Entries By 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

Thursday May 9, 2024 – 8:09 PDT

We're back at camp after a good day on the Kahiltna Glacier. We carried a cache of gear and supplies up Ski Hill to around 9700'. Yesterday we had great views and warm temps. Today was quite different, as we were navigating inside a ping pong ball and breaking trail all day. We're hoping for good weather tomorrow so we can move camp up to 11k.

We’ll keep you posted.

RMI Guide Mike Walter & Team

UPDATE: Recevied 10:30 am PT

Just a quick dispatch this morning. Everything is flowing smoothly and we're busy making progress. We pulled heavy loads to the base of ski hill yesterday in beautiful weather. It snowed a couple inches overnight and it's snowing lightly this morning, but the sun is poking through and we're gearing up to carry a load of gear up ski hill today. Gotta run, lots of work to do! I'll check back in upon our return to let you know how our day shakes out. Mike.

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RMI Guide Mike Walter and team flew to Kahiltna Basecamp on Tuesday afternoon. They built camp and were taking in the views of their new surroundings.  They spent the night at Base camp at 7,300'.  Yesterday they started the work of climbing Denali, moving from Base Camp to the Base of Ski Hill, 7,800'.  To get to Ski Hill the team descends 400' down Heart Break hill (aptly named) and travels over five miles to establish their next camp. 

The first Denali Expedition of the 2024 Season is ready to fly to Kahiltna Base Camp. The May 5th Expedition team members met in Anchorage on Sunday and made the drive to Talkeetna where they have spent the last few days reviewing gear, packing, meeting with the Park Service and getting all the last details dialed in.  The skies are clear and the group is ready to depart Talkeetna for their expedition to North America's highest peak.  We look forward to hearing from them from the mountain.

Good luck team!

UPDATE: September 6, 2023 10:59am PT Mike Walter and Team summit Mt. Shuksan via the Sulphide glacier in beatuiful weather. Nice work team!

We had a great day if training on the Sulphide glacier today. We covered snow and ice anchors, anchor systems, crevasse rescue, and did some ice climbing out of a crevasse. The weather forecast looks promising and we hope to try for the summit tomorrow morning. I'll check in tomorrow, hopefully from the top of Shuksan!

RMI Guides Mike Walter, Sam Hoffman and the Team on the Sulphide

100% of Team on Top!

RMI Guide Mike Walter and team reach the Summit of Mt. Baker at 7:11 am today. The team had great climbing and warm weather. They are on the descent and will be back at the traihead later this afernoon. 

Congratulations Team!

RMI Guide Mike Walter checked in to say the Mt. Shuksan - Fisher Chimney August 6 - 8 team reached the summit and have completed their descent back to the trailhead.

Nice work team!