Entries By daniel may

May 17, 2024 9:53PM PT

Well, I can't speak for the rest of my team, but my pictures are definitely not doing this place justice. I keep thinking about my sister, who's a professional photographer. She'd lose her mind over the views. (shameless plug - check her out at Alaska Light Photography). So far, the team has participated in some excellent bonding. We've covered important topics like the merits of various dinner bowls, pros and cons of carrying frozen carrots up 2,000 vertical feet, and what types of rare Pokémon would live up here. (Or is it Pokémen? Pokémon’s? Unknowable at 11,000 feet). Time and distance are different up here.  15 minutes can feel like 2 hours. The vastness of the terrain tricks the eye and a camp "just around the corner" is still an hour away. So, we take one step at a time, one breath at a time, and trust that every step is one step closer to the goal we’ve been working towards for months.
We’ll do it all over again tomorrow.

- Sarah and the Team 

Ever read or watch that movie about the guy that gets stuck on Mars? I thought it would be a good one to reread on Denali. You know crazy location, far away from civilization, intense weather. Somehow, I completely forgot about the bit where he was stuck for over a year. Too stressful to read in the tent, I think I'll switch to something lighter like Stephen Kings IT.

Luckily Denali and Mars can be quite different. Lots of white here on Denali (you'll likely recall that Mars is mostly a red color). We can also breathe the air without a spacesuit! Lucky us. Oh, and the views! I'd like to say that pictures don't do it justice, but they sometimes can capture some of the majesty. What they can't do is give you the awestruck feeling of watching an avalanche off in the distance, or the feeling of seeing the bluest blue coming from the frozen snowy waves of crevasses one hundred feet to either side of the trail. Quite striking.

At breakfast somehow, I'm already looking forward to dinner -- the guides, Dustin, Lacie, and Dan have been crushing breakfast and dinners. They've been crushing at the guiding too. Every suggestion or advice is gold, and we always know the plan for the following day clearly. Over breakfast a day ago I joked that in addition to being amazing guides they are also chefs and therapists. They joke that they are only somewhat adequate in the latter two. We all think they're quite exceptional at both.

Today we hoofed it to about 10k feet, buried some stuff, and made our way back to the base of ski hill. If the weather is good tomorrow, we’ll make an even longer trek out of our current camp. If it's not so good, we'll hang out here. I know which one my feet would prefer.

Да луны и обратна,

RMI Climber Ilya Dvilyanski

Thursday, May 16, 2024 - 12:11 am

We are camped at the base of Ski Hill, planning to carry tomorrow.

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier

Tuesday, May 14, 2024 - 9:44 pm PT

Hello everyone! It's been a hectic couple of days packing and prepping for flying on today. We arrived at Kahiltna Basecamp following a smooth and scenic ride from Talkeetna. The team spent the day acquainting themselves with life on the glacier and enjoying this beautiful place. Tomorrow we plan to head for the base of Ski Hill. Everyone still smells pretty good and we are feeling motivated to start moving.

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier

RMI's May 12th Denali Expedition led by RMI Guides Dustin Wittmier, Dan May and Lacie Smith have spent the last few days traveling to Talkeetna, Alaska, packing gear and weighing all the gear.  They are now at the K2 Aviation hangar and getting ready to fly to the Kahiltna Glacier and get this expedition started.

Good luck team!

The Five Day Climb led by RMI Guides Dominic Cifelli and Daniel May completed their Orientation and Climbing School days and then ascended to Camp Muir on Saturday.  Today they were able to do some training at Camp Muir, then packed up their gear and descended to Paradise.  The team will conclude their program this afternoon at Rainier BaseCamp. 

RMI Guide Mike Walter checked in to say the Mt. Shuksan - Fisher Chimney August 6 - 8 team reached the summit and have completed their descent back to the trailhead.

Nice work team!

The Mt. Baker - Easton Glacier Team led by RMI Guide Dan May reached the summit at 9:30 am. The entire team stood on top! The team is back at camp where they will celebrate, re-fuel, and have a full night sleep before descending to the trailhead tomorrow.

Congratulations Team! 

The Five Day Climb July 20 - 24 led by RMI Guides Dave Hahn and Joe Hoch, reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning.  They reported pleasant conditions with lighter winds than expected. The teams will return to Camp Muir and enjoy the afternoon and their final night on the mountain.  Tomorrow the teams will descend to Paradise and return to Rainier BaseCamp.

Congratulations to today's climbers!

The Four Day Climb led by RMI Guide Dan May watched the sunrise from Ingraham Flats today. Due to route conditions the team was unable to safely climb higher. They are on the descent from Camp Muir to Paradise.