Entries from Mt. McKinley
Wow! The close to expeditions happen so quickly. After spending two weeks working our way into position, and then waiting for our summit window, the descent flew by. After a day of waiting for winds to die to leave 17k, we left camp in much more moderate winds, but with moderate snowfall added to the mix. The group did a great job of working down the exposed sections of the
West Buttress and down the fixed lines to 14k. We ran into
Dave Hahn's group there, and traded stories while sorting and organizing our cache, and then continued on our way down to 11k for the evening. Once again the weather moved in, and we arrived at 11k with a chilly wind and snowfall. We set a hasty camp, dug our cache, and ate a hot dinner, before heading to bed. With snow in the forecast for the next day, and hoping to have some visibility, we opted to wake in the dawn hours of morning. The day turned out to be perfectly clear and calm, and we walked out under warming conditions, arriving at Basecamp just in time to see five K2 airplanes land to take out 24 climbers that had been waiting to leave for several days. We were next in line, but spent the day on standby, as K2 launched plane after plane to come get us, only to have to turn around due to clouds and obscured visibility in the passes that allow access to the
Alaska Range. Finally, at 8 pm, we got word that the last flight for that evening had turned around and that we would spend another night on the glacier. We set a hasty camp, and cooked up a big dinner out of all of the tasty looking ingredients we could pull from our remaining meals. The next morning dawned clear, calm, and warm, but again, clouds hung in the passes, preventing planes from making it to us, until later in the afternoon. Finally, we had planes on the runway, but the pilots hurried us along, saying it wasn't going to last, and sure enough, as we headed out, pass after pass had shutdown with big white banks of clouds. As we rounded the corner of the Pica Glacier towards Pica Pass, we say the hole we needed and scooted through, with gray rock and white glaciers giving way suddenly to bright green forest and bog lands. Landing in Talkeetna is always a shock to the senses, as smells of grass, trees, pavement, jet fuel, and everything else come flooding in. We stepped off of the planes Tuesday evening to a warm, bright, scented scene, excited to be off the glacier, and gratitude to K2 for trying so hard to get us off.
This trip brought together seven climbers who previously had never met to attempt and test themselves on the
tallest peak in North America. The group did an amazing job quickly coalescing into a very functional team. We moved over the mountain efficiently (critical for the weather we would see in the second half of the trip), set camp quickly and solidly, and everyone supported everyone else. It was a pleasure for the three of us
guides to work with the group, and their dedication showed as the conditions became more challenging, and everyone persevered despite.
Thanks for tuning in and watching our adventure progress. Until next time,
RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer, Geoff Schellens, Robby Young, and team signing out!
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Last night's snow shower turned into the "heavy fall of snow" that we've been promised on a daily basis by our forecasts these last ten days. It snowed, it snowed and then it snowed some more here at 14,200 ft. We estimated that it was coming down at a rate of 3 inches per hour. Zeb got out at three to rally a shovel brigade in retaking the camp from the tent-bending powder deluge. We could hear great avalanches roaring repeatedly down the steep and icy flanks of the West Buttress. It didn't ease until around nine in the morning, by which point we figured about 24 inches had fallen overnight. Needless to say, today was not a climbing day for us. The wind was still pulling huge streamers of snow off the route we'd hoped to trace along the crest of the Buttress. And the slopes leading to the ridge were now all suspect in terms of snow stability. So much snow falling so quickly doesn't give the stuff a chance to settle. One of the ways it settles on a mountainside is to avalanche. There was plenty of visual evidence (when the clouds parted for a minute here and there) that a number of avalanches had already occurred on the route to the fixed ropes, but there were also still vast stretches of undisturbed deep new snow. We needed a hot and sunny day to glue things in place and to make it all safe again. But you can't always get what you need. Our day was mostly cloudy with light snow showers. Zebulon gave a great lesson in basic snow science, demonstrating how to identify weak layers in the snow pack, how to compare the hardness of those layers, and in how to conduct a "compression test" on an isolated column of snow in a study pit. Our climbers then dug their own pits and made their own observations as a way of understanding our challenge in these next few days. We need to figure out the level of hazard that exists on the slopes above us without exposing ourselves to that very hazard. And we don't have much time to do it in. We only have a couple more days of food available. Our greater cache of food is now the one sitting above the suspect slopes... In perfect position for our summit bid, but out of our reach until we determine that the avalanche hazard has diminished. Lots to figure out on Denali. We aren't alone though. The other teams, mostly at 17 camp have similar dilemmas What we all need, first and foremost, is a break from continued bad weather. As is normal, we need a little good luck. Despite the challenges, the team is still in good spirits. Today, we went over the blog comments together. We can't surf the web with our setup, but the RMI office was kind enough to cut and paste the comments into an email for us. Thanks, from the entire team, for keeping us in your thoughts.
Best Regards
Dave Hahn
On The Map
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Not too much to report on our scheduled rest day at
14,200' on Mt. McKinley. It was calm and sunny, despite the persistent storm forecasts, but it did seem to be getting progressively more cloudy as the day went on and it started snowing at a good clip while we ate dinner in our cozy POSH tent. The team did an excellent job of taking it easy today. We caught up on hydration and sleep, rested sore muscles and dried out boots and socks. We pared down the personal gadgetry and entertainment systems for the hard move up to 17,200' and tried to figure out any clothing or gear that would not be useful up above.
The number of teams around or above us has been steadily diminishing and as is normal for this point in July, the National Park Service climbing rangers have been packing up their seasonal station at 14 and getting loads ready for helicoptering. It has been fun visiting with the other teams, but it is also quite enjoyable to have the mountain in its natural state -quiet and uncrowded.
If it doesn't snow too much tonight and we get a decent shot tomorrow, we'll move to high camp.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Monday, July 8, 2013
One of our better weather days of the trip. That said, it is snowing good and hard now at our 14,200 ft camp, but that isn't so important (yet). It was clear and calm this morning when we were interested in starting our carry up onto the
West Buttress of Denali. By far, this was our coldest morning. We were guessing it was -10F or thereabouts. We started climbing at a quarter to 10 this morning in bright sunshine. The route goes uphill in a hurry out of 14 camp and we made steady progress toward the "fixed ropes". This steep and intimidating section of the climb was tough, as expected. Hard ice, 45 degree angles, unrelentingly uphill and airy feeling... but it was also spectacular when one was able to look up from the hard work for a moment to see the lower Kahiltna Glacier or Foraker across the way or the clean granite of Denali all around us. We reached the ridge crest (16,200 ft) at 2 PM and took a welcome break, gazing down at the Peters Glacier and the Northwest Buttress on the "other" side of our perch. Thus we broke Max's altitude record, which was momentous. But his was the only one to fall as our other climbers had previously topped mountains like Kilimanjaro and Aconcagua. All noted that 16,200 on Denali felt a little different than similar heights on other mountains. We cached our supplies and descended in gathering cloud and murk. We'd reached 14 camp by 4:30 and took a few hours to kick back and drink water before dinner. Tomorrow is a rest day, and a welcome one after four hard days of moving and acclimating to uncomfortable new altitudes.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
The mountain might as well surrender right now. It has no chance against this intrepid group of climbers. Ok, kind of kidding. But we are summit bound early tomorrow morning.
We topped off our preparation for our summit climb of
Mt. Elbrus with a bit of training early this morning. Focus was on the use of the mountain climbers best friend, the ice axe, used primarily while ascending steep snow covered slopes. The team practiced with care and enthusiasm ,confidence in this arena will help immensely when confronted with some challenging terrain. And yes, that is what the near future holds for us.
Honestly we go at this climb like all climbs, humble and hopeful. If this beautiful hunk of Mother Earth allows us to stand on the summit, we will be grateful and thrilled. Nature is the boss and we will give it the utmost respect.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
On The Map
This morning was the first in a while that we weren't getting up early, desperate for conditions to be favorable. We got the stoves started around nine, which sounds late and lazy, except in these parts, the sun doesn't get around the mountain until 9:30. It was socked in and cloudy for our breakfast, and then snowing again, but without any wind. We were set to do our "back carry" -dropping down to pick up our cache from the other day, but we'd also been in touch with
Pete VanDeventer and knew his team was descending and would pop out of the clouds any minute. It made sense to greet his gang and to exchange notes at 14,200 before going to get our carry done. It was fun to see their team, flush with success and excited to nearly be done with their climb. In the early afternoon, although it was still snowing, we set off into the murk to find our 13,600 ft cache. The cache was undisturbed, which was a relief. Guess we'd buried it all too deeply for the Ravens. It took just over an hour to make it back up to camp with the cargo. People retreated to their tents for a snooze while a few of us built a new kitchen-dining complex. The clouds began to drop and the sun got shining brightly for dinner and the few remaining hours of the day -it ducks behind the
West Buttress at 9 PM and the temperature seems to drop about fifty degrees in a few minutes at that point. But we were treated to great views of Mounts Foraker and Hunter sticking out from the solid base of clouds spread below us. The forecasts still call for snow, but luckily they aren't always right in just how much snow we'll get and at which elevation it will fall. A calm day tomorrow for our carry to 16,200 ft would be greatly appreciated.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Sunday, July 7, 2013
We are down in the thick air of
11k feet! We woke this morning to some snowfall, and generally wintry conditions, but nothing that we couldn't deal with, and in short order we had camp packed and were rolling down the buttress. We made a short stop at 14 to visit with Dave Hahn's team ( who were gracious enough to invite is into their posh and make us hot water) and pick up our cache. Another few hours brought us to the 11k camp, where we made our beds for the night. We plan to wake early and continue our descent down the Kahiltna, with the aim of being at the airstrip by mid morning! With luck, there will be a break in the clouds, and we will see the red planes of K2 dropping in to bring us back to Talkeetna! We'll let you know how that goes, but for now, it's early to bed for us!
RMI Guides Pete, Geoff, Robby, and team
On The Map
Saturday, July 6, 2013
14 K at last! But we had to fight our way up here, it didn't come easy.
Back down at 11,000 ft in the early hours of the day, it looked as though we might get decent weather. At least, if one was looking up at the
West Buttress, there was good visibility and not much sign of wind, if one turned and looked West, however, there was still a massive flow of cloud, as there had been all week, often overflowing and engulfing camp.
We ate breakfast and packed, it seemed especially difficult to get going after having become so deeply dug in for the best part of a week, but we managed. Naturally, as we roped up and and got ready to walk, the clouds swept in and the wind came up. We came full on into strong, steady winds as we topped motorcycle hill and it seemed we found even stronger winds at the crest of squirrel hill. All of this was while inside a big white freezing cloud, so we were getting rimed up and frosty as we leaned straight into the storm to climb higher. On the polo field, we still had wind but we were getting occasional sun breaks. Windy Corner lived up to its name today. Getting past it was the key battle of the day, but we knew if we could pass the corner we could leave the wind and cloud behind. Sure enough, as we reached our cache from yesterday, we'd found a calm and sunny glacier. It took another ninety minutes to get into "Genet Basin" which we reached at 3:30 PM. We were happy to rejoin the teams we'd shared 11 camp with. There were plenty of empty camp sites with good walls, so building our nest at 14,200 ft was made slightly easier. The team was a little weary after pushing through such harsh conditions, but all were excited to be back in the game, to have new and awesome views and to have beat the forecasted "next storm". Yes, that is right, we are in for another one. The western sky was full of wind sculpted wave clouds, as if a fleet of flying saucers were attacking Mount Foraker. By the time we finished dinner, Denali was cloud capped as well and the snow was starting to fall at 14,200.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Saturday, July 6, 2013
It was a beautiful though somewhat blustery summit day yesterday and everyone did great! We woke this morning with the intention of moving downhill, but as we prepared, several other groups returned reporting high winds along the
buttress. After assessing, we decided that it would behoove us to rest the day and recover from yesterday, and move down tomorrow in lesser winds. So we'll be in touch tomorrow, hopefully from significantly lower on the mountain! All for now,
RMI Guides Pete, Geoff, Robby, and team
On The Map
Saturday, July 6th, 2013 at 1:50 a.m. PST
We made it!
We stomped a runway.
Ate breakfast.
Went like Vikings to raid a cache (unsuccessfully).
Made two hours of quesadillas.
Packed up camp for incoming airplane.
Listened as incoming airplane went away.
Made camp again.
Made dinner.
Packed up camp as planes came back.
Flew back to civilization!!
Pizza.
Welcome home!
RMI Guides
Mike Haugen,
Mike Uchal,
Katie Bono and the
RMI Summit Team 6
On The Map
Previous Page
Next Page
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
-640x480.jpg)
-640x480.jpg)
-640x480.jpg)
nice pic! brrrrrr!
Posted by: michelle on 7/12/2013 at 3:10 pm
Happy Birthday Mike! Here with Abby at the bakery wanting to make you a cake! Stay safe…enjoy the summit cuz ya know its up there!
Wendy
Posted by: Wendy on 7/12/2013 at 8:03 am
View All Comments