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Entries By pete van deventer


Denali Expedition: Van Deventer and Team Cache Gear at Windy Corner

Friday, May 19, 2023 10:30pm PDT

We had a quite pleasant jaunt up to Windy Corner and around today to cache. It was good to make another step forward and get a load of food and fuel stashed up near 14,000’. Things are looking promising to move to 14,000’ soon, our first chance is tomorrow and hopefully we wake up and things look good to go. It's been Nice to be at 11,000', but we have seen enough of it and it's time to move on.

Our day today was calm, mostly clear, and very warm. The team was fully in sync, and we made short work of the round trip and walked back into camp looking fresh as ever. Juan chose mac and cheese for his birthday dinner, so we also had something to celebrate today.

All around, spirits are high, and life is good.

RMI Guides Pete, Henry, and Tatum

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Denal Expedition: VanDeventer and Team Cache Gear ready to Move to 14,000’ Camp

Thursday, May 18, 2023 8:12 pm PDT

Finally, we got to stretch our legs today!

We woke to beautiful conditions in camp, the first time we haven't woken to the tents flapping and slapping. We smashed an oatmeal breakfast and coffee and grabbed backpacks, sleds, and snowshoes and beat feet back to our hole in the snow that held all our best food and treats. We made quick work of the day, three hours round trip, and came back to sunny camp, warm tents, and dry sleeping bags. It was also our last day hauling sleds until we descended for good. So, when we walked into camp there was much rejoicing.

Tomorrow we plan to carry another cache up high to Windy Corner or 14 Camp depending. That will set us up to be ready to make a big move to 14!

RMI Guides Pete, Henry, Tatum and Team

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Let’s go team!  I have a hard time thinking about Brian being stuck inside a tent for days and nights. Hope he has a tent mate that likes to play cards!  Moving and climbing are much more fun.  Miss you hubby!  Jack and I are following along and wishing you well while Lou meditates silently onn your climb.

Posted by: Tory Goltry on 5/20/2023 at 8:15 am

Wonderful to hear…“sunny camp, warm tents, and dry sleeping bags” - the simple pleasures of life on a mountain.

Praying for you all, and have a special place in my heart for my niece Bailey. She is an inspiration to her friends and family.

Posted by: Uncle C on 5/20/2023 at 7:33 am


Denali Expedition: Van Deventer & Team Remain at 11,000ft Camp

Wednesday, May 17, 2023 - 7:54 pm PT

The forecast was for this weather system to begin to clear out today, and when we got up this morning we were hopeful that the trend was going in the right direction. We could see down below, had sunshine in camp, though it was still plenty windy. We dragged our feet to make sure it kept getting better by making a blueberry pancake breakfast. As we enjoyed that we listened to the wind get stronger and watched the tent get darker as clouds pushed up and we lost the sun. We continued to kick the can and see if we would get a chance to head downhill and grab our cache, but it continued to deteriorate. Eventually we pulled the plug and went to our weather day rhythm of tent hang, reading, cards, etc. Over dinner the sun finally poked back out so hopefully this system is finally moving out and we'll get our shot tomorrow.

RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer

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Denali Expedition: Van Deventer & Team Continue to Live in a snow globe

Tuesday, May 16, 2023 - 7:40 PM PT

Our life inside the snow globe continued today but got more comfortable as we dug in more completely. We dug our cooktent down further this morning so that standing puts us level with ground. Down that deep the wind cease to matter as much and we have sealed ourselves into a quite cozy spot. We moved through breakfast before retreating to the tents for the majority of the day. We made a lot of progress on our reading lists and did a fair bit of napping and eating to pass the time. We are hopeful that the trend will improve tomorrow and allow us to jump back down to 9,600 to retrieve our cache. Then we will have more exciting news to report, but for now, we are warm, fed, and happy, patiently waiting for the mountain to say we may pass.

RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer

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Which team is Bethany Gray on?

Posted by: Jan L. Gray on 5/17/2023 at 7:58 pm


Denali Expedition: Van Deventer & Team Reinforce Tent Walls During Windy, Snowy Day

Monday, May 15, 2023 - 8:00 pm PT

It was a windy, snowy day at 11,000' Camp. The kind that had us happy to linger in sleeping bags until late. Eventually we rose and put some energy into solidifying camp before we plowed through a bunch of hot breakfast burritos. Weather days are for spending in tents so we spent a fair amount of time horizontal, welcome after yesterday's effort. As the afternoon wore on we were ready for movement so we got to building some walls to deflect the wind and make life a bit more pleasant. Much like building with adult legos, made out of snow. So now we have quite a habitable spot, a good thing since this weather system may stick around for a few more days.

RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer

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Denali Expedition: Van Deventer & Team Reach 11,000’, Establish New Camp

Sunday, May 14, 2023 - 9:49 pm PT

The mountain reminded us how strong she is today and have us a good fight. We woke to sun and warm temps in camp and the beginnings of a beautiful day. We packed up camp and started moving uphill again to 11. At first we moved with better vis, views, and a little jump in our step. But as we walked the clouds from yesterday moved back in with a stiff wind and a lot of blowing snow. Quite quickly we had little visibility and following the tracks of previous climbers became quite difficult. But the team was warm, had all the gear we needed to move in the weather, so we marched on with the help of GPS. After a good battle and a longer day than anticipated, we made it to 11,000' Camp. Tents were a welcome sight but the battle wasn't over. We still had a few hours of camp constructing to do before we would be in our shelters. The team worked really well together and rallied it out, and now we are sitting snug In tents and sleeping bags, reminiscing about the day.

RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer

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Grateful for these updates. Sounds like a strong group. Sending you all lots of positivity!

Posted by: Chris's mom on 5/15/2023 at 9:28 pm

Thanks for the updates.  Good to know that all is well.

Posted by: Louise Kennedy on 5/15/2023 at 6:37 pm


Denali Expedition: Van Deventer & Team Cache Gear above Camp

Saturday, May 13, 2023 - 7:03 pm PT

A gentle shushhhh of snow falling on the tent woke us this morning. We were the central theme in the snow globe as snow fell quietly and windlessly down. We lingered over coffee and bagel sandwiches letting the day progress. We really couldn't see much, but it was calm, warm enough, and we had a nice camp to return to, so we finally sorted some loads out, loaded packs and sleds, and turned uphill again to go cache. We walked through a milky white world for several hours before we decided that we had done enough, and further walking was going to involve a lot of feel and not much sight. So we dug quite a large hole and left our loads there under the snow to be retrieved in a few days time. The walk down went quite quickly, and after an hour we were back at camp where the clouds were lifting and the sun was blazing at max intensity. We are currently enjoying a short siesta, before a hearty dinner of reindeer gumbo. We plan to pack up camp tomorrow and trade up to an abode at 11,000'.

We'll be in touch.

RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer

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I’m with you, Mama Goltry! Looks like our daughter is the only female on the trip besides the guides. Quite an adventure but I am looking forward to the “we made the summit and are on our way down” post.

Posted by: Karlyn Sullivan on 5/14/2023 at 8:18 pm

From 94 degrees in Tucson, I am doing my best work with tequila to not think about hubby on a glacier in the freezing cold. But alas, there are not enough margaritas in the world to keep me from missing my mountain man.  Reindeer gumbo is right up his alley.  Keep on trekking!  Enjoy the journey!  Can’t wait to see the photos.  Mama Goltry

Posted by: Tory Goltry on 5/13/2023 at 9:51 pm


Denali Expedition: Van Deventer & Team Establish First Camp

The team did strong work today, shouldering a load out of base camp that would have made an ox shudder. Each climber probably had north of 100lbs of gear between pack and sled. We schussed down Heart Break Hill relatively smoothly, given the load and started the long, gradual accent of the Kahiltna. The weather was beyond perfect. Blue skies, warm, probably too warm for a bit, but then a gentle kiss of breeze cooled us down. 

6 hours of that steady diesel truck burn brought us to our first real camp of the climb at the Base of Ski Hill. We spent the next couple hours establishing a routine that will become quite familiar: building tent platforms, erecting tents, digging kitchens, bathrooms, melting water, making dinner, and finding time for self-care.

Tomorrow, we will look to move a load uphill and cache before returning to this same camp. We will all be happy for lighter loads. 
Wish us bon voyage.

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Best to Pete + crew…Look forward to following along…Wshing success…From flatlands of Indiana.

Posted by: Walter Glover on 5/14/2023 at 10:07 am

bon voyage~
and well done team!

Posted by: Lyds on 5/13/2023 at 5:23 pm


Denali Expedition: Van Deventer & Team Fly onto Base Camp

Our Denali escapade has commenced! Everyone arrived in Anchorage without incident and enjoyed a surprisingly smooth drive to Talkeetna. We spent yesterday crawling through all our gear, packing, repacking, wondering if we should bring more, less, or had forgotten something entirely and tearing it all apart to start again. Once we were sure, we weighed it all in for the planes and got sorted for the two Otters that would ferry us to base camp. We enjoyed a last dinner in Talkeetna, and some took two, three, or four showers to make up for the coming weeks and be sure to fly on smelling like roses.

We woke up this morning ready and hopeful to launch immediately, but it wasn't to be. Base camp reported that they were in a snow globe with 12 new inches overnight. We commenced the chill, sipped coffee, visited the myriad shops, ate lunch, and became somewhat convinced that we would HAVE to spend another night in a bed, have to take another shower, and have to eat a meal. Then, suddenly the RMI1 team got told to ready 5 and launched. Our hopes changed - but also Came with the realization that we would be landing quite late, and cooking dinner would be even later. So, we compromised. We would sleep on the ground and forego a shower if we could have one more mountain high pizza meal. We grabbed pizzas, trapped the stack together, and flew in with them in our lap. Our flight was stunning, with the long light of evening lighting the thousands of peaks in the Alaska range. We landed, set up our shelter, ate our pizza, and are settling in for our first night on the glacier.

We will be in touch tomorrow with more news. Stay tuned!

RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer, Henry Coppolillo, Tatum Whatford, and Team

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Thank you for the blog posts! We love hearing about what Bailey is experiencing. We praying for safety and an incredible experience for the whole team!

Posted by: Karlyn Sullivan on 5/14/2023 at 4:42 pm

Lap pizza is my new favorite Denali beta!! Hope it tastes even better from the glacier :D

Posted by: Corey on 5/12/2023 at 11:01 am


Mt. Rainier: Four Day Climb Teams Enjoy Beautiful Day

The Four Day Climb August 18 - 21 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning at 6:05 am.  The teams enjoyed clear skies and a light breeze during their climb.  They began their descent from the crater rim at 7:20 am to return to Camp Muir.  At Camp Muir they will repack and take a short break before continuing the final 4,500' descent to Paradise. 

Congratulations to today's climbing teams!

Photo credit: Ben Luedtke

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