June 8, 2015, 4:37 pm PT Firing the Fixed lines! Today it was a good day. We woke in the bitter cold at 14 camp and slowly rose from our warm down feathers. With coffee and a bowl of granola we clipped in to our ropes. Finding rather pleasant walking conditions, we smoothly flowed up the slopes below the Headwall then gained the fixed lines up to 16,200ft. Our last 20 minutes up the lines provided brisk winds and motivated our super strong team to depart the lines and pass the ridge where the winds became a light breeze. This was a welcome way to spend our break and unload our final cache of food and fuel for our summit push! The team prepared for the descent back down in the brisk wind. With the confidence of great mountaineers we smoothly cruised down to our camp. Then a session with our grand lunch sacks along with a well deserved afternoon nap. The evening will be a group dinner with the West Rib crew. Likely to consist of big fried quesadillas laughter and friendships forged! Till tomorrow, Positive Vibes! RMI Guides Tyler Jones, Lindsay Mann & Chase Nelson

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June 7, 2015, 9:45 pm PT After surviving our first chilly night at 14K Camp, everyone walked into the posh this morning to the sweet smell of blueberry pancakes. Cooking at 14,000ft is quite difficult on any day but Tyler made pancakes that would have made Grandpa Jerry proud. Post breakfast we took advantage of the nice weather and prepared our camp for a nuclear winter. Hopefully the weather will stay nice but if not we are prepared for the worst. After our wall building session we did some more training for the upper mountain. The guides set up a fixed-line obstacle course that everyone marched around in like a group of trained gorillas. Tomorrow we hope to carry to the top of the fixed lines, but as always, we will see what Mother Nature brings. RMI Guide Tyler Jones

Saturday, June 6th 10:18 p.m. PT On the Road again! Yes, today we got to move up into the Genet Basin! We are currently snuggled up in our sleeping bags at McKinley's 14K Camp. Everyone did an excellent job today and climbed quite strong. We had a leisurely departure from 11K waiting for the perfect time of day. There was a lot of traffic on the route due to lots of teams sitting out this storm at 11K. However, with our strong group Tyler was able to giraffe neck around to see what was ahead and plan some strategic breaks in order to avoid the congestion. We arrived at camp around 4:15pm and everyone was quite efficient setting up camp. After a hard days work, everyone enjoyed many spatulas of Annie's Mac and cheese with crispy bacon. We are happy to have made the move and will check in again tomorrow! RMI Guides Tyler Jones, Lindsay Mann and Chase Nelson

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June 5, 2015 3:00pm PST Snowpocolypse... Yep, it's still snowing here at 11k camp and the holding pattern...continues. It's deep and fluffy around here! We had to get our periscopes out this morning to escape the tent. The day has been spent waddling like platypuses from our tents to the posh to the bathroom. The team has also spent our time maintaining our camp, shoveling freshly drifted snow, building and rebuilding walls around our tents. Despite the snowpocolypse, spirits have been kept high with card games, jokes, rapping and stories. RMI Guide Tyler Jones & Team

June 4, 2015 3:04pm PST Sitting in a storm at 11 Living in a snow heaven Building walls and eating snacks Preparing for the next snowy attack Spirits are highway we wait for blue sky Tentalanches occur in the night But tucked away in our tent, we have no fright. We gather in the posh for cards and meals. As we listen to the wind squeal. Hopefully tomorrow will bring less snow, But we will keep you posted as to how it all goes. RMI Guide Tyler Jones & Team

June 3, 2015 - 3:48 pm PT Pitter, patter, pitter, patter! Snow day at 11,200'. Well, as we mentioned the snow started last night and throughout today we have received more that a foot of light dry fairy dust. This a has been the first session of shoveling out the tent every other hour and almost surely not the last. With a day to sleep in and recover and hide from the pesky weather. This morning we had some excellent grilled breakfast burritos packed with cheese, eggs, salsa, and of course bacon. This afternoon will work on some more skills will need higher on the mountain and spend some time building our walls higher as the storm continues to swirl. With fingers crossed will try to move our bright orange homes up to 14 camp as soon as we get a break in the weather. RMI Guide Tyler Jones

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June 2, 2015 - 10:40 pm PT (Both updates received) New heights achieved! Today we rose early to no wind and blue skies with a satellite lenticular cloud slowly inching closer, cluing us into the fact that the weather may change in the next few days. We loaded our food, fuel and other equipment making for a smooth and relatively quick trip up to our next camp at 14,000'. We dug a large pit in the snow in the center of the Genet basin and filled it with many of the supplies that we will need for the next stages of the climb. With the weather still holding we passed the infamous Windy Corner in breathless air. The crew flowed down hill flawlessly making a short stop at the rarely visited lunch rock bump view point. Taking in the full panorama of the enormous Father and Son wall, the upper Peters Glacier, NW Buttress and the Washburn Wall! Spectacular! The short nap was well deserved this afternoon and the days timing was impeccable. The snow and a brisk breeze blew in shortly after our arrival. Which was followed by one of the best Ramen meals ever consumed on the slopes of Denali. Now as we crawl into our tents a light snow continues and we wait to see what tomorrow brings. Good evening all. RMI Guide Tyler Jones June 1, 2015 Blog Today was another great weather day! We had bagels salmon and cream cheese. Not bad for mountain food! Yet we decided after four days of hard work we took a real full rest day in order to regain our strength and further our acclimatization. The day progressed with some tent time laying around like mushrooms on a pizza. As the afternoon rolled in we spent time training our walking skills and prepping our kits for carrying our load to 14,000 Camp. We're hoping for good weather tomorrow. Send us good vibes. As the sun crests the horizon to the north in this latitude we stare at purple sky's to the south in the shade of the mountain. RMI Guide Tyler Jones

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Sunday, May 31st 11:45pm PDT Today the weather was wonderful! We woke up with the sun warming the tents. With a leisurely breakfast of pop tarts and grits we then sauntered down to hit our cache at 10,000ft. The groceries now in hand, we walked back up hill on firm snow dawning our crampons which was a pleasant change from waddling like platypus in snowshoes! Do platypus even walk anyway? Back at camp our food bags were calling us as we climbed in our tents to beat the afternoon radiation. We welcomed RMI teams Walter and Van Deventer back to 11 camp fresh from the summit yesterday. Great work teams! After giving high-fives to our friends, we worked on fortifying our camp. We built walls, bathrooms and a new cook tent. Camp looks good and we are snug as a bug in a rug here at 11,000ft. RMI Guide Tyler Jones

May 31, 2015 - 2:39 am PT Good evening from 11,000 feet! We woke this morning to more sunny skies and warm temperatures. After a casual start to the day and a nice breakfast, we ducked into the tents for a couple hours to get out of the heat. By late afternoon things cooled for more comfortable hiking conditions, so we broke down camp and got on the move! Even though it's been just a few days on the glacier, the team has adjusted well to mountain life and is traveling efficiently. So after a few hours of moving we arrived at camp, quickly put up our tents, and enjoyed a late dinner. Now we're all settled in for the night and it's time to get some sleep! RMI Guide Tyler Jones

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Saturday, May 30th 2:45 am PDT Hello all! We have our gear and groceries moved up to 10,000 feet. Life is good out on the glacier for our team. Today the high pressure over the area made for very hot conditions in the low altitudes so we delayed our departure until the heat subsided late this afternoon. We are doing our best to save energy and avoid getting cooked like lobsters from the sun. Our plan worked great and after a number of hours working our way to the cache site, we quickly dug a large hole to store our gear until after we move the camp up to 11,000 feet. On our descent we enjoyed fabulous evening light while carrying our sled like a turtle shell strapped on our backs. Hot soup and a meal warmed our souls as we settle in for the night. Tomorrow evening if the hot and blue-bird weather continues, we will try to move up to our second camp and gain some acclimatization over the next few days. Stay tuned and we'll have a report when more progress has been made! RMI Guide Tyler Jones

On The Map