Entries By ben thorneycroft

After several days of poor weather and high winds, the Four Day Climb June 27 -30 led by RMI Guides Seth Burns, Ben Thorneycroft and Tom Skoog reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today.  They reported a beautiful day on the mountain with the cloud deck below them around 7,500'.  The teams were walking into the crater shortly after 7 am.  Once they spend a little time there, they will begin their descent to Camp Muir and then continue down to Paradise later today.

Congratulations to today's climbers!

The Four Day Climb June 22 - 25 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today led by RMI Guide Ben Ammon. The climbers reached the crater rim around 6:15 am this morning and enjoyed a bit of time in the crater before starting their descent.  The team will take a short break at Camp Muir before continuing down to Paradise.

Congratulations to today's climbers!

RMI Guide Jess Wedel led the four day climb to the summit of Mt Rainier this morning around 7:30am. They reported some notable winds, but otherwise a beautiful morning on the summit. They are on their descent back to Camp Muir and will be back in Ashford this afternoon. 

Great work team!

The Expedition Skills Seminar - Emmons, June 13–18, led by RMI Guide George Hedreen, had planned to make their summit attempt from Camp Schurman last night. However, high winds prevented the team from proceeding as scheduled. The group remained at Camp Schurman as the forecasted winds did indeed materialize.

Today, the team may spend additional time training on the mountain before spending one more night in camp. They will begin their descent to the trailhead tomorrow and are expected to return to Ashford tomorrow afternoon.

We look forward to welcoming them back and hearing about their experience on the mountain.

Saturday, June 6th

Burns & team make it back to Talkeetna.

Congratulations everyone!

Friday, June 5th - 11:30PM PST

Sleep at 17 camp is never glorious nor sound. We woke up our tired and stiff bodies feeling better the more we moved. The sun was hot on the tent, and encouraged us slowly out of our sleeping bags. Once again, the day was splitter, and we broke down camp excited to climb down the buttress.

Spectacular climbing led to one more trip down the fixed lines and back to 14 camp. We made a quick stop at 14, digging up our cache and saying hi to friends. We rigged up the sleds and wrangled them down to 11 camp where we now enjoy dehydrated meals to a short nights sleep.
 

Thursday, June 4, 2026 5:53pm PDT

Summited at 4:20 with 100% . Headed down now.

Thursday June 4, 2026 10:12pm PDT

Everyone is back at 17 Camp. 

Thursday June 5, 2026 12:24am PDT

We will start with the great news, our entire team went to the top of Denali today! We reached the point where we could go no further at approx. 4:30 pm.

Our day started on the colder side with clear skies and a mild but biting wind. We left 17 camp and began our We broke out into the warming sun at Denali pass and continued steadily up, enjoying decreasing winds and sunshine, climb across the autobahn.

By the time we had reached the Football Field, a broad basin below the final climb to the summit, we were down to only one or two layers. With the summit ridge in sight, we climbed up Pig Hill to Kahiltna Horn, breaking 20,000'. Here we were quickly reminded of our location as freezing winds had us scrambling for more clothes.

The final push to the true summit went slowly but smoothly as we topped out on the highest point in North America. Strong and cold winds made our stay on top short, but lifelong goals and aspirations were fulfilled in those fleeting moments.

We are all now back down to 17,000' camp and tucked into our sleeping bags. Our descent continues tomorrow!

Cheers - RMI Guide Seth Burns & Team

Wednesday, June 3, 2026 - 9:40 pm PT

We woke to cold temps around 20 below zero and did our best to stay warm as we emptied our tents, broke them down, and cached anything we wouldn't need for the next few days up high. Over half the route was already familiar as we did our acclimation day two days prior to 16.2k at the top of the fixed lines. Today, we needed to not only get there but an additional 1000 feet of gain while traversing the West Buttress, for which our approach is named.
 
The chilly morning very quickly turned hot as the sun crested the edge of where we set our sights, camp at 17.2k elevation. By the first break we had shed at least a layer and by the second, most of us were in our base layer sun-hoodies for the rest of the hike. We have not seen a clearer day so far on the trip and the bluebird skies made for epic photo ops of not only the Kahiltna Glacier from which we started but the entire valley - about 270 degrees of snowy mountains, rivers, and the snowless flatlands beyond. Once we reached the Buttress we could peer down at the 2000+ foot drop at 14 camp where we had slept the night before.
 
We navigated the fixed lines using our ascenders, sliding up an anchored rope while allowing us to easily not slip back down very steep slopes. We clipped in and out of anchored pickets with caribeners across the snow and the sometimes rocky Buttress spine. We used a mixture of steps - the crossover and duck step to carefully drive our crampons into hard snow and blue ice while balancing with our ice axes. All in all, we did everything needed to safely arrive at our destination.

After chiseling very hard snow and ice to make flat platforms, we pitched tents and settled in to rest our legs, get hydrated, and refuel. The weather tomorrow is forecast to be clear as well with some possibility of moderate winds. If we wake up and the mountain isn't blowing snow we will most likely go, if it's too windy we will rest and go Friday. All of our team is still relatively healthy and in good spirits. We are all super stoked for the great weather forecast and the hard work we have put in to get to this point. Tonight, we settle into freeze dried meals and watch the midnight sun drift across the horizon. Tomorrow, we all hope to summit this great and beautiful mountain.

RMI Climber Treavor 

Tuesday, June 2, 2026 - 7:24 pm PM

Today we rested! Tomorrow we climb!

Send us well wishes and good vibes!

Stoke is high!

RMI Guide Seth Burns

Monday, June 1st - 11PM PST

Good fortune rewards the bold.

We woke craving the sun. Shivering, yet still smiling, our breakfast of grits and pop tarts fueled our warm laughs and usual morning camaraderie. When finished, we all knew what we needed to do. Today was our acclimatization climb. Now strong worriers against our ever present enemy, the cold, we roped up and left camp just as the rest of the 14k village began to rise. We had the buttress to ourselves and our temperatures rose back to normal, the unimaginable views ripened as we climbed higher into the thin air. For much of our crew, every step up was a new personal record in either elevation or latitude north. The awe of where we are and what we are doing had started to truly sink in. The once daunting fixed lines were a breeze for our well prepared and efficient team. With ease we reached the saddle. Just over 16,000 feet, the deep breaths were welcome. The thin air seemed to render nothing but gratitude. Appreciation for the raw beauty that surrounds us. Happiness for this experience we get to share together. Gratitude for each others efforts and pride in being part of this team. With the same efficiency we made it back to camp with enough afternoon to relax and watch the swarms of climbers conga line up and down the fixed lines. We reflected on the simplicity of life up here, the simple joys and the few frustrations and just how lucky we are to be here. But maybe what we’ve been calling luck, the luck of our awesome teammates, luck of the weather, the luck of feeling good and our strength, the luck seeing the surrounding, jaw-dropping views, is actually the reward for our valiant efforts. Burns and team knows they’ve earned a rest day.