Entries By luke wilhelm

Friday May 21, 2021 - 9:56 pm PT

Winds had calmed by 5am, and I got my hopes up as I fired the stoves in the cold Alaskan dawn. But it turned out to be a brief lull instead of a pattern change. Persistently strong winds and snow returned and we were dealt another weather day.

We’re optimistic that the weather pattern is changing; we saw the sun this evening for the first time in four days. We’re all in good spirits, ready and rested for the move to 14k.

RMI Guide Mike Walter and Team

Thursday, May 20, 2021 - 9:30 pm PT

We spent another day sitting out the wind and snow at 11,000' Camp. We killed time playing trivia for hours in the cook tent. We will continue to patiently wait for the best weather window to move up to our 14,000' Camp. Thanks for following along!

RMI Guide MIke Walter

Wednesday, May 19, 2021 - 5:54 pm PT

The winds ramped up last night and the temps dropped. The trend persisted into the morning as we had breakfast and coffee. Our decision to stay put today was justified, as winds continued all day today, which would have made travel difficult at best and dangerous at worst.

Instead of packing up camp, we enjoyed another rest day. We had little to gain to attempt to move camp in such conditions, as our team is acclimatizing to the altitude and recovering from the past week's work here on Denali at 11,200'.

Reading, snacking, stretching, snoozing, listening to music, and shooting the breeze were the main activities for our team today. We're on standby for the winds to abate so that we can make the move up around Windy Corner to Genet Basin at 14,200'.

We'll check in again tomorrow to keep you apprised of our progress.

RMI Guide Mike Walter

Tuesday, May 18, 2021 - 6:21 pm

Our team enjoyed a well-deserved rest day today. The timing was perfect, as our team was ready for it and the weather was a bit squirrelly today; the colder temps, breezy conditions and light snow didn't bother us at all as we lounged in our tents, reading, listening to music, snoozing and snacking.

The weather forecasts indicate improving conditions tomorrow and warming temps by Thursday. Our next mission will be to move camp up to Genet Basin, at 14,200'. We hope to tackle that tomorrow if the weather is good in the morning. If not, Thursday looks promising, and another day of rest and acclimatization at 11,200' will only help us.

We'll let you know either way tomorrow. Stay tuned.

RMI Guide Mike Walter

Monday, May 17, 2021 - 6:17 pm PT

We took advantage of a beautiful day today and kept pushing that pesky rock up the mountain. This time we donned crampons and traded trekking poles for ice axes. We had an amazing climb up Motorcycle and Squirrel Hills, across the Polo Fields, and up around Windy Corner, leaving a cache of food and fuel at around 13,800'. The weather and climbing conditions were perfect, and we were afforded spectacular views of the upper mountain.

We were back at camp by 4pm with plenty of time to lounge in the sun before dinner. Tomorrow we will take our first full day out of boots and get some rest. We'll check in again tomorrow.

"Some come to laugh the past away.

Some come to make it just one more day.

Whichever way your pleasure tends,

if you plant ice your gonna harvest wind." -Robert Hunter

RMI Guide Mike Walter

May 16, 2021 - 5:32 pm PT

We woke lazily to light snow this morning and had a leisurely breakfast of bagels, cream cheese, and smoked Alaska salmon. At 11am we set off downhill to retrieve our cache from 10,000'. We were back at camp by 2pm, with plenty of time for a nap and to gorge on lunch food. We also had some camp chores to attend to and some gear sorting in order to be ready for the next stage of the game: establishing a cache around Windy Corner at ~13,800'. We hope to make that happen tomorrow or the next day. We'll keep you posted either way.

RMI Guide Mike Walter

May 15, 2021 - 7:26 pm PT

Our team had another big day today, moving camp from 7,800' to 11,200'. The weather was beautiful; the morning was nice and cool and the afternoon was hot and we couldn't buy a breeze. It took us 6 1/2 hours to make the move today, and another few hours of work to establish camp. We got our camp established with enough time for an afternoon nap for everyone while the guides melted snow to replenish water bottles.

Tomorrow we'll have a leisurely morning and head back down hill to retrieve the cache that we left at 10,000' yesterday. Weather permitting it should be a light workload tomorrow and we will able to get some good rest.

RMI Guide Mike Walter & Team

Friday May 14, 2021 6:36 pm PT

Our team had a great day today, waking up to cloudless skies after a good night's rest. We hauled our backpacks and sleds laden with supplies up to 10,000', just shy of "The Corner" below Kahiltna Pass. After digging a deep hole in which to cache our gear, we returned back to our camp at the base of Ski Hill, 7,800'.

We returned to camp in the afternoon after the six hour round trip with time to lounge before firing up the stoves for dinner. The plan for tomorrow is to pack up camp and move up to the 11,200' camp. We'll keep you posted.

RMI Guide Mike Walter & Team

Thursday, May 13, 2021  - 9:57 pm PT

We had warm and sunny weather today and we took advantage of it to single carry all of our loads to the Base of Ski Hill. It took us 5 hours to get here, traveling on the Kahiltna Glacier with heavy packs and pulling heavy sleds.

The plan for tomorrow is to bump a load of supplies up Ski Hill to around 9800' and create a cache. Then we will return to our current camp for the night. The weather is looking good and everyone is doing well.

RMI Guide Mike Walter

Wednesday, May, 12, 2021 - 10:04 pm PT

We got a break in the weather this afternoon and were able to fly in to Basecamp on the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier. Camp is all set up and we have starting sorting out equipment for (hopefully) moving up glacier to the base of Ski Hill tomorrow. It was warm and sunny here today, although a cloud has settled in now and it's snowing lightly. We'll touch base again tomorrow as we start our long adventure of living on a glacier.

RMI Guide Mike Walter