Entries By michael murray

We're resting in camp today. It's cloudy and snowing lightly. There's a big lenticular cloud cap up high. Our plan is to practice fixed rope travel in camp today and hopefully put in a cache at high camp tomorrow if the weather allows. We'll keep you posted.

RMI Guide Mike Walter

Saturday, May 18, 2024 - 4:29 pm PT

Mission accomplished. We had sunny weather with a light, but chilly breeze for our back carry. It took us 15 minutes to get back to our Windy Corner cache and an hour to get back up to our camp in Genet Basin. A good leg stretcher. We will likely rest tomorrow and try to carry to high camp on Monday.

RMI Guide Mike Walter

Saturday, May 18, 2024 - 8:55 am PT

We took advantage of good weather yesterday and moved up to the 14,000' Camp. We will head back to retrieve or cache at Windy Corner today.

RMI Guide Mike Walter

Thursday, May 16, 2024 1:33pm PDT

Just checking in, not too much to report. 

Winds at camp ramped up last and are strong and gusty this morning. We're hanging at 11k today and plan to move to 14k on the next good weather day.

RMI Guide Mike Walter & Team

Wednesday, May 15, 2024 - 2:51 pm PT

With our cache established around Windy Corner, our team is resting at 11,000' Camp. It's a bit breezy in camp, much windier up high. A good day to chill.

RMI Guide Mike Walter

Tuesday, May 14, 2024 - 8:42 pm PT

We had great weather today and got a cache established up around Windy Corner at about 13,700'. We are all back at camp now. Keeping it brief. Still lots of work to do tonight before we can get horizontal. We'll check in again tomorrow. 

RMI Guide Mike Walter

We're resting and acclimating at 11k today. After a chilly night, the team enjoyed a leisurely morning and brunch with ample amounts of eggs, hashbrowns, and reindeer sausage.

Lounging, reading, and small talk make up the bulk of today's activities.

We'll also be sorting our gear in preparation for our carry up around Windy Corner, which, weather permitting, is on tap for tomorrow.

But for right now, we're enjoying the hang.

RMI Guide Mike Walter

Today we had much kinder weather than the last few and we enjoyed a nice leg stretcher back to 9,700' to retrieve our cache from a few days ago. We're back at 11,200' camp chilling before dinner. It feels good to reunite with all of our gear so we can prepare for the next stage of the climb, which will be establishing a cache up around Windy Corner. We haven't decided yet if we'll try to get that done tomorrow or the next day. In any case, our bodies are busy producing red blod cells as we adapt to living at altitude. One last note for today: Happy Mother's Day to Jeanne, Liz, Valari, Kristy, Karen, Kate, Dorothy, Tracy, Becky, Megan, Kathie, Fiona, Susan, Angela, Lynda, Veronique, Fatemeh, Joyce, Mary, Betty, Dee Dee, Anne, Sarah, Tania, Elaina, Dione, and Meredith.

RMI Guide Mike Walter

Saturday, May 11, 2024 - 7:10 pm PT

Skies were blue above us when I fired the stoves this morning. A foot or more of fresh snow blanketed camp and temps were frigid. Bagels, bacon, and coffee were warranted. By the time we left camp the skies were obscured. Deep snow, cold air, and a stiff breeze were the constants all day. Our team climbed strong and we arrived at 11,000' Camp by 2 pm. After a few hours of digging in a camp, some tent chilling ensued while the guides fired the stoves for dinner. Tomorrow we plan to retrieve our cache from 9400. We'll let you know how that goes. It's dinner time now and life is good at 11,000'. 

RMI Guide Mike Walter

We woke to 6-8" of snow at the base of Ski Hill. Light snow was still falling as we ate breakfast, but the trend was improving so we started packing up camp.

By the time we started climbing it was mostly sunny and quite warm. Climbing up Ski Hill in base layers was a treat. Clouds increased and winds ramped up during our climb. By the time we got to our second break, visibility was down to near zero, winds were steadily increasing, and temps had dropped enough to remind us we're in Alaska. It was obvious that conditions would continue to deteriorate, so we put our camp in at 9,400'. It's pretty nasty outside but we're all safe and cozy in our tents. We guides are suiting up to go set up our cook tent so we can fire up stoves and get everyone fed. Hopefully this weather passes overnight, and we can push camp up to 11,200' tomorrow. Time will tell, but 9400' will be our home for tonight. We'll check in again tomorrow with an update.

RMI Guide Mike Walter