown on the winter Talkeetna gossip from the Inn's proprietor Critter. After a brief break to get settled in we enjoyed some fine pizza at Mile High Pizza Pie. The team finished the evening off with a walk to the river front where we witnessed a large ice flow break up at the confluence of the Susitna and Talkeetna rivers. Then it was off to an early bedtime to prepare for an early start the next morning to begin gear checking and packing.
Thanks for tuning in -
RMI Guide Jack and the Team!
New Post Alerts:
Mt. McKinley Expedition May 8, 2026
Was Jess allowed to participate in gear checks ? Maybe watch her around compressed stuff sacks..
Posted by: Brian Broussard on 5/10/2026 at 10:46 am
The best from you all, the mountain and the weather!
Posted by: Steve on 5/13/2026 at 7:38 am
View All Comments