Entries By jt schmitt

Tuesday, June 15, 2021 - 4:50 pm PT

We are enjoying a nice sunny rest day at 14,000’ camp today after our carry to 17,000’ yesterday. We are waiting to see what the weather has in store before we make our next move. All is well here at camp!

RMI Guides JT, Kiira, Alan and the RMI team

Monday, June 14, 2021 - 9:31 pm PT

Today we carried supplies and personal gear up to 17,000' Camp. The team performed amazingly for their first time on fixed lines and dealing with thousands of feet of exposure and running belays.

We floated past other teams, seemingly effortlessly as they cached lower on the West Buttress, but we were moving so efficiently and the day was perfectly clear and windless, so we decided to cache all the way at 17,000' Camp.

It’s now 8 o’clock in the evening and we are about to enjoy some dinner and a much deserved night of rest.

All the best from the team at 14,000' Camp.

RMI Guide JT Schmitt

Sunday, June 13, 2021 - 3:34 pm PT

Today we enjoyed a full rest day at Denali 14K Camp. Everyone is feeling nice and dried out and rested. The weather is gorgeous and is supposedly going to be nice for us to carry above the fixed lines tomorrow!

Stay tuned,

RMI Guides JT Schmitt, Alan Davis, Kiira Antenucci and the RMI team

Saturday, June 12. 2021 - 7:51 pm PT

Today we back carried to our cache at 13,500, which was a great way to get a little exercise. We now have all of our supplies up with us at 14 camp and are ready for a full rest day tomorrow!

The weather is beautiful, hot and sunny during the day, albeit quite cold at night. We truly are in the land of extremes. Our camp looks dialed and clean, our team is working as a well-oiled machine.

All the best from 14 camp and hope everyone is well!

RMI Guide JT Schmitt and the RMI Team

Friday, June 11, 2021 - 9:47 pm PT

Today we traded the damp snowy conditions of 11K Camp for the cold dry conditions of 14K Camp and it sure feels good! The team had a long heavy day moving from 11K but everyone performed as we are beginning to expect, strongly.

We had a great dinner of chicken and rice, and are now getting warm in our sleeping bags, feeling accomplished and happy to be up at Denali's 14K Camp.

Tomorrow we plan to back carry and improve camp.

RMI Guides JT Schmitt, Alan Davis, Kiira Antenucci and team

Thursday, June 10, 2021 - 4:56 pm PT

Today was not a super nice day, but it was nice enough! We cached additional food and supplies at 13,500 and felt great. This puts us in position to move to 14,000' Camp when we are ready and weather allows. It looks like the weather should be decent tomorrow before the next round of storms come in. Stay tuned to follow our progress tomorrow!!

RMI Guide JT Schmitt and team

Wednesday, June 9, 2021 - 9:40 pm PT

We woke up hoping to cache below 14,000 Camp, the mountain had other plans so we spent the day eating, reading, relaxing, and building a snow fort. Hopefully tomorrow the weather complies and we can move supplies up the mountain.

RMI Guide Kiira Antenucci

Tuesday, June 8th, 2021 - 3:34 pm PT

We slept in till ten today, then enjoyed a delectable brunch of bagels and lox. Seems like an interesting dichotomy to be eating such luxurious meals in such an inhospitable place.

We are spending the remainder of the day resting, eating and stocking up on calories and sleep to give us the strength we need to hopefully carry to just below 14,000' Camp tomorrow.

RMI Guides JT, Kiira, Alan and the RMI team

Tuesday, June 8, 2021 - 1:54 am PT

We’ve been working quite hard to do our due diligence to get all moved to Denali's 11K camp before the forecasted storm moved in. And today we did just that. As we were returning from our cache at 9,800' the storm hit in full force, but that was no issue for us as we had a fortified camp built and now have all our supplies with us at 11K camp.

We are currently hunkered in our tents listening to the wind blow and the snow pile up. We are all eagerly anticipating a much deserved rest day tomorrow.

RMI Guide JT Schmitt and the RMI team

Monday, June 7, 2021 - 5:38 am PT

We made it to 11,000' Camp last night! Even though our packs were lighter after our cache yesterday, the walk uphill wasn’t easy. The team put in the work to make it to camp before flurries of snow started to fall. Making it to camp was only half the work and we worked into the early hours of the morning setting up tents, melting snow for water, and cooking dinner. The team is settled into our new camp and we couldn’t be more excited to crawl into our sleeping bags!

RMI Guide Kiira Antenucci and the RMI team