Entries By drew obrien
Monday, June 8, 2026 - 10:26 pm PT
Today was a well earned rest day. So far the mountain has allowed us to stay right on schedule. Lucky enough to enjoy some beautiful days of easy weather. Today was spent lounging around camp, practicing our crampon-ing skills and building our fortress of solitude. Stay tuned as we look forward to moving higher up the mountain tomorrow!
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: 11,200'
Sun 6/7/2026 - 10:58 PM PST
Today’s haiku:
Heat panic in tent
White out on the back carry
Rest day tomorrow
- RMI Climbing Team
New Post Alerts:
McKinley Expedition, June 2, 2026
We hope everyone has a restful and uneventful rest day. Lots of love from Joe’s family.
Posted by: Caitlin on 6/8/2026 at 10:26 am
Posted by: Daniel May, Drew O’Brien, Mac Nolde
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska
Elevation: 11,200'
Saturday, June 6th - 8PM PST
Late last night, the guide team received news of the passing of an NPS ranger in a tragic accident. The morning greeted us with crystal clear skies, sunshine and the mountain shining and glowing extra special. The day was spent reflecting and remembering the fallen Ranger. A mountain guide, Ski patroller, Nurse, and Denali NPS pro Ranger, she dedicated her life to selflessly serving others in the front country and in some of then most austere environments. She will be missed and celebrated. Also in our thoughts today are the RMI guides currently on NPS volunteer ranger patrols, all previous volunteers, the Pro rangers and pilots. These folks give their time, effort, and sometimes lives to make Denali the special and life changing place that it is.
The team had smooth move day to 11 camp. We dug in Camp deep in anticipation of a short storm. Now at 11 we are looking forward to starting the acclimatization process and setting ourselves up to move further up the mountain.
-RMI Guide Team
New Post Alerts:
McKinley Expedition, June 2, 2026
Posted by: Daniel May, Drew O’Brien, Mac Nolde
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska
Elevation: 7,800'
Friday, June 5th - 6PM PST
Greetings!
We had a successful day caching at 10000’ and getting ready to move to 11 camp tomorrow. The guides have taken to the Zeppathon, listening to all of Led Zeppelin’s albums and discussing their favorites. Led Zeppelin IV seems to be a favorite. The climbers are doing great and had so much fun helping their guides dig the cache (they offered). Conversations amongst the clients have ranged from ‘how many siblings do you have’ to ‘what is your spirit vegetable?’ One of the our climbers noted what great posture one of our female guides on the trip has. Spirits are high and the sun is hot. Dinner tonight is burritos with more discussions of getting to know each other. The topic tonight is biggest regrets in life.
Cheers!
-RMI Guide Mac (with the good posture)
New Post Alerts:
McKinley Expedition, June 2, 2026
Posted by: Daniel May, Drew O’Brien, Mac Nolde
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska
Elevation: 7,800'
Friday, June 5th - 12:15AM PST
Guest dispatcher Joe reporting in from Denali.
The DDM Expedition (Daniel/Drew/Mac) departed Talkeetna this morning in good order. Blue skies and calm air made for an easy flight for our daredevil K2 Aviation bush pilots so everyone enjoyed a little extra sightseeing swooping through the peaks along with a couple barrel rolls just for a little spice. Deposited safely on Kahiltna Glacier early, the group repacked yet again for foot travel and proceeded directly to Skill Hill Camp. The exceptional weather persisted throughout the day, with just a few chill winds interleaved with atypically hot sections. Arriving with plenty of energy, the team stomped out a camp area and got down to the real business of the day: Mac's Mac & Cheese.
On a more tragic note though, departing Talkeetna also meant departing Zach's lunch meats and cheeses abandoned in the hangar fridge. Although he'll survive just fine having apparently packed at least 50lbs of other snacks, this was an emotional blow for his and your reporter's Rope Team Hoarding Marmots, and honestly an affront to our venerable mascots. Tomoki also left a few things in that refrigerator but him and his companions Chris and Paxton on Rope Team World Best #1 Rope Team weren't as loud about it so our guides still don't know and they villainously avoided their fair share of judgement and demerits.
Meanwhile under Sarah's strong leadership and Erik's silent execution, Rope Team Erik and the Squatters continues to be all Rope Team We're So Perfect We Show Up Two Minutes Before Every Meetup And Had All the Gear We Were Supposed To Have And Didn't Leave Anything In The Refrigerator. Some people your faithful chronicler just doesn't understand. Tomorrow the expedition will make an outing to cache supplies and gear uphill in preparation for a hoped-for move to 11 Camp ahead of an expected downturn in the weather.
-RMI Climber Joe
New Post Alerts:
McKinley Expedition, June 2, 2026
Aw Zach, you left the meat and cheese behind! Safe travels on your amazing adventure everybody!
Zachs mom ❤️
Posted by: Diane Cross on 6/9/2026 at 3:41 pm
I second Sarah’s mom comment! It made me laugh too! Rooting for you all ☺️
Posted by: Tatiana on 6/6/2026 at 8:20 pm
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
Enjoy the trip and may things go perfectly smooth.
Posted by: Maggi Nolde on 6/5/2026 at 5:48 am
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
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
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!
Go Chris!! See you and your team at 14k. Give me this mountain!
Posted by: The Arivs Team on 6/10/2026 at 9:26 am
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