Entries By daniel may

Wednesday, June 3, 2026 - 11:38 pm

Today was another beautiful day in Talkeetna. We felt the buzz of excitement and anticipation as we spent the whole day packing, weighing, and organizing all our gear to prepare for an early flight onto the south east fork of the Kahiltna glacier!

RMI Guide Dan May

Tuesday, June 2, 2026 - 10:27 pm PT

The team met up today in Anchorage in glorious spring weather. We made the drive to Talkeetna with views of Denali, Foraker, and Hunter lurking in the foreground. Upon arrival we quickly dropped our gear off at the K2 hangar and met up for a nice meal and some desserts, get the calories in while we can! The team walked down to the Talkeetna river to watch the fast-moving waters while staring up with clear skies at the immense Alaska range. Early to bed tonight to prep for a long day of packing and organizing before waiting our turn to fly onto the glacier and begin our climb. Stay tuned.

RMI Guides Dan May, Drew O'Brien, Mac Nolde 

The Four Day Climb, led by RMI guide Dan May, reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. Dan and his team reported a great route, cool temperatures, and some cloud cover. The team is now descending and en route to Camp Muir.

Congratulations, team!

Our McKinley Prep Course wrapped up a highly successful few days of training in the Edith Creek Basin. The team practiced sled pulling, camp craft, crevasse rescue, and a range of essential alpine skills they’ll rely on this upcoming season during their climb of the West Buttress of Mount McKinley.

A big thanks to experienced lead guides Mike King and Dan May for sharing their knowledge and helping the team sharpen their skills. With a mix of sunny skies and periods of low visibility, conditions provided a realistic preview of what life can be like on the slopes of McKinley—making the training both challenging and invaluable.

The Four Day Climbs led by RMI Guides Seth Burns and Joe Hoch walked into the summit crater of Mt. Rainier this morning around 6:45 am. The teams enjoyed calm and warm weather on the summit. They are currently on their descent and will return to Ashford later this afternoon.

Congratulations climbers!

Monday, May 12, 2025 - 9:58 pm PT

We ended the trip exactly like we wanted. Bathed in sunshine. Even though the trip started with some stormy weather and wet days it ended with perfect blue skies. Our final two days were spent exploring crevasses, ice climbing and continuing into the various corners of the Ruth Gorge. Our last day was spent packing up camp in the brisk early morning cold and beginning the trek back to the Ruth Gorge Ampitheater where the Sheldon Chalet oversees the landscape. With the warming of the day and the buzzing of airplanes overhead it wasn't long until we were back to our plane slightly sweaty and sunburnt. The ride that ensued after was probably the most beautiful flight I've seen flying out of the Alaska range. We punctuated the trip with food and drinks in sunny Talkeetna!

Until next time,

RMI Guides Dan May, Joey Manship and the Ruth Glacier Seminar team 

Explored the crevasses and hidden corners of the Ruth Gorge under a flawless blue sky—no clouds, just pure Alaskan magic. Spent the day weaving through ice and granite, soaking it all in. Came back tired, happy, and hungry. Wrapped it up with a late dinner and the kind of sleep that only comes after a hard day in the mountains.

RMI Guide Dan May & Team

Today we waited out the snow by having our own avalanche course right here on the Ruth glacier. Skies cleared to a beautiful evening during dinner. The team is excited to go explore some new terrain tomorrow under blue skies!

RMI Guide Dan May & Team

Wednesday, May 7, 2025

We made use of being in the full white out of a snow globe to continue our skills practice at camp and have a few nice big meals in between. The sound of crashing avalanches and falling ice seracs filled the air all day, an eery feeling not being able to see them yet hear them.

Camped in the middle of the glacier has put us at a safe distance from any overhead hazard as we continue to fortify camp amongst all this new snow!

RMI Guide Dan May

Tuesday, May 6, 2025 

We woke up to a surprising blue bird day. The frosty tents and cold night told us the skies were clear. Taking advantage of the good weather we hiked along the relatively flat Ruth Glacier heading deeper into the gorge eyeing new terrain along the way. We caught a glimpse of the east face of Mount Dickey, basically two El Capitans  stacked on top of each other and riddled with snow and ice. After a whole day of exploring we made it back to camp just in time for a dinner of some tasty burgers. The team has decided that to counter the incoming bad weather we keep hearing about, they will work on digging underground tunnels from their tents to our cook tent using only sporks. Results to come in future posts.

RMI Guide Dan May & the Ruth Glacier Team