Entries from Mt. McKinley
Mt. McKinley has the gnarly reputation for being one of the hardest mountains in the world to reach the summit of. In circles of armchair mountaineers, horror stories bounce around like cheap cigars. What most people don't realize is how much down time comes with living the dream of climbing north America's highest peak.
Yesterday we put in our first "average work day" with an eight hour round trip climb to Washburn's thumb at 16,500 feet. We cached food, fuel and clothing needed for our time on the upper mountain. This was our teams most difficult challenge to date which everyone handled like cagey veterans.
Back to the down time. Of course the terrain on this mountain demands one's full concentration, but so does our time of rest. It is unnatural for all of us to try and sleep twelve hours a day with no darkness. The rigors of rest should not be underestimated. Today we woke from thirteen hours of hibernation and had a two hour breakfast demanding great effort to pull away from. Now we are preparing for a stroll to the edge of the world and then home for more sleep. Today is beautiful here at 14,000 feet, much more pleasant than our ten below nights. All is well and we look forward to climbing higher..
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
On The Map
It was a little tough waking up at 1 AM, since we hadn't been able to get to bed terribly early, but coffee and bagels got us going. Just as we'd hoped, it had been a clear night and the glacial surface had frozen up good and hard. Conditions were ideal for tackling the lower glacier. This section can be problematic since it is normally heavily crevassed in late season, but we found that the recent snowfall and overnight freeze had combined to bridge things nicely. We set out around 4:30 AM and made steady progress, first dropping a few hundred feet to reach the main glacier and then turning North while working up small hills and inclines. The packs were heavy and despite the fact that the fully loaded sleds were sliding easily along, we were all pretty thankful for the short rest breaks each hour. It was good hard work, but we didn't have much in the way of glitches or problems. The last two hours of our push were conducted in bright sunshine with a great view of
Denali's south face. The West Buttress stood out clearly in relief. We pulled into our intended camp at 7,800 ft at about 9:15 AM and got to work. In no time, we had tents, a kitchen, a dining area, a latrine and the start of several significant naps. It was a day for power lounging and for catching up on hydration.
We rallied for a group dinner since
Solveig Waterfall was serving up excellent burritos, but then the naps resumed.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
This is Mike checking in from high camp on
Denali. The weather is playing games with us today, but the forecast remains excellent. We had contemplated a summit bid upon awakening, but a lenticular cloud cap kept alternately forming then dissipating throughout the morning, and we decided to hold off. It has been quite windy in camp, but high pressure is forecast to dominate the next several days. Our well rested team hopes to go for it tomorrow. All is well and we will be back in touch with an update tomorrow.
Wish us luck!
Our Four Day Summit Climb Teams Led by RMI Guides Mike Haugen and Gabriel Barral reached the top of Mt. Rainier today. The teams reported light winds, and favorable weather. The teams were able to spend some time on the summit and are now en route to Camp Muir.
Congratulations to today's teams!
Mike Walter called and checked in on Friday night at about 9:50 p.m. There were some clouds and winds on the upper mountain so the team decided to take a rest day at 17,000' camp. They have had nice weather at camp and a good rest. Mike reported an awesome forecast for today with sunny skies and light winds, so they plan to make their summit attempt. The team is excited and ready to go.
Good Luck Team!
On The Map
We apologize to Mike and Nelson's family's for missing their hellos. Here they are saying hi to their followers.
Nelson: Mom, Dad, I'm having an absolute blast. I love it up here. Thank you so much for making this happen. I'm feeling great and getting excited for the imminent summit push. Tomorrow (weather permitting) we'll get to the top of the fixed lines and up onto the famed
West Buttress. Long story short, I'm having a great time. Thank you so much. To everyone else who I told to follow the blog (probably a good 3 people or so) this place is way sweet. Wicked fun. Big Rik--you need to get up here sometime, it's fantastic. Lynn--of course I'm winning and writing lots. I'll have plenty of stories for you all. It's cold, fun, and badass. Love, Nels
Hi Susan, Mel, Hannah, family and friends! Thanks to everyone for your posts. Your thoughts mean so much. I'm having a great time, staying warm, and the guides make sure we eat very well. After being snowed in today, we'll hopefully move to high camp in the next few days where we stage our attempt for the summit. Miss you all! Love Mike
What a difference a day makes. Things didn't seem a whole lot better, first thing this morning. Talkeetna was still a little dim and grey with low cloud lurking as we headed out to the airstrip. It took a few hours of waiting for things to come around. Our pilots figured out a clear path in to the Kahiltna, despite a fair amount of lingering clouds hiding the mountains. What we were able to see was stunning and spectacular, as if to make up for all that was hidden. Unbelievably steep and immense mountains began to pop up all around us as we entered the heart of the range. Glaciers, snow and random ice seemed to hang on every possible flank. The K2 pilots did their normal perfect approach and landing with the big ski equipped DeHaviland Otters. We'd taken off from town at 11:30 AM and we were unloading gear on the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna 35 minutes later. At basecamp it was intensely sunny and warm with no wind whatsoever. The cloud cover evaporated and we were treated to grand views of Mount Hunter, Mount Foraker and even
Denali on occasion. We built camp and began reviewing glacier travel techniques. There was plenty to get done and we worked throughout the afternoon and evening at divy-ing loads and getting rigged for an early morning move to camp at 7,800 ft. What we could see from the planes backed up what we've been hearing from other climbers... conditions on the lower glacier are excellent.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
This is the
June 19th Denali expedition sending love from 14,000 foot camp. We received a foot of fresh snow last night distracting us from our scheduled plan of carrying loads to the top of the fixed lines at
16,200 feet. Because of this unexpected delay we are resting today fending off climbers soliciting food to lighten their loads for the descent.
We have decided to pass the phone to let each team member send a personal hey to friends and family.
This one goes out to my wife Birgen and son Liam. I have only tried to spoon Uchal twice thinking of you. He elbowed me both times. I miss you as much as ever and can' t wait to get home to you both.....
DG here. Miss and love you all. Doing great up here and everything is rock steady. Hugs Oz and see you soon. Can't wait for you to join me.
It's Chris. Special thanks to all of you who posted messages and words of encouragement on the blog. It means a lot and gives me some extra fuel for the push up the peak. Nickie - I love you so much and can't wait to see you again after a successful trip. Cheers!
This is Michael U. I hope all is well back home and abroad! I miss and love you all so much. O Sorry for leaving you to care for the new K-9. Grace, HB, Samer, Charlotte, Lulu, and the rest of the family - I can't wait to see you when I get home.
Greetings from JJ, amazing group of guys, amazing mounting and truly an experience of a lifetime to be here. Priorities change when life is stripped to the essentials. Peace, joy and love of friends and family take in a new and heightened priority. Please know I am very safe and that my love for you is growing with each step. I miss you all and have many big hugs in store for all upon my return, especially the new love of my life. See you at the wedding if not sooner. Love, John
Hello fam & friends--Tim here. It's hard to explain what the top of our continent looks like--truly amazing! Thx for all of your posts, luv sharing them in the "posh" (a funky community eating/gathering area). Great guides & climbing team, we're all looking up at the top now.
Love & miss you all--literally dreaming of you nightly--altitude makes for some strange dreams BTW.
Thx for covering me during cherry harvest & all the other "stuff." See you in a couple of weeks!!!
On The Map
Update at 12:12 pm PST: The team is flying into basecamp! The weather cooperated for flights and we expect to hear from the team once they are settled on the glacier.
12:00 am PST:
The plan was for us to get started with our
Denali expedition today. We needed good mountain flying weather. We had high hopes, but as it turned out, we also had low clouds. It was on the dark and rainy side if things as we finished breakfast and walked out toward the airstrip in Talkeetna. During the course of the day, the cloud cover would lighten here and there and we monitored alternating reports that it was getting better or worse now and again at our intended basecamp on the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier... But in the end, the upshot was that conditions never really got good enough for our pilots to risk flights into the range.
The team took the delay without great concern, we passed the time hanging at the hangar, playing ping pong, listening to music and catching up on email and current events. We enjoyed fine Talkeetna meals at various restaurants and we took advantage of the comforts of one more day of civilization. Into the mountains tomorrow. Possibly.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Mike Walter called at 12:00 a.m. Friday morning and reported that he and the team had reached 17,000’ Camp on
Mt. McKinley. They had a nice day of climbing with light snow and no wind. They rolled into camp at about 5:00 p.m., and are now resting. The team may take a rest day at 17,000 but if everyone is feeling good they might just go for the top.
Good Luck Team!
On The Map
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everybody eat a lot
DG Chris and Michael U eat a lot
John, Tim and Mike R you eat a lot.
Nelson, Adam and Blais eat a lot
Be ready.
Posted by: shamu on 7/2/2012 at 7:59 pm
Nelson - So wonderful to hear your voice from nearly the top of North America! I will be thinking about you tomorrow as your group contemplates a summit bid. I know that it is a trade off between rest and good weather. Pulling for you from home.
Love, Mom
Posted by: Jennifer on 7/2/2012 at 6:56 pm
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