Entries from Mt. McKinley
May 22, 2016 - 1:12 am PT
Late tonight the sound of planes filled the air with the sweet roar of Turpin prop engines. Our flight service, K2, had taken advantage of a very short and rare window of marginally clear weather to ft three of their Otters onto the glacier to pick up some climbers anxiously awaiting a trip back to civilization, but more importantly to us, they were bringing the rest of our team to finally join us.
Day three and we're finally together!
This all happened just fifteen minutes after we had returned from a nine hour climb to carry food and fuel to
7800', Camp 1. Everyone did a fantastic job on the climb, and our efforts will make our move tomorrow a bit less tortuous, as normally we carry all our gear up from Base Camp in one move.
Let's hope the weather cooperates and we can finally start climbing this mountain.
Until tomorrow,
RMI Guide Brent Okita and crew
On The Map
May 21, 2016 - 11:43 pm PT
Though there was a cap on the upper mountain when we woke, that wasn't the direction of our concern. The snow and winds had abated, and down towards
Windy Corner, the sun was shining through thin clouds, setting everything to sparkling. After another great brunch, we grabbed our packs and feeling light as feathers, cruised downhill to our cache. We made quick work of retrieving it, and an hour later were back in camp with a small mountain of food. We spent a bit of time before dinner rigging our ascenders and reviewing fixed line techniques for what we hope to be our carry up onto the West Buttress tomorrow. If the weather cooperates we'll make our first trip up the lines, and all the boxes will be checked for our summit bid.
All for now,
RMI Guides Pete, Robby, Jess, and team
On The Map
May 21, 2016 - 7:25 pm PT
We spent another day here at 14k. Today the weather at camp was quite pleasant, with periods of sun and just some light wind. Up above on the
West Buttress, where we are hoping to climb, the strong winds persisted today. We'll see what tomorrow brings, as the weather forecast is still calling for high winds the next few days. We'll keep you posted.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
May 21, 2016 - 1:18 am PT
For most of today it huffed and puffed and the snow fell heavily. We haven't been able to see much, and the wind has been gusting pretty strongly. We made the easy choice to take today as a rest day and
fortify our camp, which proved to be the right decision as the gusts grew stronger as the day went on. Instead, we ate a great brunch of smoked salmon and bagels, then set to work reinforcing our compounds with big walls (some wondered how much of a rest day it was carrying a couple hundred 20 pound blocks of snow). With our camp solid, we retired to the tents for naps and rest, before a delicious dinner of Mac and cheese with bacon. It's still snowing hard, though the winds are starting to calm. We're expecting to still wake up to some snow, but hopefully the winds abate, the visibility improves, and we take a quick walk back to retrieve our cache. If not, we still have plenty of delicious food up here and we'll continue to acclimate and get strong in the thinner air of 14.
Best
RMI Guides Pete, Robby, Jess, and our stellar team of high altitude athletes
On The Map
May 20, 2016 - 5:36 pm PT
We're hunkered down in our tents today as a significant storm rages outside. Fortunately the snow walls we constructed are taking the brunt if the winds. It's been snowing all day, and visibility is near zero.
We're all safe and relatively comfortable in our camp between our tents and our cook tent. High above our camp you can hear the winds crashing over the
West Buttress like waves on a rocky coastline. The winds up at that altitude are forecast to reach 85 mph.
This storm will hopefully start to taper off tomorrow and give us a chance to move up to high camp for a summit bid. We'll keep you posted, but for now we're in a holding pattern.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
May 19, 2016 - Thursday Evening Post
After much deliberation on the part of the pilots, management Basecamp personnel of our flight service the teams launched for Basecamp. Weather was uncertain but K2, our air service, wanted to at least try to get us in the mountain.
The first plane landed, but with a ground fog rolling in the second of our planes had to turn back.
So, here we are, enjoying life on the mountain finally. Although our partners in Talkeetna are sleeping in beds and enjoying burgers and beer, this is what we've all come here for.
The drama of the spectacular mountains around us has been sometimes muted by clouds moving in, but the team is excited to be here and eager to learn. Before setting up camp we practiced numerous skills, hoping our partners would get lucky and be able to fly on. But such was not the case tonight.
Unfortunate though that might be, I'm delighted to be with folks so psyched to be here and learn and help out. What a great trip this will be.
RMI Guide Brent Okita
May 20, 2016 - 4:30 pm PT
A snowy morning greeted us as we finally crawled out of our sleeping bags after our
first night on the mountain. Unfortunately, the visibility was poor too, so our intentions of bringing a cache of supplies further up the mountain were thwarted. Instead, breakfast flowed into lunch as we enjoyed the comfort provided by our cook/dining tent. Stories were shared over a breakfast of biscuits and gravy, followed by more hot drinks and culminating in a hot pot of Ramen for lunch as we make the most of this weather day holding slim chance of having our other half of the team fly in to join us.
A quick satellite phone call to Christina and the team in Talkeetna let us know they have been making the most of their time by training and practicing skills that we'll need later in the trip.
The Kahiltna crew has not been slacking either, regardless of how the previous narrative sounds. Knots, tent set up, anchors, rescue systems and stove operations have been reviewed and practiced. The team is firing on all cylinders.
Wish us better luck with the weather tomorrow.
RMI Guide Brent Okita and the Kahiltna crew
May 20, 2016 - 12:24 am PT
Stupendous day here on Denali! We fought saucy winds through the aptly named
Windy Corner, but the sky stayed pristinely azure, and the team ducked their heads into the chilly breeze and powered around the corner, where the winds promptly died. We rolled into 14 looking like a fresh pair of socks, and started building our own fortress next to that of Mike Walter's crew. As the temps dropped, we ate a hearty dinner and retired to the tents. We have a light day on tap tomorrow, returning to our cache to retrieve food and fuel and fully move into 14.
Best from our new abode,
RMI Guides Pete, Jess, Robby, and team
On The Map
May 19, 2016 - 10:28 pm PT
We hung out around camp again today, as the current weather nor the forecast for Denali are conducive to going higher right now. We spent a large part of the day building snow walls around our
camp at 14,000' to protect against wind.
Our plan for tomorrow is similar to today, as we ride out this storm and hope for better weather in a few days.
We'll check in again tomorrow.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
May 19, 2016 - 2:44 p.m. PDT
One plane is flying up in ten minutes, and with luck, the rest of the team will follow shortly thereafter. Here we go!
The pilot gives us a 30% chance of actually getting to the mountain. I think otherwise. More like a 30% of having to return to
Talkeetna, but good to have a sober expectation of our chances.
RMI Guide
Brent Okita
May 19, 2016 - 8:25 a.m. PDT
We are awaiting breakfast before heading to the airport to see if we can fly out today. The drizzle falling this morning hasn't gotten anyone's spirits down. We're all excited to get going!
Update - 10:14 a.m. PDT
The sun has been peeking out shyly this morning, which is a marked improvement from our earlier rain. The 'rampers' have just finished loading our gear into the two Otters that will fly the team onto the southeast fork of the
Kahiltna Glacier from where we'll start our climb.
Boots are at the ready for when we get the word that the weather's good enough to fly. For now we're in the good hands of
K2 Aviation to make the right decision to fly. They're the experts, and share the same attitude towards safety that we do: it's our top priority.
As I write sitting in the hangar, I'm watching a couple more sun breaks and hearing a plane warm up, droning out the classical music NPR is belting out on the radio. Both good signs, but not good enough yet to slip on the expedition climbing boots I'll have on for the next two - three weeks.
With luck you'll soon be getting a short, curt dispatch from me announcing a move. If not, our next dispatch may be coming from from the dinner table between sips of an Ice Axe Ale. Such is the waiting game here in Talkeetna.
RMI Guide Brent Okita and Team
On The Map
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Following your trail Lisa and it must be incredible. Must be so beautiful. You are awesome!
Posted by: Trix on 5/23/2016 at 6:14 pm
So close.. enjoy every step and the fabulous view, Lisa..! Go higher !! Look forward to seeing the flag !
Posted by: greg hurley on 5/23/2016 at 12:27 pm
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