Entries By brent okita
What does normal feel like at 14,200'? Certainly not what it feels like at home. At least not at first. The headaches and weariness that some felt last night evaporated by morning and it was nice to see smiles on everyone's faces at breakfast. Yet still, we are not fully adjusted to the elevation. This becomes obvious when some normally easy things like shoveling snow or even walking to the 'bathroom' cause our respirations and pulse to surge a bit. But, it's getting better.
Today we retrieved our cache from 13,500' and did some training in preparation for the most challenging climbing yet. Becoming comfortable with the mechanical ascenders that we will use for protection while ascending the steeps of the fixed ropes leading to the
West Buttress is critical for our safe and efficient ascent. Next, being proficient in dealing with running belays used for protection on our climb up the exposed and most beautiful ridge of the Buttress is essential. And I'm happy to say that everyone is well prepared for tomorrows climbing.
Good news from our friends, RMI 2, led by Billy Nugent, who are now at 17,200' camp, is that there are plenty of supplies at camp there, so our packs will be fairly light on our first foray up to 16,000' or 17,000'.
Our climbing tomorrow serves two purposes. We do need to get food and fuel up to our next camp. But more importantly, tomorrow will serve to heighten our acclimatization greatly, allowing our bodies to feel even more normal up here. And the more 'normal' we start feeling here at 14,200', the more prepared we will be for our eventual move to high camp at 17,200'.
But that's jumping ahead a little. For now we'll just concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other for a few hours and see if we can't get a cache in somewhere above us.
Goodnight from 14,200' camp where our expected low temp tonight will hover around 0 degrees.
RMI Guides Brent Okita, Leon Davis, and Lindsay Mann
On The Map
We awoke this morning early again, trying to take advantage of another windless day. With blue skies overhead we were optimistic of our chances of getting to camp at 14,100'
The crew had breakfast and struck camp as quickly and well as I've seen. Obviously they were some pretty motivated climbers.
A slight breeze kept us wrapped up in most of our layers, and we even put on face protection climbing through Windy Corner. But the team climbed even better today than yesterday. However, leaving our high point of yesterday and ascending the final 700' to camp reminded us all of the big jump in elevation we were making. Although everyone climbed really well, even the strongest of the team struggled a bit with the last bit of elevation gain.
But all this is expected and a normal part of the acclimatization process. An easy day tomorrow will find the team feeling better as our bodies adjust to the altitude. We're looking forward to it.
Getting into camp early today allowed us to establish a nice camp, dry out sleeping bags packed in haste this morning, and settle in to our new home before the sun disappeared behind the ridge. Our bags will be especially welcome tonight.
Talk with you again tomorrow.
RMI Guide
Brent,
Leon and
Lindsay
On The Map
Awakening early this morning we were surprised at just how warm and windless it was. At first our views were obscured by thick clouds, but moments later we could recognize the faint outlines of the ridges above us and realized that in fact we were at the top edge of a thick cloud bank enveloping the
Kahiltna below us.
Everyone was excited, and perhaps just a bit anxious about the climbing ahead. After all, we were to face our steepest terrain yet.
Now, in our tent after a wonderful meal of pasta followed by blueberry cheese cake, all I can say is how proud I am of how this team climbed today! Everyone handled the loads and the climbing really well. About as well as I've seen. This sure bodes well for later.
We really appreciated the early start being over an hour ahead of any other team. It felt like we had the mountain to ourselves, and we did. That is, until we descended and saw the throngs of humanity ascending the slopes we had passed long before. At dinner many in the group reflected on what they saw and asked, "Did we look like that?" referring to the hunched over postures of people battling altitude, steep terrain and a notable lack of technique and training. We were delighted to say, "no, you guys are climbers!"
RMI Guides
Brent Okita,
Leon Davis &
Lindsay Mann
On The Map
With packs lightened down after leaving a cache at 9500', the team made easy work on the climb to
11,200' camp today. Our three and a half hour jaunt was made all the nicer by bluebird skies and sunny warm temperatures. To top things off we moved into a nice campsite that required minimal work. Although its snowing lightly again, we are looking forward to another easier day tomorrow, where we will retrieve our cache from 9500'.
That's all from 11,200 feet.
RMI Guides
Lindsay Mann,
Leon Davis and
Brent Okita
On The Map
Today marked our last day pulling full loads, and I think we're all pretty psyched about that! Our five hour climb began after waking up to three inches of snow and white-out conditions. But such conditions are certainly not unusual on the Kahiltna, and so after a hearty breakfast of fried bagels, cream cheese and bacon we tackled Ski Hill.
Pulling huge sleds and shouldering monstrous packs is a given when climbing
Denali, but is no small measure of character and sheer physical tenacity of the climber who accepts that challenge. And it is by meeting that challenge today that this team has really demonstrated a strength of will that will serve them well on this trip.
Tomorrow begins the time in the trip when we start splitting up our loads and ferrying them up the mountain in stages. We're looking forward to this, but I know that these first two days have only made us stronger, and in the end, better prepared for the demands that lie ahead. We'll move camp up to 11,200' camp tomorrow and finally enjoy setting up a camp where we'll be for at least three days. I think the crew is going to welcome finally being able to build a 'proper' mountain home, replete with protective walls around the tents and enclosed commodes. What an energetic and motivated team. I'm a lucky guide.
RMI Guide Brent Okita
On The Map
What a day! Right from the start everything fell in place perfectly. Our last breakfast at the Roadhouse was savored before we made our way to our air service, K2 Aviation, who were great about getting us off the Tarmac ahead of schedule. This set us up to walk out of
Basecamp at a reasonable hour, which allowed us to reach camp at 7,800' by 5:30.
But the real highlight of the day was just how well everyone climbed and dealt with what is usually a pretty tough day. I'm impressed. I must say, though, that the weather cooperated today too. Warm temperatures, blue skies and calm winds might have had us perspiring just a tad, but I didn't hear much complaining about it. Although some evening clouds formed while we were having dinner, I think we might have a good day tomorrow as we make our way up Ski Hill to 9,500' camp.
Talk with you then.
RMI Guide Brent Okita
On The Map
What a day!
A team meeting over breakfast followed by our
park service orientation was just the beginning. The real work started at the hanger of our flight service, K2 Aviation. It was here that the tedium of going thru our gear, both personal and group stuff will pay off hugely when we get to the mountain and are stuck with the equipment we've chosen. REI has yet to set up shop on the Kahiltna Glacier.
As we wind down the day a great meal sits in our bellies and we look forward to a final night luxuriating in a real bed where a hot shower and toilet lie but a few carpeted paces away. Tomorrow will be different!
With luck we'll be flying onto the glacier at 9:00am to start our trip... One that we have all been working so hard and dreaming about for so long. And we start it as a group of individuals already well on our way to being a team of climbers and, more importantly, friends.
I know that we're all excited to get under way. I know too that I'm excited to climb with this very impressive group.
Well, all for now from the cozy little town of Talkeetna.
RMI Guide Brent Okita
On The Map
Despite stormy conditions, a small
summit climb team reached the summit today led by
Brent Okita. The team did not linger on the summit before beginning their descent at 8:00 a.m. The climbs are back to Paradise and are currently on their way to Rainier Basecamp in Ashford.
Congratulations!
SUMMIT!
Our first Five Day Summit Climb of the 2012 Season reached the top of Mt. Rainier this morning. RMI Guides Brent Okita and Casey Grom and their teams reported clear skies and moderate winds. They began their descent at 7:30 a.m. and are en route to Camp Muir.
Congratulations to today's team.
We had some high winds during the night. At dawn the winds deteriorated and we barely had any wind today. Great morning of
training with self- and team- ice axe arrest and cramponing. With our crampons on, we roped up and went to the nearby glacier to train. Our tentative plan is to do crevasse rescue training tomorrow. The forecast is for more high winds coming in tomorrow. The winds are supposed to decrease tomorrow night, which looks like the best summit bid window. We’ll have an exploratory team go up later today or tomorrow to check out route conditions.
RMI Guide Brent Okita
Good Luck boys!!! So wish I was there physically as its warmer with 3 in a tent but I am there in spirit!!
Posted by: Shoshana on 6/14/2012 at 6:49 pm
I’m so proud of you mom. Keep eating those sourpatch kids!
P.S I’m in computer class right now and Evelyn says hi!
Posted by: Sheena on 6/1/2012 at 11:39 am
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