Entries By jackson breen

RMI Guide Jack Delaney led the Expedition Skills Seminar - Paradise July 14 - 19.  The team met last Thursday for their orientation and gear check.  The next morning they went straight to the mountain.  Their first camps were above Paradise and they used the terrain for training, getting everyone up to speed on cramponing, glacier travel and ice axe arrest skills.  Additional training took place as the group slowly ascended over the next few days.  Yesterday the team made the jump to Camp Muir.  After dinner and discussion about the climb ahead they crawled into sleeping bags for a few hours of rest.  With an alpine start the team left Camp Muir, they reached the summit after 6 hours of climbing, approaching the crater rim around 7 am.  After enjoying the views and photo ops from the summit the team is returning to Camp Muir.  Once back at Camp they will pack up and continue the final 4.5 miles back to Paradise.  Their program concludes today with a celebration once they return to Rainier BaseCamp.

Nice work team!  We hope you enjoyed your time on the mountain!

The Expedition Skills Seminar - Emmons July 3 - 8 led by RMI Guide Nikki Champion spent two days training at Rainier BaseCamp and at Paradise, prior to starting their climb.  On Tuesday, they left Ashford for the White River Ranger Station.  They donned heavy packs and started up the mountain to their first camp.  Yesterday, they ascended to Camp Schurman and continued their training.  With an alpine start this morning, they made their summit attempt but were turned back due to high winds, low visibility and challenging walking.  The team returned safely to Camp Schurman around 1 pm where they will spend their last night on the mountain.  Tomorrow the group will descend to the trailhead and return to Rainier BaseCamp.

The Four Day Climb with RMI Guides Mike King and Dustin Wittmier were on the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. Above this heavy marine layer, team had clear skies, sunshine and mild winds. The climbing was great with a with a direct route and it took the team 5 hours to get to the top.

Congratulations team! 

The June 13 - 16 Four Day Climb led by RMI Guides Casey Grom & James Bealer were unable to make a summit attempt due to high winds overnight as well as avalanche conditions.  The Camp Muir telemetry shows winds over 70 mph.  Around 7 am the weather had improved, the team was going to do some avalanche forecast training.  The teams have packed up and started their descent from Camp Muir.  We look forward to greeting them at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.

Photo: James Bealer

Thursday, June 2, 2022 1:35 am PT

SUMMIT! 

The last two weeks of working hard on Denali payed off today. At 5:30 pm today we stood on top of the highest point in North America!

It was a beautiful sunny day, with a bit of wind but not too much to turn us around. It was a relatively quiet day with only a few other teams trying for the summit. The team performed incredibly well and summited in style! Now we are back at 17 camp, enjoying clear views all the way down to the tundra, where you can see the Alaskan sun shimmering off lakes over 15,000 feet below us.

Tomorrow we start the process of retracing our steps back down the mountain.

RMI Guides JT, Matias, Jackson and the RMI team.

Tuesday, May 31, 2022 - 10:08 pm PT

We woke up to a beautiful morning at 14,000' Camp and decided to move to 17,000'! The team did well and the forecast looks good for tomorrow. Stay tuned to see what we get up to tomorrow!

RMI Guides JT, Jackson, Matias and the RMI team

Monday, May 30, 2022 - 10:43 pm PT

Today we rested again at 14,000' Camp. The team has been soaking up the rest, eating lots of food and drinking plenty of fluids. Thanks for following along and we will keep you posted on what we end up doing tomorrow!

Thanks,

RMI Guides JT, Matias, Jackson and the RMI team.

Sunday, May 29, 2022 - 6:20 pm PT

The team enjoyed a beautiful day at 14,000' Camp today, resting from the days prior and preparing for the days ahead! We are planning to rest again tomorrow, after the last ten days the team deserves it!

RMI Guides JT, Jackson, Matias and the RMI team

May 29 12:04am PT

This morning we woke up with the goal of caching gear and food as close to 17 camp as possible. As we passed each of the normal places people cache below 17 camp, such as the top of the fixed lines, below Washburns thumb etc., we just couldn’t find a reason to not keep going.

The weather was perfect, not a whisper of wind, and the views endless. The team was performing extremely well at such high altitude for the first time this trip, not to mention how they floated through the most technical terrain we’ve encountered thus far, so we went all the way to 17,000 ft camp. After digging ourselves a hole to cache in, we retraced our steps back down the west buttress and the fixed lines until we rolled into camp just as the shadow of the mountain engulfed the tent city.

All in all, a successful day completed by a strong team!

Guides JT, Matias, Jackson and the RMI team

Friday May 27, 2022 10:37pm PT

It was a beautiful day today at 14,000' camp. We slept in, ate breakfast burritos, then napped, read and ate some more.

After reviewing some more mountaineering skills, we ate more burritos for dinner. With the sunny skies, warm temperatures and the menu today, it almost felt like we were in Mexico.

Stay tuned for what we get up to tomorrow!

RMI Guide JT Schmitt and the Denali Team