Entries By ben luedtke

The Five Day Climb July 26 - 30 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today!  Led by RMI Guides Dominic Cifelli and Ben Luedtke, the team reached the crater under blue skies and excellent conditions.  They enjoyed some time in the crater before starting their descent.  The teams will return to Camp Muir for a well-deserved night's rest before contining the remaining 4.5 miles to Paradise tomorrow.

Congratulations to today's climbers!

PC: Ben Luedtke

Wednesday, July 23, 2025

Move to high camp

Today, we moved camp from White Pass up to a beautiful spot amongst alpine lakes in Foam Basin right next to the White Chuck glacier. Getting up early, we said good morning to our fellow marmot friends, took in our first official view of Glacier peak, and set up high camp while enjoying lunch. After a short nap, we refreshed our glacier climbing skills, ate some tasty freeze dried meals, and called it an early night. Tomorrow is summit day. We will wake shortly after the sun disappears, but we are filled with excitement and we look forward to all the challenges tomorrow has to bring. Wish us luck!

RMI Guide Ben Luedtke and Team

Thursday, July 24, 2025

The Glacier Peak Team led by RMI Guide Ben Luedtke reached the summit this morning a little after 8:00 am! With what little reception they had, the guides were able to call the RMI office from the summit and share the fantastic news that the entire team had made it to the top. They are now back at camp celebrating their accomplishment, they will spend one more night on the mountain getting some well-deserved rest before they descend back to the trailhead for the conclusion of their trip tomorrow morning.

Friday July 25, 2025

Summit day and walk out

Mountaineering is more than just a sport, a hobby, a vacation, or a summit. Mountaineering is about friendship, comraderie, beautiful views, unforgettable adventures, new experiences, and so much more. Yesterday, and for the entirety of this trip, we accomplished all of that which mountaineering offers. We encouraged each other with heavy packs, pushed one another with words of affirmation, and bonded over the stories of who we are. (And dad jokes). In the end, we summited Glacier Peak, together, as a team on Thursday, July 24, 2025. Some of us walk away with the success of another mountain complete, some of us with the completion of all 5 volcanoes, and some of us completing just 1 of many more objectives yet to come, but we all walk away with the memory of the people we shared it with, the laughs we had, the pains we felt, and the smile of what it truly means to be a mountaineer. Today, we walked out from high camp. Enjoying many a wild berry along the way, we are now basking in the sun that we are glad wasn't there on the twenty some odd switchbacks coming down. Cheers to all for tuning in. 

RMI Guides and Team

Monday, July 21, 2025

Hiya everybody!

Welcome to Glacier Peak, follow along at your own risk. Today was day 1, but we kept it simple. The day consisted of wrapping up our travel, arriving in the small town of Darrington, WA and completing our gear check and orientation for the beginning of our grand adventure. For some of us, this will just be the next major volcano in WA, and for others, this will be our 5th and final WA volcano! Woot woot! Tonight, we pack, unpack, and pack again making sure we have all the essentials. Tomorrow, we start our hike to Camp 1 at White Pass. Hold on to your seats as we venture into the deep wilderness of WA to attempt our hand at one of the coolest volcanoes around. 

RMI Guide Ben Luedtke and Team

Tuesday July 22, 2025

Camp at White Pass

Our first day on the trail and we hit the ground running. Just kidding; we walked delicately through beautiful, lush forest, over rough, rugged terrain, and pranced among the wildflowers. It's all true, but today was a hot, long, and difficult journey to reach camp at white pass. Donned with heavy packs and all the snacks, we enjoyed a less dusty trail than usual thanks to the peaceful rain from last night. After our long day of friendly conversation, Marmot sightings, the fresh smells of mountain air, and beautiful views of the surrounding area, we enjoyed our first camp dinner huddled around our stoves and were very happy that we packed our head nets for the bugs. As we crawl into our sleeping bags for some well-earned rest, we can't help but glimmer with excitement for what comes next. Tomorrow, we head for high camp and training for the big summit day. Stay tuned in case the marmots attack...or become our cuddle buddies in the night... they're hard to read.

RMI Guide Ben Luedtke and Team 

At 7:02 AM, the Four Day Climb led by RMI Guides guides Brent Okita and Ben Luedtke reached the summit of Mt. Rainier!  

Brent reported clear skies, a light breeze, and warm temperatures—a perfect morning to walk the crater rim and take in the breathtaking views from 14,410 feet.  

Huge congratulations to the climbers and guides for a safe and successful ascent!  

Tuesday, July 1, 2025 - 2:53 am PT

We are back on flat ground.  After descending 10,000 feet in just over 19 hours, with 2 hours of “sleep” in the middle, we arrived at basecamp at 8:30 am, and our hearts leapt to see the red K2 planes bank sharply left and land at the lower landing field about 9 am. Seemingly landing on the lower landing area never occurs this late on the season (it’s good to know Dom is wrong sometimes, and that damned 20” of snow brought us some good luck).

As we descended through the snow and the rain, I thought how little we knew about what we were undertaking, as we begun our journey just 20 days ago.  Did we understand the physical challenge, the might of this great mountain, the real beauty of the Alaska range and the wild vistas and beauty we were about to experience, the hardships, the dangers, the nerve tingling emotion and anxiety of traversing the West Buttress?   Did we know our true physical and mental strength, whilst knowing how effectively useless and powerless we were on this extreme place?  Did we know that none of what we achieved could have been achieved without our three amazing guides - Dominic, Ben and Mike?  They are the true heroes of this journey. 

They have received passing words of praise from my team mates in the recent blogs. However, no words can describe their role, their effort, their workload, their expertise.  

If we carried 70 lbs in our backpacks, they carried over 100. If we pulled 50 lbs in our sleds, they pulled 100.  When we bolted to our tents after caching gear at a higher altitude, they went immediately and prep’d dinner and hot water. They prep’d, served, clean up after every breakfast and dinner. Bagels and bacon, bagels and smoked salmon, burritos, quesadillas, cheesecake, tortellini and chicken (and Aardvark!), ramen, and never to forget Mac’n’cheese with bacon bits - I never knew how many dishes could have bacon bits- OR CINNAMON!!

They dealt with faulty gear, our mental and physical challenges - “Ben, I have a blister” which would be followed with Ben applying a gel pack to my pinky toe.  “Mike what layers should we wear on this next leg?”  They were positive and honest at all times, cheerleaders and coaches, story tellers, fun facters, and quiz masters.  Without them the last three weeks could not have happened.  I think it is fair to give special mention to Dominic. He gets to make the big calls, to say when to move, when to stay, and finally when not to proceed on safety grounds.  I have met and observed many leaders, -the good, the bad, and the ugly -, in my career. I can say without hesitation that Dominic’s leadership skills rank with the best I have seen.  

We are honored and fortunate to have spent the past 3 weeks with Dominic, Ben and Mike.  They make dreams come true. 

RMI Climber Myles O'Neill

Sunday, June 29, 2025 - 12:24 am PT

1 step, 1 breathe. 2 steps, 2 breaths. On and on, the rhythm continues as we leave 14,200 feet, move up the fixed lines, around Washburn's thumb, over the exposed yet beautiful West Buttress, and crest the hill to grandma's. Kidding about that last part, but we did finally arrive at 17,200 feet. Again, the tabloids misconstrue, do not listen to them, listen to us! :) it has been a long wait at Camp 3, but a huge shoutout to our entire team for sticking it out; Together! Its hard to wait for the right window while hanging with a bunch of strangers, but this Brady's bunch ain't no strangers no more. So, we're not done just yet. Tomorrow will test the reason we came here in the first place. Making it to the top of North America has already proven itself difficult. We're either gonna bring it home hot or bring it home cold. It's up to us. Cheers to everyone back home following along, we miss you, we're close, wish us luck, and we'll see you soon.

RMI Guide Ben Luedtke & Team 

Friday, June 27, 2025 8:21pm PDT
 

Blog Denali – Day 19

Bonjour à tous!

Today marks day 19 since we all met in Anchorage, and day 17 on the mountain. Since the first week went so well, many of us believed we’d be off this frozen rock after 15 days... However, Mother Nature had different plans for us. I now understand why Denali has such a tough reputation: the freaking weather!

Today is our 10th day at 14k camp, and the 6th day of weather delay. We’ve endured two snowstorms, and the last one—lasting almost 36 hours—brought 40 cm of fresh snow. Although the weather is finally on our side today, we still can’t move due to avalanche hazards.

Over the past week, no one has summited, and the few teams that made it to high camp were stuck in even worse conditions than we’ve experienced. I’m grateful to our responsible and professional guides for making the decision to stay put.

On a more personal note, this has been one of the hardest weeks of my amateur climbing career. I’ve never waited this long in full winter camping mode, with almost nothing to do. Mornings are cold, and many toes in the team are freezing. On top of that, I feel weaker every day at this altitude. I’ve lost weight and am probably missing plenty of essential nutrients like vitamins and soluble fiber. (Also, the fact that I ran out of food and entertainment played a big role—LOL.)

On the bright side, my amazing team is kindly helping me survive—special thanks to Andrew for the Kindle, Tait for two bags of beef jerky, and Mikaila for letting me use her InReach. I’ve also gained valuable experience for future adventures. I’ve learned about clothing layers (my thin ones suck), baby Nalgene bottles, Leuko tape, pressure breathing, how much toilet paper to bring, glacier travel, gnarly supplements, and more.

Overall, it’s amazing that all 9 team members (and 3 guides) are still here, holding onto hope of reaching the summit. We’re also lucky, in a way, to have a weather window this weekend for a summit attempt. Many teams haven’t even gotten that chance this year.

À ma famille et mes amis, j’ai hâte de vous revoir! J’espère que vous passez un beau mois de juin, plus chaud qu’ici! Même si je manque une partie de l’été montréalais, je profite énormément du plein air, et les paysages glaciaires sont à couper le souffle. J’ai hâte de vous montrer les photos! Évidemment, je suis très stressé pour les deux prochains jours... Envoyez-moi des ondes relaxantes, haha!

Étienne XOX

EAT.

SNOW.

LAY.

Today, is another rest DAY.

But, tomorrow we will PLAY.

RMI Climber Andrew

Wednesday, June 25, 2025 - 8:51 pm PT

It’s been 8 days since my last dispatch. Eight days since those heady times at 11,000' Camp, when our pounds and pounds of food seemed excessive, when trading for extra toilet paper and coffee were moments of mirth; now we covet our remaining pounds of food, and those trades seem like masterstrokes of genius.

Our first week at 14,000' is coming to a close, our team has experienced wind, snow, and searing heat. Being simultaneously as hot and cold as we have ever been in our lives. While the recent weather has not been as amenable to a quick summit as we would have liked, this past week has still been an incredible and hard to describe experience. The views (when they are available) are breathtaking, reminding us of how lucky we are to be here at all, and how thankful we are for our family, friends, and coworkers supporting us back in the real world allowing us to stay focused on our goal.

The team’s morale remains high, supported by our amazing guiding team of Dom, Ben, and Mike, who keep us active, both physically and mentally, every day. Special shoutout to Dominic’s wife for providing the team a rousing trivia night via satellite messaging a few days back.

As we enter our second week at 14,000', the team is a coiled spring, ready to launch as our hopeful weather window approaches, but until then thank you for all the love and support as we wait out the weather (but god save us if the hot sauce runs out).

RMI Climber Tate Bishop 

Tuesday, June 24, 2025 - 9:03 pm PT

Top Ten Things Happening at 14,000' Camp right now:
10. Snow on the inside of the tent and blue skies outside the tent
9. Running out of snacks and entertainment (but we’re good on toilet paper)
8. Secret Aardvark
7. Buzz Lightyear sightings around camp
6. Walking laps and laps on the 14k Main Street
5. Walking out to the Edge of the World, which overlooks the Valley of Death, to take precarious photos*
4. Texas dice and Wizard
3. Welcoming the next RMI team coming up from 11,000' camp
2. New flavors of bowlines—on a bight, snap, etc.
1. SPAM

RMI Climber Nate Brunner
*While roped in