Entries By katie bono

June 12, 2014 10:22am PT Yesterday was a great day. After a few storm days at the base of ski hill, the weather let us leave camp. Waking early we set off in good walking temps but no visibility for higher on glacier. The snow was deep and as the first team to make the move, we enjoyed breaking trail for a few hours before the skies cleared and a descending team provided a nicely broken trail. The views were spectacular and honestly the clearest of the whole trip. The team put in a big day yesterday and are enjoying a leisurely morning here at 11,200 before back carrying later today to pick up our cache at 9700. RMI Guide Jake Beren & Team

June 9, 2014 - 9:52 pm PT The team remained at 7,800' on Mt. McKinley and chalked it up to a weather day. Apparently they spent the day composing poetry. A copy of their work is below: We're below Ski Hill Snowing, blowing, eating here Hope to move up soon! Cheers from 7800, Katie, Leon, Jake, and Crew RMI Guides Jake Beren, Leon Davis & Katie Bono

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June 8, 2014 - 9:19 pm PT Today was a great day for resting and that is what we did. We awoke to some clouds and snow at our camp at 7,800' and decided to hunker down. Reviewing some knots and hitches filled the spaces between naps and we are raring to go tomorrow if the weather allows. It is snowing at present and with more snow in the forecast, we'll just have to wait and see. RMI Guide Jake Berenn

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Saturday, June 7th 10:36 PM PT Greetings from our home at 7,800' at the base of Ski Hill. Today we carried big loads up to 9,600' camp and made a cache. This allowed us to get in some mileage and take a day off the sleds. It also gives us a lighter move day tomorrow and every little bit helps! Just before dinner it started to snow and we retreated to tents to rest up for the upcoming day. Cross your fingers for clearing skies and we'll make the most of them. RMI Guide Jake Beren

June 6, 2014 - 11:30 pm PT 70 years ago there was a landing much different than ours in a far away land. We are grateful for those past sacrifices. Our landing was quite pleasant, leaving Talkeetna early and spending the morning packing up to head down the the Main Fork of the Kahiltna and make that crucial right turn towards Denali. The team did well and we made camp at the base of Ski Hill under clearing skies, alpenglow of the high mountains and a just past halt moon. Nice way to start it off. After setting up shop, the crew is hunkered down for some well earned rest and if the weather smiles on us again, we'll go higher tomorrow. RMI Guide Jake Beren

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We are all weighed for the big fight and now just relaxing a bit before taking off. Early reports from Basecamp have us in a little bit of a holding pattern due to some snowfall. The skies are currently clearing up now and we hope to be en route to the AK range soon enough. Wish us luck! RMI Guide Jake Beren & Team

The Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guides Tyler Jones and Kel Rossiter stood on top of Mt. Rainier this morning! The teams enjoyed calm and warm conditions while on the summit and are making their way back to Camp Muir. We will see them back in Ashford later today. Congratulations!

The Five Day Summit Climb team led by Kel Rossiter reached the Summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. The team will spend some time on the summit this morning before making their way back to Camp Muir. Congratulations to Today's Team!

RMI Guides Andres Marin and Katie Bono spent a week leading RMI's Alaska Alpine Skills Seminar this spring. After the seminar they returned to the Alaska Range for a personal climbing trip. Andres Marin: I guided the Alpine and Expedition seminars in Alaska, where our teams had an incredible time climbing and learning. When the seminars ended, I had a few days to spend climbing around Base Camp. Katie Bono: Both Andres and I had time at the end of our trip for some personal climbing. We bid adieu to our team in Talkeetna and the next morning flew back into Kahiltna Base Camp. Kahiltna Base Camp sits in the heart of the Alaska Range, surrounded on all sides by peaks such as Denali, Mt. Foraker, and Mt. Hunter. With the plethora of climbing options the pair decided to climb the Kahiltna Queen (12,380’). AM: Around Base Camp there are so many cool peaks to climb and one of those is the rarely climbed Kahiltna Queen. This peak is located at the end of the southeast fork of the Kahiltna glacier. It is the only peak in the range that divides three different glaciers: the Kahiltna, the Ruth and the Tokositna. KB: Andres and I spent a day skiing up the Southeast fork of the Kahiltna Glacier, stopping along the way to look at different climbing options and to do some ice climbing. Kahiltna Queen looked like a gorgeous peak to climb and both of us were stoked about trying an unclimbed route. The following night Katie and Andres began their climb up the West side of the Kahiltna Queen. KB: The line we took followed a rib splitting the west face, starting from where the rib emerged from the glacier. The part of the climb was mostly steep snow climbing on some great and not-so-great neve (granular snow that accumulates near mountain tops from wind and precipitation). The route then transitions into ice climbing with some rock mixed in. AM: The mixed climbing was great all the way to the summit. The day was incredible and the views were just amazing. At the top we stopped to melt water and high five. Then it was time for us to start descending the West Couloir Route. The descent ended up being longer and more difficult than I expected as we had to do over fourteen rappels. Following the successful climb, Katie and Andres, skied two hours back to Base Camp. After 25 hours of climbing they returned safely to Base Camp. KB: Seeing the moonrise while we were climbing was awesome! It came up for maybe an hour or so and just skimmed the edge of the horizon. For the whole way up we had splitter weather and were basking in the sun at the summit. After this trip I can definitely understand why my friends are excited about Alaska. It was great to be able to climb the Kahiltna Queen after guiding the Alaska Seminar since it enabled me to spend so much time in the Alaska Range. Andres has heaps of experience in the Alaska Range and I learned a lot from working and climbing with him. AM: All and all it was a great climb with a great partner. I am already looking forward to next year’s seminar and more personal climbs in the Alaska Range. Andres Marin is a senior guide at RMI leading programs in Washington, Alaska and Colorado. He is an off-width specialist and an accomplished ice and mixed climber. One of his recent achievements includes climbing the five hardest mixed lines in Ouray, Colorado, in a day. Andres is a fully certified alpine and rock guide sponsored by Millet, Blue Water Ropes, 5.10, Petzl, GU and Ice Holdz. Katie Bono is an RMI Guide and accomplished climber with impressive ascents in North America and Canada. A retired Nordic ski racer and Millet athlete, she currently holds the women’s speed record on Mt. Rainier. To see more of their climb check out Andres’ Kahiltna Queen video.

Saturday, July 6th, 2013 at 1:50 a.m. PST We made it! We stomped a runway. Ate breakfast. Went like Vikings to raid a cache (unsuccessfully). Made two hours of quesadillas. Packed up camp for incoming airplane. Listened as incoming airplane went away. Made camp again. Made dinner. Packed up camp as planes came back. Flew back to civilization!! Pizza. Welcome home! RMI Guides Mike Haugen, Mike Uchal, Katie Bono and the RMI Summit Team 6

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