Thursday June 25th 10:15 pm PT
Our exit from Talkeetna was nearly as smooth and easy as our arrival in the Alaska Range turned out to be. We had our traditional Roadhouse breakfast and then headed for the hangar. By 10:00 AM we were loading onto K2 Aviation's ski planes and taking off for the mountains. We had a couple of good views of Denali and Foraker, the giants of the range, despite a fair amount of cloud and forest fire smoke in the air.
Basecamp at 7,200 feet on the Southeast fork of the Kahiltna Glacier was nearly deserted when we came in... just the way we like it. We set camp, reviewed glacier travel techniques and got used to fabulous views when the clouds lifted. By early evening a few other guided teams flew in and we chatted with the leaders, since we'll likely be seeing each other a bit in the weeks to come. There was a lot to get done on this day- there always is at the start of a big climb. But we got it done and the team is now resting. We were early to bed and we'll be early to rise tomorrow in the hopes of catching easier and safer conditions for travel in the cold part of the day. From what we could see from the airplane, the first part of our climb will be made easier by excellent snow coverage on the glacier surface.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Gary R and all of you: Best wishes for great weather, safe travel, magnificent views, a fun time and victory in attaining the summit. I’ll be following the posts throughout. - Rob R
Thursday June 25th 10:00 a.m. PTRMI Guide Dave Hahn sent us a couple photos as they were embarking on their flight to Kahiltna Base. Once the team is situated on the glacier and moved into their first mountain camp, Dave will check in with us again.
Wednesday June 24th 11:15 pm PT
This was a typically full and busy prep day for Denali in many ways... And a little atypical as well. We had plenty to do, a big and delicious breakfast meeting at the Roadhouse, our informative orientation slideshow with the National Park Service at the Talkeetna Ranger Station and an afternoon of checking and sorting climbing equipment and supplies out at the K2 Aviation hangar. It was during the gear sorting that the atypical event transpired. We were working outside, enjoying the summer sunshine. Airplanes were taxiing and revving their props, trains were going back and forth with blaring horns and mild rumbling... When real rumbling began. An earthquake struck a little before 2:30 in the afternoon. It was unmistakable, but also fairly mild where we were standing... even if it was surreal. We heard reports that it was a magnitude 5.8 quake centered about sixty miles west of Talkeetna, which must mean that our climber-friends and co-workers probably felt it more than we did. We sure hope that none were in delicate circumstances for the event and that all were ok. Our team went back to packing and prepping for flying onto the Kahiltna Glacier tomorrow morning. The afternoon finished with a weigh-in of food and fuel, clothing, tents, ropes, stoves, sleds, shovels, people and a small mountain of miscellaneous ballast for the climb.
We sat outside for dinner, talking over the details of tomorrow and the start of a big adventure, but also simply relaxing and enjoying a memorable summer day before we commit to snow and ice.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Wulp, your intrepid team has made it smoothly and safely into Camp 4 at over 14K! Forecasts were calling for an end to our decent weather on Thursday or Friday so we decided to push up and forego a rest day at 11. The climbers have been motivated and moving strongly throughout the trip, which made the decision to move up a relatively easy one. We were greeted by RMI Guide Pepper Dee with a great looking posh and nice camp to move into. Pepper also had plenty of cold water for us which really hit the spot after our first really hot day on the move. Not much else to report other than pretty marginal weather forecasts and a happy team sitting pretty at 14.
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
Wednesday June 24th 11:45 pm PT
We woke up around seven this morning to one of the warmest mornings I have ever experienced at 17,000 feet camp. We got ready slowly and departed for the top just after nine. The weather was perfect for us pretty much the entire climb. There was a little bit of cold, a little bit of hot, but mostly perfect all day. The El Siete crew walked to the summit in style a little after five this afternoon and spent a good deal of time taking pictures from the top. We had a smooth descent and pulled into camp just after 9:00 p.m. Alaska time for a twelve-hour round trip. We are getting the boys fed and put to bed so we can get up early to start our way out to basecamp and eventually back to you!
RMI Guide Mike HaugenAudio transcription - Wednesday June 24th 6:30 pm PT
Hi, it's Mike Haugen. I am standing with the RMI el Siete on the summit of Denali. Beautiful weather. We topped out about 5:15 in the evening and are miles above the clouds. We are saying our congratulations to the team and head on back to high camp and send the blog from there. Hope all of our families are doing well. Thank you for your support.
RMI Guide Mike Haugen calls in from the Denali summit!
June 24, 2015 12:35 am PST
The final RMI Denali team of 2015 came together today. Six climbers and three guides met up in Anchorage this afternoon, some having come in one or two days previously and some just arriving today after exceedingly long airline extravaganzas. Luckily, the all-important mountain of baggage that will allow us to safely challenge the real mountain made it onto the Anchorage carousels intact. We didn't waste much time at all before boarding our Denali Overland shuttle for Talkeetna. It was a warm and dry day, as has apparently been the pattern in these parts this season. Haze obscured the views we might otherwise have enjoyed of the Alaska Range. Our journey to Talkeetna was broken up by a stop at the big supermarkets of Wasilla to put finishing touches on group and personal food supplies for the trip. We made good time up through the fresh forest fire scars of Willow, AK that have been making national news in recent weeks and rolled into Talkeetna around 8 PM. It didn't take long before we were settled into our comfortable hotel and venturing out together for a relaxing beverage while basking in the strong evening sunshine.
Tomorrow we'll get down to the business of climbing North America's highest mountain.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team
June 23, 2015 9:51 pm PST
We had a successful move up to 17,000 foot camp on Mt. McKinley. The weather was perfect for traveling on the fixed lines and above. Climbing on the amazing ridge that crests the West Buttress of Denali is always one of my favorite parts of the climb because of the beautiful rock an the exposure. I think all of the El Siete boys had a good time weaving through the rocks and snow that provide the natural protection on the ridge. As of now, we are planning to try to summit tomorrow. The forecast looks good and the crew is ready. Wish us luck!
RMI Guide Mike Haugen
Tuesday June 23rd 6:48 pm PT
Greetings from another partly cloudy day here on Denali. Great weather and calm winds enabled us to push a cache up the mountain today around Windy Corner just shy of Camp 4. We were afforded glimpses of blue skies and the upper mountain through the clouds while we were preparing and covering up our supplies. We actually stumbled upon a perfectly sized cache hole abandoned by another party so little digging was necessary. Between that and the weather we've been making out pretty easy thus far. No matter, our team is gelling well and ready for the challenges that lie ahead.
Sitting pretty back at 11...
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
I am glad to hear that about a father and son team climbing together. As we climb mountains we get stronger physically, but as we face mountains in our faith we must climb over them and as we do we get stronger in our faith. Remember that God is with you on every step and that He will never leave you so all of us are always with our Heavenly Father as we climb
Posted by: Kevin Stone on 6/25/2015 at 8:12 am
Doug, been thinking about your trek back to Denali often, and wish you good weather and good companionship as you reach this next goal. Best of luck and stay safe!
June 22, 2015 11:30 pm PST
We spent what is hopefully our last day at 14,000 feet resting and getting geared up to move to our High Camp at 17,000 feet. It started out very sunny, but soon the clouds climbed up and whited us out. The clouds gave us a dusting of snow as well as some reprieve from the brutal solar radiation that can come with the sunny skies high on a mountain. The weather is looking good for us to move up and make a push to the top over the next couple of days. Wish us luck and do your good weather jigs for us.
RMI Guide Mike Haugen
June 22, 2015 - 6:34 pm PT
Greetings from day two up here at 11 Camp where our team is resting after a pretty mellow back-carry down to 9,600'. We retrieved the cache of food and fuel we left behind yesterday on our move up and have been enjoying partly cloudy skies and pretty civilized temperatures thus far. The team has been taking advantage of the good weather by staying on the move. Tomorrow we're hoping to put a cache in up around Windy Corner at around 13,900' that will hopefully set us up well for a move up to Camp 4 at just over 14,000' in the next few days. Everyone is moving well and excited to keep on pushing up the mountain bit by bit. Not much else to report other than that the mountain feels quite empty. Not that we're lonely or anything, just enjoying some relatively uncommon solitude up here. All's well thus far!
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
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Gary R and all of you: Best wishes for great weather, safe travel, magnificent views, a fun time and victory in attaining the summit. I’ll be following the posts throughout. - Rob R
Posted by: Rob Reynolds on 6/26/2015 at 8:51 pm
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