Entries By drew obrien
Posted by: Daniel May, Drew O’Brien, Mac Nolde
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska
Elevation: 348'
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
New Post Alerts:
McKinley Expedition, June 2, 2026
Posted by: Daniel May, Drew O’Brien, Mac Nolde
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska
Elevation: 348'
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
New Post Alerts:
McKinley Expedition, June 2, 2026
Posted by: Dustin Wittmier, Seth Burns, Drew O’Brien, Will Ambler
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Expedition Skills Seminar - Muir September 4 - 9 led by RMI Guides Dustin Wittmier, Seth Burns, Drew O'Brien and Will Ambler reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today. The team has spent the last several days training on the mountain and enjoying the views. Today they put their work to the test and made their summit attempt, reaching the crater rim around 7:30 am. After enjoying a bit of time on the summit the team is descending to Camp Muir where they will spend the night. Tomorrow they will descend the remaining 4.5 miles to Paradise. A team celebration will be in order tomorrow afternoon before they conclude their six day program.
Nice work team!
Posted by: Casey Grom, Drew O’Brien, Jess Wedel, Raymond Holt, Jack Ritterson, Miles Watson
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Five Day Climb August 30 - 3 September led by RMI Guides Casey Grom and Drew O'Brien reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. The team first checked in at 7:30 am from 13,300' on their ascent. They reported good climbing and clear skies. A little after 10am they let us know they had reached the summit, enjoyed some time in the crater and now were starting their descent from the crater rim. The teams will return to Camp Muir in a few hours and get to rest, relax and enjoy some time on the mountain. Tonight they will spend their second night at Camp Muir, but they will get to sleep until a reasonable hour, not an alpine start. They will descend the remaining 4,500' to Paradise tomorrow and end their program with a small celebration.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
PC: Drew O'Brien
Posted by: Dominic Cifelli, Drew O’Brien, Josh Geiser, George Hedreen, Celeste Wilson, Miles Watson
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Four Day Climb August 18 - 21 led by RMI Guides Dominic Cifelli and Drew O'Brien reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. They enjoyed some time in the crater before starting their descent from the crater rim around 7 am. It's a beautiful day on the mountain. The teams will return to Camp Muir for a short break before continuing down to Paradise this afternoon and concluding their program.
Congratulations to today's teams!
Posted by: Drew O’Brien, Erika Birkeland, Hannah Blum, Robert Whyte
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 10,500'
Good Morning,
Last night after the move to Camp Schurman the team elected to split into a group focused on advanced climbing/crevasse rescue skills and a summit team.
The summit team woke around 10pm for their summit push. After dealing with warm nighttime temps, isothermal snow, and punching through multiple snow bridges the team decided to turn around at about 10,500.
All team members are now back in camp beginning a day of ice climbing, glacial navigation and crevasse rescue training.
RMI Guide Drew O'Brien
PC: Drew O'Brien
Posted by: Drew O’Brien, George Hedreen, Sam Marjerison, Felipe Guarderas
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 9,460'
Good Morning!
Most of team opted for a full educational day over a difficult summit climb. Summit team woke up at 10pm and with high winds in camp we made the call to skip the walk and prepare for a full educational day today. We will finish our expedition skills training here at Camp Schurman before descending tomorrow.
RMI Guide Drew O'Brien and Team
Posted by: Drew O’Brien, Nick Sinapius, Arianna Drechsler, Leif Bergstrom, Erika Birkeland, Stella Johnson, Claire Pennell
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Four Day Climb July 15 - 18 led by RMI Guides Drew O'Brien and Leif Bergstrom reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning around 7 am. The team reported a warm morning with low winds and cloud deck below near 6,000'. The teams spent a bit of time on the summit before starting their descent. Once back at Camp Muir the climbers will repack and continue the remaining 4,500' to Paradise.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
PC: Drew O'Brien
Congratulations! Was this via DC route? I’m assuming the ladders are back up now on that route? Thank you!
Posted by: Johnny on 7/19/2024 at 6:08 am
Posted by: Drew O’Brien, Mike Bennett, George Hedreen, Lacie Smith, Josh Geiser, Layne Peters
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Four Day Climb with Drew O’Brien and Mike Bennett reached the summit of Mt. Rainier at 5 am PDT today. The team left Camp Muir and climbed for 6 hours to reach the top. They enjoyed clear skies and great views in every direction.
Congratulations Team!
PC: Drew O'Brien & George Hedreen
Thanks again for pushing us to reach the summit. Up against high winds and odds not to reach summit Team RMI delivered a life long dream of mine to be on top of that mountain. Cheers.
Posted by: David Eldred on 7/7/2024 at 7:04 pm
Was a privilege and honor to climb with this wonderful group of guides and climbers! A memory for a lifetime, thanks RMI!
Posted by: Heath Scheibmeir on 7/6/2024 at 10:51 pm
Posted by: Ben Luedtke, Robert Whyte, Hannah Billings, Drew O’Brien, Josh Geiser, Miles Watson
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
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RMI Guides Ben Luedtke and Drew O'Brien led the Five Day Climb to the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. They report chilly and breezy conditions on the summit. The teams began their descent from the summit around 9:45 am and are making their way back to Camp Muir where they will spend one more night on the mountain.
Way to climb!
PC: Ben Luedtke & Drew O'Brien
Congrats to everyone, great accomplishment, that beer will taste great. Our team hopes to summit on July 10th, hardly wait!
Posted by: Barry Milne on 7/4/2024 at 8:54 am
Congratulations to the team. Proud to be called Chandan’s family.
Posted by: Sougandh Mulini Golla on 7/3/2024 at 12:17 am
Congratulations Hailie!! Woohooo proud of you
Posted by: Lyndsay on 9/3/2024 at 9:50 am
What an amazing accomplishment. A major milestone moment. Big shout out to Hailie! Woot! You did it!
Posted by: Taryn Laakso on 9/2/2024 at 4:43 pm
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