Entries By tatum whatford

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!

RMI guide Mike Walter checked in this afternoon to report that the team was out of the backcountry. Despite their best efforts, the North Ridge team shifted objectives and ultimately were turned around due rockfall after attempting the Coleman-Deming route. 

Nice work team!

Monday, July 31, 2023 - 6:00 pm PT

We woke up to a clear stary morning at Sandy Camp for our climb of the Easton Glacier. We had an all-star team of climbers that tagged the top around 10am this morning. We just got back to camp and we're enjoying some sunshine. 

RMI Guide Tatum Whatford

The Expedition Skills Seminar - Emmons June 30 - 5 July reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today.  After several days of training and ascending via the Emmons Glacier, RMI Guide Tatum Whatford and team left Camp Schurman this morning for their summit attempt.  The team reached the summit around 8:30 am.  It's a beautiful day on the mountain and after enjoying some time in the crater the team will return to Camp Schurman.  Tonight is their last night on the mountain, tomorrow they will descend to the trailhead at White River and make the drive back to Rainier BaseCamp.  We look forward to seeing them tomorrow afternoon. 

Nice work team!

The Five Day Climb teams led by RMI Guides Joe Hoch and Tatum Whatford reached the summit this morning.  Joe reported a stormy night at Camp Muir and a cloudy ascent but a clear morning with light winds as they were descending from the crater rim.  The teams started their descent from the crater rim a little before 7am today.  They will return to Camp Muir for a quick break and then continue down to Paradise.

Congratulations to today's climbers!

The Expedition Skills Seminar - Emmons June 17 - 22 led by RMI Guide Hannah Smith made the difficult decision to turn around today at 13,500'.  Hannah reported difficult snow conditions and a lack of established trail due to the new snow accumulations over the last few days. The climbers have returned to Camp Schurman where they will spend their final night on the mountain.  Tomorrow the team will do some crevasse rescue training before descending to the trailhead and returning to Rainier BaseCamp later in the day.

The Expedition Skills Seminar - Kautz June 11 - 16, 2023 led by RMI Guide Eric Frank reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning via the Kautz Glacier. After two days of training at BaseCamp and Paradise the team began their ascent via Paradise.  They established camp and spent the next two nights on the mountain practice and learning more alpine skills including some crevasse rescue training.  This morning the team made their summit attempt, they checked in around 7:30 from just below the Wapowety Cleaver.  Eric reported a beautiful day with no wind and warm temperatures.  However, when they reached the summit the winds were strong.  The team enjoyed a bit of time on the summit before starting their descent back to camp. They will stay tonight on the mountain and continue their descent tomorrow, perhaps with a bit more training.

Nice climbing team!

Saturday, June 3, 2023 - 9:28 pm PT

After a another day of waiting, false starts on packing and taking down our tents, and some general finger twiddling, we suddenly got the very positive news that K2 had launched all four of their otters to come get us yesterday evening. The trusty planes hit the runway in quick succession, not unlike a military drill and we were loading duffels, packs, and sleds with excitement. We went on the slide down the runway one more time and we were off, airborne for Talkeetna. The flight out was a bit bumpy and we dodged clouds through the Alaska range to get home. It was quite evident how hard the pilots had worked to come get us. 

We landed in Talkeetna and disembarked to the fragrant smell of plants, technicolor hues of leaves and grass, and gratefully removed our boots and traded for flip flops. And just like that, we had reached the end of the expedition and achieved our ultimate goal - to come home whole. We gathered at the Denali Brew Pub for a celebratory dinner and poked our head in the historic Fairview Inn for a touch more celebrating. 

This morning we dried our gear, repacked bags for flights home, and got ready to head our separate ways. There is a strong bond that develops sharing tents and some trials over 23 days on a glacier. It's bittersweet to move on, but we do so knowing that this team came together in a way that made everyone stronger, they stretched to meet all of the many challenges we faced, and we came back successful. From Henry, Tatum, and myself, we would like to thank all of our team sincerely for being so strong, fun, and patient, and many thanks to everyone's families for the support and for following along. This is a long strange trip that none of us will soon forget. Flight plan closed. 

RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer

June 1, 2023, 10:30 pm PDT

MOUNTAIN DAY 22 -

We had hopes this morning as the base camp manager said to ready everything and that planes were on the way. By 8:30 several planes hit the runway and stayed to load climbers. They departed and as the clouds edged closer, we were told they were launching planes for us and they were trying to get in. But the snow started and visibility shut down and the planes stopped landing. We kept waiting for the snow to stop and a hole to open, but it didn't come. It is now calm, but snowing prolifically. Midwinter, we would be going to sleep excited about the powder day to come. Here, we beg for it to stop so we can make our way home. But we are in a beautiful place, and we count ourselves warm, dry, and lucky to experience the power of the Alaska Range. 

RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer and team

Thursday, June 1, 2023 - 8:25 am PT

We made it to base camp! We had a smooth, though sticking with the theme of the trip, pretty white walk out to Base camp. We got in in the early afternoon relieved to be done pulling our sleds and shouldering heavy packs. The clouds didn't promise much for flying out, but we stayed hopeful and lounged on our packs and sleds. We had left ourselves some celebratory materials and we enjoyed those. A few clearing trends and blue skies gave us hope a few times but by 8pm we accepted that we would have another night in tents and set then up, made a last dinner of burritos, and crawled back into sleeping bags. We are happy to have done our part now. No more packs or sleds, just waiting for weather to cooperate. And it is so much warmer, and easier to breathe down here! 

Hopefully weather let's us fly off soon!

RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer