Entries from Mt. McKinley
May 11, 2015 9:10 pm PT
Greetings from the
Kahiltna Glacier! Our team is making steady progress, and we're currently at our camp at 9,600'. The weather has been beautiful since we were able to land on the glacier on Sunday. The climbing is strenuous, as always, as we carry heavy backpacks and pull full sleds. This morning we tackled "Ski Hill", our first real significant incline, followed by rolling glacial terrain until we reached camp. Camp is all set up and we are busy cooking dinner. We'll try to rack out early tonight for some well-earned rest. Tomorrow we plan to make a cache of equipment here, at our current camp, in order to lighten our expedition loads. Then the plan is to then move up to the 11,200' camp; we'll come back for the cached gear the following day. That's the plan at least. Our plans are always at the mercy of the weather in the mountains.
That's it for now. Everyone is healthy and in good spirits. We'll touch base again tomorrow, hopefully from 11k camp.
RMI Guide Mike Walter and the team
On The Map
May 11, 2015 12:51 am PT
Hi everyone!
We finally had a break in the weather and were able to fly on to the glacier this morning. After days of waiting in
Talkeetna, we were all eagerly anticipating our flight this morning. We took off just after 9 am, and once on the glacier we packed and organized our gear quickly in order to make the most of the day.
We are now snug in our tents at the base of Ski Hill (7800') after a long but satisfying day covering the relatively flat lower glacier.
Our group climbed strong, and tomorrow we're looking forward to moving camp farther uphill.
It's nearly midnight and we've all had a big day, so we're going to get some rest and we'll check in again tomorrow!
RMI Guide Solveig Waterfall and the team
On The Map
May 10, 2015, 9:28 pm PT
We woke today in Talkeetna to beautiful weather and were able to fly on to the
Pika Glacier before noon. We spent the day building the camp that we'll be calling home for the next week, and also had time for some avalanche education and training. For now, we are in and out of light clouds and snow, but things are relatively calm, temperatures are mild and all of us are excited to be in Little Switzerland after a weather day in Talkeetna. Fingers crossed for blue skies in the coming days!
RMI Guides Sean Collon, Elias de Andres Martos and Andy Hildebrand
May 10, 2015 11:50 am PT
RMI Guide Leon Davis checked in from Talkeetna. The weather improved this morning allowing RMI Mt. McKinley May 5th Team led by Mike Walter to fly to Kahiltna. This same plane then loaded Leon and Team to fly from Kahiltna Base Camp to Talkeetna.
The Alaska Mountaineering Seminar - Alpine led by Elias de Andres Martos was also able to fly from Talkeetna today and have been flown to the Pika Glacier to start their expedition.
Greetings from Talkeetna, Alaska!
We are wrapping up our first day of the
Alpine Skills Seminar. Everybody arrived on schedule to Anchorage yesterday, and a rainy drive took us to the gateway of the Alaska Range. As planned, we spent the morning getting ready with the pertinent logistics prior to loading the bush plane equipped with skies to take us to the glacier. As our appetite climbed for what we hoped to be the last served meal of the week, the thick clouds brought the rain (snow in the range) that would keep us grounded.
We took advantage of the delay, and practiced some skills at the K2 Hangar. We got familiar with our tents, reviewed knots and hitches and mastered crevasse self extrication to make the most of a wet afternoon. Our hopes are to fly tomorrow morning straight onto the Pika Glacier. We´ll keep you posted!
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
Good evening warm comfortable people!
The team here at base camp continues to thrive midst the constant storm. We needed to stick our heads in it so we packed our sleds and made our way to the main flow of the Kahiltna and started walking upstream. Although the visibility was only a few hundred meters and the snow fell wet, we managed to make a seven-mile round trip journey up the expansive long frozen river. Everyone performed well and lessons in self care were earned. With the weather outlook looking bleak, we may have to take the first flight out tomorrow morning. Hopefully in time to call our mothers on Mother's Day!
RMI Guide Leon Davis
Greetings from inside the tent! Well we hoped to get a break today and move our bodies across some glaciers, but, the sky gods had different plans. Lots of snow falling and we can't see much past the tents, but the team is taking it in stride and they are
master knot technicians! Tomorrow is a new day so stay tuned.
Good night and good luck,
RMI Guide Leon Davis
Well the weather gods have not changed their disposition yet, and we're still in
Talkeetna waiting for the weather to improve so that we can fly in to Base Camp on the Kahiltna Glacier.
In the mean time, we took advantage of ample free time to review anchors and crevasse rescue systems in the K2 Aviation hangar.
We'll keep you up to date...
RMI Guide Mike Walter
We woke early today, hopeful that last night's forecast would be wrong. Alas, the snow that had been predicted had shown up overnight, so we hit the snooze button and rolled over to wait it out. Well, after an hour and a half it became apparent that the snow was here to stay, so we got up and got the day underway.
Our breakfast of bacon and eggs fueled up the bodies for another day of training. We had hoped to head up the main Kahiltna Glacier towards some climbing objectives, but the lack of visibility combined with the unsettled weather kept us in camp. We made the most of the day by focusing on more involved crevasse rescue systems, more technical training, and swapping stories about the adventures we've experienced.
Dinner was a welcome break from the cold and snow, and the laughter and conversation from our posh tent drifted over the glacier as we wound down the day. The snow continues to fall, so we're nestling in for the night, excited to be here in the heart of the
Alaska Range. Hopefully we'll see a break in the weather, but we'll see what it looks like when the alarms go off tomorrow! Stay tuned, thanks for reading.
RMI Guides Leon Davis, Garrett Stevens, Bridget Belliveau and the team
On The Map
RMI's 2015
Denali climbing season has started. Our team is assembled in Talkeetna and is preparing for our expedition. Yesterday we started with our National Park Service orientation, and then spent the bulk of the day packing...double and triple checking every last detail of equipment for our trip.
Now that we are packed and ready, we are hoping to fly in to Base Camp on the Kahiltna Glacier today. We are about to head down to K2 Aviation to load out gear onto the single propeller airplanes that will fly us into the Alaska Range. We will keep you updated on our expedition's status.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
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Hey Eric - So exciting to follow your adventure. We are looking forward to hearing about it from you in person. Good luck! XOXO Kathy & Casey
Posted by: Kathy Mangan on 5/28/2015 at 9:52 am
Received a surprise cell call from son Eric last night at 10:15pm EST from Camp 2 (9600’) and he sounded pumped. Great to hear your voice my boy!! (No details as call dropped after 10 seconds.) They’re on the move!
Posted by: Alex Alimanestianu on 5/12/2015 at 6:40 am
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