RMI Expeditions Blog

RMI's May 12th Denali Expedition led by RMI Guides Dustin Wittmier, Dan May and Lacie Smith have spent the last few days traveling to Talkeetna, Alaska, packing gear and weighing all the gear.  They are now at the K2 Aviation hangar and getting ready to fly to the Kahiltna Glacier and get this expedition started.

Good luck team!

With today's move to 11,000' complete, we are done pulling sleds uphill, and are retiring the snowshoes until we come down! There was much celebrating. It was sunny in camp this morning and we let that dry tents and sleeping bags for a bit, then pulled it all down, packed it all up, and started walking back up Ski Hill. It was an incredibly pleasant day and we trundled along to 11,000' in good time. The team is clicking at getting stuff done, and tents were up in no time. Good thing to, as a big black wall approached from the west and enveloped us in fat snow flakes. It's incredibly calm, but we are building an inch or so of snow an hour, falling quietly, straight down. At another time of year it would evoke holidays, wood stoves, and cozy winter vibes, but right now it's making summer feel quite far away. Our intention is to take a rest day tomorrow at 11, refresh some climbing skills for the terrain above, and get ready to cache higher the next day.

RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer

We're resting and acclimating at 11k today. After a chilly night, the team enjoyed a leisurely morning and brunch with ample amounts of eggs, hashbrowns, and reindeer sausage.

Lounging, reading, and small talk make up the bulk of today's activities.

We'll also be sorting our gear in preparation for our carry up around Windy Corner, which, weather permitting, is on tap for tomorrow.

But for right now, we're enjoying the hang.

RMI Guide Mike Walter

RMI Guides Dominic Cifelli & Jack Delaney led their Four Day Climb May 10 - 13 to Ingraham Flats this morning. Route conditions prevented the climbers from going further, they were able to take advantage of the nice weather to do a bit of training before returning to Camp Muir.  The teams have packed up and are descending to Paradise. We look forward to seeing them back in Ashford this afternoon.

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

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

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!

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.

RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer

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.

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