Entries By henry coppolillo

RMI Guide Dominic Cifelli led the Paradise Seminar team through training and to the top of Mt. Rainier this week!  Various mountaineering skills were taught in order to arm these mountaineers with bigger mountains goals as well as feeling more comfortable in their climbing abilities.

The team is currently on their descent from the Mt. Rainier summit and will finish their program with a celebration back in Ashford.

The Four Day Climb July 20 - 23 reached the 14,410' summit of Mt. Rainier led by RMI Guides Christina Dale and Nikki Champion.  Blue skies but chilly temps and winds around 20 mph accompanied them on their climb.  After enjoying the views from the summit of Mt. Adams, Mt. St. Helens and the Cascade range, the teams began their descent from the crater rim around 6:45 am.  Once they reach Camp Muir they will repack and continue their descent to Paradise (5,400').

Nice work climbers and congratulations!

Clear skies and a bit of wind accompanied the Four Day Climb July 15 - 18 teams to the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning.  RMI Guides James Bealer, Joe Hoch and their climbing teams enjoyed a bit of time on top this morning before starting their descent from the crater rim around 7:20 am.  The teams have returned to Camp Muir and will take a short break to repack and refuel before continuing the remaing 4.5 miles and 4.500' descent to Paradise this afternoon.

Nice work today team!

The Expedition Skills Seminar on the Kautz Glacier has been training on the mountain all week in warm temperatures.  This morning was their summit attempt.  Due to a significant amount of icefall on the route, the team had to abort their summit bid.  The team is safely working their way back to camp and are descending from the mountain today.

The Mt. Baker Coleman-Deming Climb team June 21 - 23 reached the summit of Mt. Baker this morning around 7:30 am.  RMI Guide Henry Coppolillo checked in to let us know the team has returned to camp and will pack up their tents and gear and continue their descent to the trail head, completing their program later this afternoon.

Congratulations to all the climbers!

RMI Teams led by Casey Grom and Jenny Konway reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning.  Scattered clouds and cold temperatures was the report from the upper mountain. The teams are navigating their way down Disappointment Cleaver and will return to Camp Muir.  After a quick break, they will repack their gear and continue their descent to Paradise.

Congratulations to today's climbers!

Monday, May 31, 2021 - 11:17 am PT

I’m writing this from the Swiss Alaska Inn in Talkeetna. We flew out from Kahiltna Basecamp yesterday evening, after breaking down our camp and breaking trail back to the airstrip. Now we’re eating pancakes and eggs in the big city, re-adjusting to indoors life. We’ve got a few things to do around town before we catch our afternoon shuttle to Anchorage. It was a great trip all around. Everyone is a little sunburned, but otherwise no worse for the wear. Thanks for following along, and thanks to all the climbers who made this trip a memorable one. 

RMI Guide JM Gorum

Saturday, May 29, 2021 - 10:52 pm PT

The wind died down for us last night, but in its place the snow ramped up. Our hope was to try to climb one of the peaks surrounding camp, but lack of visibility and new snow avalanche concerns kept us away from big steep slopes. Instead, we opted for plan B, which was to head east out of camp and do some ice climbing on an exposed part of the main Kahiltna Glacier. It turned out to be a great venue.

Twenty minutes of walking out our front doors put us on top of a few different 60-80 foot climbs. We lowered in from the top and climbed back out. Everyone got a handful of laps in. We even put up one notable first ascent which earned the name, I Just Need a Minute to Rest(MFA), AI4, 60 feet. Due to the long approach and shifting nature of the glacier, we do not expect this route to become a classic. That’s a real shame, because it got five stars in our book. We wrapped up the day with a bunch of macaroni and cheese with bacon, and some surprisingly deep and affirming kitchen tent talks. The only way this day could have possibly been better is if we could have seen a single thing all day, but living in a whiteout is part of being in the Alaska Range.

Tonight looks to be another snowy one, so we’ll see what we can get done tomorrow. At some point we’ll need to start working our way back towards base camp. As always, everyone sends their best and we’ll check in tomorrow.

RMI Guide JM Gorum

Thursday, May 28, 2021 - 7:43pm PT

Today was a slow day for us on the Kahiltna. We alternated between blue skies and whiteout, and the wind blew a steady 20-30mph all morning. We made hash browns, eggs, and quesadillas for brunch, traded card tricks, and talked about a few climbing related things.

The wind has now died down, and we’ve got a little bit of evening sun. Everyone is well rested and ready to get moving around tomorrow, so hopefully the weather cooperates. That’s it from us on the lower Kahiltna, another good day in the books!

RMI JM Gorum and Kahiltna Seminar Team. 

Friday, May 28, 2021 - 1:04pm PT

We expected weather to move in last night, but it was definitely windier than we thought it was going to be. Thankfully we had a strong camp built up and, besides waking us up throughout the night, the gusts really caused us no issue.

We hoped to break down camp early and get moving up the main fork of the Kahiltna, but it didn’t make sense to risk losing a tent breaking down camp in the wind. The sun stayed out for most of the morning, so we just sat around hiding from the wind and playing two truths and a lie until about noon. By this point, the wind had died down significantly so we decided to pack up and venture out to find a new home. We left camp around 2pm, walked downhill onto the main fork of the Kahiltna glacier, and turned north. We had scattered clouds and moderate winds, keeping the temperature comfortably cool. In full sun and light winds, it can be uncomfortably hot on the Kahiltna, so we welcomed our all-natural A/C.

Setting up camp just north of Mount Crosson took no time at all. Everybody is a pro by now. We’re all in our tents now hiding from the wind again. There are plenty of climbing objectives in our new neighborhood, but we’ll just see what the weather allows.

RMI Guides JM Gorum & Team