Entries By james bealer

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 Four Day Climb led by RMI Guides Taylor Bickford reached the top of Mt. Rainier early today. The teams climbed above the clouds and were greeted with clear skies on the summit! 

The team is in route to Camp Muir. Once there they will pack up their gear and descend to Paradise and then back to RMI Basecamp to celebrate.

Congratulations to today's team! 

The RMI Glacier Peak Climb, led by James Bealer, started at the trailhead on July 5th in high spirits. They hiked through beautiful old growth forest and crossed cold glacial streams.  As the team gained altitude, they could see more and more peaks all around them.  Finally they reached the top of White Pass and made camp for the night. 

Today, July 7th, the team was on the summit!  They plan to move their camp back down the mountain a bit today and hike out tomorrow.

Congratulations team!

The Mt. Rainier Summit Climb teams, led by RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer and James Bealer, were on the summit at 6am this morning. The weather had clear skies and a steady breeze of 15-20 mph. They are currently working their way back to Camp Muir.

The Five Day Mt. Rainier Climb teams, led by RMI Guides Eric Frank and Jenny Konway, turned at High Crack today due to hearing and seeing a significant amount of rock and icefall. They are back at Camp Muir and will be descending early this morning.

The Four Day Climb June 22 - 25 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning led by RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer and James Bealer.  The teams reached the crater rim at 5:30 am, they enjoyed clear skies and a light breeze during their climb.  The route remains in good shape and teams were making good time on their descent.  They were at 13,500' around 7 am heading back to Camp Muir.  They will enjoy a short break at Camp Muir to refuel and repack, then descend the remaining 4.5 miles and 4,500ft to reach Paradise.

Congratulations to today's teams on reaching the summit of Mt. Rainier!

Thursday, June 3, 2021 - 6:15 pm PT

Good afternoon! This is RMI Guide Eric Frank calling on June 3rd from the summit of Denali, the highest point in North America. We are up here on a beautiful afternoon, in-and-out of the clouds. Sometimes we can see 100 miles; sometimes we can only see our climbing boots. We had an awesome climb today. Started off a little chilly in the shade, but all-in-all it has been a wonderful day of climbing.  We are enjoying 15 minutes on top right now. It is about 5:15 local time. We are going to pack up and head downhill where we should be back between 9 and 10 pm tonight.  Thanks everyone for following along.  Friends and family- I am sure you’ll be happy to hear from your respective individuals in a few days.  Our hope is to move down to a lower elevation, thicker air and catch a plane to the land of burgers and beer within a couple of days.  Thanks for following along. Bye.

RMI Guide Eric Frank

Wednesday, June 2, 2021 - 11:47 pm PT

The team moved to Denali's 17K Camp today through tough winds.  We left camp early to blue skies and cold air as we headed up the fixed lines.  The top of the fixed lines yielded increased wind, and we quickly donned our hard shells.  As we climbed further up the West Buttress, we pushed through more ferocious wind and scattered clouds.   Thankfully, as we rolled into camp the clouds abated and we are left hoping the weather holds for our summit push tomorrow.

RMI Guide Eric Frank

Tuesday, June 1, 2021 - 10:48 pm PT

A fresh few inches of snow covered camp this morning as we waited for the sun to warm us up.  We slowly rolled out of our sleeping bags and ate a leisurely paced blueberry pancake breakfast.  The day was spent preparing for our move to 17,000' Camp tomorrow.  We sorted our gear into summit gear and gear we can leave here at 14,000' Camp as well as planned our food for our summit push.  The afternoon was full of movie watching and sport eating, a favorite Denali pastime.  After dinner and philosophical discussions, we all tucked into our tents to be rested for the coming days ahead.  

RMI Guide Eric Frank

Monday, May 31, 2021 - 11:09 pm PT

Sunday, May 30th, started out clear and cold but quickly warmed up as the sun hit our camp. The good weather meant moral was high in 14,000' Camp as everyone who was acclimated and ready to go started to climb towards High Camp at 17,200'. We, of course, being new to this high elevation stayed in camp and watched the conga line turn into a log jam at the base of the fixed lines. We made good use of our day by brushing up on our fixed line and running belay techniques. At the end of the day a well worn trail was stomped in by the uphill traffic and left us feeling optimistic about our own plans to cache at 16,200'.

Today (May 31) the team braved a cold morning in order to get a head start out of camp.  We climbed up the fixed lines and cached at 16,250' on the West Buttress.   The afternoon turned into a scorcher on the way down as the solar energy made it feel like 90 degrees outside.  We returned to camp and had delicious burritos for dinner. 

RMI Guide Eric Frank