Entries By raymond holt

Friday, June 6, 2025 - 6:37pm PT

After three weeks in the mountain we flew from Kahiltna Base Camp this morning. While warming our hands with a final cup of coffee at base camp, we got the message that we had all been waiting for.  K2 had launched their planes.  Thirty minutes later, the distinctive red and white Otters roared over and landed in the snowy white landscape.

While weather kept us from standing on top this time around, we had a resoundingly successful trip. I cannot thank our climbers and my fellow guides enough for all of their work, effort, laughs, determination, and patience during this trip. Until next time,

RMI Guide Seth Burns

Wednesday, June 4, 2025 - 10:14 pm PT

When we think of Sisyphus, we think of a man cursed to repeat the same arduous task each day with no end in sight. Each day he must think this is it - he has rolled this massive boulder to the top of the mountain, and surely his quest must be complete, right? Yet he awakes each day to the boulder back at the foot of the mountain, only to start again. How tragic! How crushing!

Or is it? In his essay, “The Myth of Sisyphus”, Albert Camus posits that perhaps Sisyphus is not doomed to a life of despair, but is actually a deeply satisfied individual. (Mind you, I have never read this essay and have only a surface-level knowledge of French existential literature let alone Greek mythology, so take this with a Denali sized grain of salt). But consider: this man wakes up each day with a clear task. It’s tough work rolling that boulder but he has some sweet views along the way. Every day he completes his task and must feel satisfied with a day of hard work. He goes to sleep feeling accomplished each night. How many of us can say that we have a clear task each day with no other distractions, a sense of satisfaction at the end of the day, and the delicious feeling of going to bed bone-tired which always produces the best sleep?

Our team made it back to Kahiltna Base Camp today, the last leg of an epic three week expedition. We now wait for skies to clear enough for a flight back to Talkeetna. Although the mountain’s infamous weather system ultimately prevented our team from making a summit bid, we are deeply satisfied with the gifts that The Great One has provided us. We were awed by the austere beauty of the Kahiltna and and vastness of the surrounding peaks and ridges. We were pushed to our limits and learned to dig deeper than ever before; whether it be cramponing on blue ice, being blown around on Windy Corner, struggling with all things altitude, or keeping our extremities warm in -40F windchill. We - a group of strangers prior to May 13 - became not only friends but teammates, encouraging each other in our hardest times, cheering each others’ successes, and cracking the most ridiculous and obscene jokes all day and late into the night.

Climbing Denali/Mt. McKinley has been physically and mentally the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Yet each night I went to sleep in the tent feeling a deep sense of gratitude and accomplishment.

Thank you to our incredible guides (Seth, Jackson, and Ray) for showing us the way, and more - from whipping up breakfast and dinner each day, to performing minor foot surgery, to digging Sisyphusian amounts of snow on the daily, to dealing with all of our client shenanigans. You each have unique gifts that helped me get farther than I thought possible.

Thank you to the rest of the team - the  Dont-nalis :) Shannon, David, Ethan, Will, Juan, and of course my other half Jason. I am deeply grateful to have met and befriended each of you. I look forward to our paths crossing again on this great expedition of life.

Love,

RMI Climber Grace

Tuesday, June 3, 2025 11:11pm PDT

We left 14 today. Wind and snow. made it to the base of ski hill. Set up camp, had dinner. Hope to continue to the airstrip tomorrow!

Haikus of a Denali Descent 

Downhill we trotted

To the airstrip we plotted

Stopped short at ski hill

Wind blowing so far

Windy corner not that hard

Our team is so strong

Talkeetna awaits

Hopes of flying tomorrow

One more stretch to go

 - by RMI Guide Jackson Breen

Monday, June 2, 2025 - 11:07 pm PT

We slept soundly last night despite strong winds and snow thanks to the fortress our team built. After breakfast, we discussed the intense stormy weather we are currently experiencing and the forecast that has no adequate weather windows in site. This lead our team to the tough decision that we need to start heading down the mountain. The team took this in stride as they have taken everything throughout our program. With any luck we will start our journey down the mountain tomorrow picking up caches and shaking hands with other RMI teams along the way. Once back at Basecamp we will wait patiently for our brilliant pilots at K2 to come whisk us away and take us back to Talkeetna!

RMI Guide Jackson Breen

Monday, June 2, 2025 - 3:45 pm PT

We woke up at 17 Camp to large plumes of snow sublimating off Denali Pass. We slow rolled putting on every layer of clothing we had waiting for water to boil, hoping the wind would subside by the time breakfast was ready. To no avail. By the time we were packed and headed downhill the wind had reached our front door and we were blown down the West Buttress back to 14 Camp with our tails between our legs. Reuniting with friends back at camp and worsening weather reassured us that we had made the right decision. 

We have gained a lot over the last couple of weeks; new friendships, good conversations, silly jokes, and some peace from the fast pace of modern life. Though reaching the summit isn’t out of the cards yet for our team, we are beyond satisfied with what the mountain has given us so far. Climbing brings people to their best and their worst, it can cause great joy and great fear. It is a very vulnerable and intimate relationship.

In this world of rat races and anonymous faces it is refreshing to be with good people in a beautiful place. Thank you Mt. McKinley for brining us all together.

Peace, love, gratitude--
RMI Guide Ray Holt

Saturday, May 31, 2025 9:20pm PDT

After 8 days in the comfort of 14,000' camp we went climbing today.  The team packed up and we made our way once again up the fixed lines.  The west buttress did not disappoint, delivering panoramic views.  The weather could not have been better with only the slightest of breezes and the occasional cloud. While tired, the team is ready to hopefully take advantage of a small weather window.   Send good weather vibes our way!

RMI Guide Seth and Team

Friday, May 30, 2025 - 7:57pm PDT

Waiting at 14,000

Our guides warned us that days at 14,000 feet could be among the hardest. Not because of the altitude, the vertical climbs, or the heavy loads—but because of the waiting.

Today, we hoped for a weather window to move to 17, the penultimate step in our push for the summit. Instead, we were sequestered in camp by wind and snow. Nerves and hopes for tomorrow run high. These are the days that can wear on you—but I am fortunate to be part of an intrepid, resolved, and collegial team.

I am inspired by you, my fellow climbers—by your humor and strength, your spirit of adventure and fierce determination, your perseverance and positivity. We came together by different paths, but we now share a common journey. When I falter, you wait. When you ascend, I cheer. We move together, always supporting, never judging.

I am equally emboldened by our guides—by their friendliness, focus, and vision. They work while we rest. They carry the heavier loads. Though their frustration with our poor packing skills and questionable foot care is sometimes apparent, their patience, calm, and capability give me confidence—not in the outcome, which even they cannot promise, but in the possibility. There are a thousand reasons—weather, injury, error—that any one of us might not summit. But these three remarkable people are the reason we can try.

I don’t know what the next few days hold. But I know this: the ten of us will face what comes together, as we have faced everything so far—one expedition, one team, one rope.

– David and team

Thursday May 29, 2025 11:15 pm PDT

The rest day at 14K. Waiting on the weather.

99% of people come to Denali with the sole aspiration of reaching the summit. Don’t be like these folks, they are basic and miss out While tent-bound and waiting for our weather window (hopefully Saturday or Sunday by the way, put it on your calendars), we’ve been busy with:

1. Building an ice monument at camp to honor the ice Pharaohs that will last a thousand suns.
2. Setting up an HOA and developing our surrounding community.
3. Reenacting 12 Angry Men, except the crime is who left a covert poop in our bathroom?
4. Putting up “Wanted” posters for Shannon’s friend, the elusive Bill “Big Moxy” Marshall.
5. Filming our workout tape, Body by Denali, guaranteed to deliver muscle loss in 22 days.

Once we complete all these side quests, I think we unlock a free ride to the top.

-  RMI Climber Jason

Wednesday, May 28, 2025 - 10:41 pm PT

A true rest day at 14000' Camp.  The day began with a more than filling pancake breakfast that lasted well into the late morning.  After some more lounging we began adding to our walls of snow building a true fortress. The rest of the day was filled with more eating and resting. 

That's all for now. We are set up for an anticipated snowy couple of days.

-RMI Guide Seth

Tuesday, May 27, 2025 - 9:53 pm PT

Once upon a time in a land far far away,

7  Denali climbers were sleeping dreaming of the next day. 

Before sun had risen they awoke to a rattle,

loud stoves were a burning, breakfast before the next battle.

They packed and readied getting out of warm beds,

The climbers excited for the next challenge ahead.

Folks started with cold toes up the steep mountain side,

But quickly warmed as legs churned and turned their tide.

Up the fixed lines to the climbers next cache,

They reached the spot, oh boy what a dash?!

Back down they went making truly great time.

Home for ramen dinner while the sun did still shine.

Now back in their tents, the days sure do fly by,

Dreams of the summit with hopes set sky high!

Farewell for now as guides need sleep too,

The team will check back tomorrow with updates for you!

RMI Guide Jackson Breen