Entries By bryan mazaika

RMI Guide Bryan Mazaika led his Five Day Summit Climb June 30 - 4 July to the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning.  Bryan reported light winds and partly sunny skies as the team was on the summit.  They were able to enjoy some time in the crater rim before beginning their descent to Camp Muir.  After a stop at Muir to repack the team will continue down to Paradise.  We look forward to seeing them at Rainier BaseCamp later today.

Congratulations to the Five Day Summit Climb team!

RMI Guides Tyler Jones, Bryan Mazaika and Nick Scott, along with their expedition team flew off of Denali on June 20th.  They will be headed home from Anchorage in the next couple of days.

Wednesday, June 20, 2018 - 3:09 AM PT

Today we woke to more winter with the wind blowing in our faces as we crawled from our tents. We did an Alaska leisure start. This is when you wake up and wish the weather was better but… will pack slowly. So we crept through the white, snow blowing all around us, and trail blazed through the deep snow. After many hours we arrived in Base Camp in dashing style. The evening was caped with more quesadillas than we could eat and a celebratory beverage. As we nestle in our sleeping bags for what we hope is the last night, we dream of burgers and beverages on the other side….. it’s snowing now, of course. Don’t fret we have had a blast on this adventure though we are bitter with the weather. We will out chill Denali. You can count on it.

RMI Guides Tyler Jones, Bryan Mazaika and Nick Scott

On The Map

Monday, June 18, 2018 - 9:50 PM PT

Hi all -
We spent a very blustery and snowy day at 11,000 ft Camp. We had wind gusts in the upper forty’s and nearly two feet of snow on top of the more than three feet we walked through yesterday. The team spent most of the day hiding from Denali’s cold breath of winter. We’re hanging in there and crossing our fingers for a break to go to the airstrip.

RMI Guide Tyler Jones and Team

Monday, June 18, 2018 - 2:15 AM PT

To all of our fans out there, we know you’ve enjoyed our stories, raps and poems for our blog to fulfill our energy during our long stay at 14,000’ Camp on Denali. This evening however, was the beginning of our retreat down the mountain and eventually back to the airstrip as the weather allows. Today, we had a lull in the never ending storm and the team seized the opportunity to make the descent back to 11,000’ Camp. This “lull” certainly wasn’t an easy escape but the conditions were the best we’ve had in days and better than what’s forecast for the next week. We quickly broke down camp and were walking just before 8pm. Walking into the white and knee deep post holing kept the pace down but the team was managing it well. Squirrel Hill was wind scoured and Motorcycle Hill into 11,000’ Camp provided some more deep post holing. Thankfully, the wind was calm at camp and with some help from some other guides we know, that have also been stuck in this storm, we managed to set up tents quickly and crawled into our sleeping bags by midnight. Way to go team! The next few days still call for some snowy and windy weather so we might not move too quickly but we’ll take every window of opportunity!

Happy Father’s Day!

RMI Guide Tyler Jones

Saturday, June 16, 2018 - 6:02 PM PT

Strolling up Denali taking a hike
Day 18 brings a cyclone I don’t like
Boys in the posh shoveling that snow
Waiting for the weather window so we can up and go.

You got DK white chocolate
Dropping a sick beat waiting
Patiently for his peanut butter treat
Who needs any meat
At 17,000 feet.
All I want are my peanut butter
Cups.
Peanut butter cups.
Your dark ridges so heavenly on my lips,
Forever on my hips,
Your sweet and salty, hardly ever
Malty,
When these mountain days look all
Faulty,
All you need are those glorious
Peanut butt-er cuuups,
To keep on the up and ups.

To be continued…

RMI Guide Tyler Jones & Team

On The Map

Friday, June 15, 2018 - 6:34 PM PT

A poem written by the team:

Today we had a foot race,
We all died trying to keep pace,
Another weather day spent playing spades
Up at 14 foiled by these Pineapple Express charades
The snow is getting deep and the wind getting strong
We’re standing in the posh but not for very long.
My feet are so cold from standing on the ice,
Don’t fret for we’ll be crushing more rice.
These foreseeable high winds are full,
While our gastrointestinals are quite dull.
Even still Spirits were high
until news of a pig came before the nigh.

RMI Guide Tyler Jones & Team

On The Map

Thursday, June 14th - 4:36 pm PT

We aren’t getting restless yet! We had a beautiful but gusty morning at camp that allowed us to improve our storm walls and batten down the hatches. The summit has been displaying quite the cap over it with long tails indicating the strong winds up high on top of the frigid temperatures. The forecast has finally confirmed that beginning tomorrow and through the weekend will bring heavy snow. We are going to catch the tail of a tropical surge coming off the Pacific, some words to describe it have been a cyclone or Pineapple Express. We will keep you updated on the snowfall amounts! Yesterday, we had a greeting party to welcome Mike King’s team at 14 Camp. We are glad to have some additional company as we wait out this storm. Thanks for the blog comments from our family and friends, keep them coming!

RMI Guide Tyler Jones

Wednesday, June 13, 2018 - 9:27 PM PT

Today we had another great breakfast. Then the crew geared up for a climb up towards the fixed ropes. We have had more than our share of good rest in the past few days. We needed to move some blood and keep our fitness we have gained on this trip. From the forecast we are seeing it looks like we could have a few more days of poor weather.  We hope to take another climb for fitness tomorrow and be ready for a break in the weather.  Fingers crossed!

RMI Guide Tyler Jones

On The Map

Tuesday, June 12, 2018 - 9:56 PM PT

Today was another windy and snowy day here at 14,000’ Camp. After a late breakfast, despite the snow, the team worked together to make an igloo to improve the comfort of the bathroom experience given the current conditions. It’s little projects like these around camp that help down days go by. After a few hours of resting back in our tents the sun made an evening appearance that allowed us to stretch our legs around camp and clear out some of the snow again. The skiers on the mountain have been taking advantage of the evening clearings by enjoying the powder turns to be had just above camp. We’ve enjoyed standing out in the sun watching them ski back to camp. Unfortunately, the outlook for the forecast took a big swing this morning and instead of high pressure settling in for the weekend it now appears we are expecting a major snowstorm and continued high winds through Saturday to stall our summit bid. The team is staying optimistic however, given we may be at 14 camp for a few more days. Tomorrow’s another day and a forecast is only a forecast!

RMI Guide Tyler Jones and Team

On The Map