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
So thankful y’all were able to finally fly out! Stay safe.. So excited to follow this journey! Proud of you Chris! Love you!
Posted by: Brooke Q on 5/10/2015 at 9:03 pm
Saw that you’re on Kahiltna. .Awesome. ..What an Adventure! Love the blog and following your trek Chris Q. ! Be careful! Can’t wait for the videos! !
Vanessa and Jeff Rose
Posted by: Vanessa Frazier Rose on 5/10/2015 at 4:23 pm
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
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
May 7, 2015 12:39 am PT
Greetings,
Today the team spent a full day doing technical training, building foundational knowledge in hopes of breaking camp tomorrow and moving towards our next objective: Kahiltna Dome.
The weather has so far been excellent, so if you are out there reading this, do a little anti-snow dance for us!
Cheers from Alaska,
RMI Guides Leon Davis, Garrett Stevens and Bridget Belliveau
May 5, 2015 11:27 pm PT
Hi everyone.
Another beautiful sunny day on the glacier! Perfect to go out for a bit of climbing and training. We left this morning in the cold shadow of Mt. Hunter and made our way up into a small basin on the north side of Horiskey's Hump. Stopping periodically to study the glacier and identify some key features that make this frozen river so interesting. The team made great time and we were able to stand on top while getting some good practice on fixed line travel. By late afternoon the team was back at camp building a few more walls and celebrating Cinco de Mayo courtesy of John and his guacamole. Good night.
RMI Guide Leon Davis
May 4, 2015, 9:46 pm PT
Good evening friends & family! The first RMI Alaska Seminar of 2015 is on the SE fork of the Kahiltna Glacier. Our team spent today buffing out camp, which overlooks the airstrip, with snow block walls and a bathroom. We taught a clinic on climbing fundamentals, watched Mt. Hunter shed some large ice blocks and enjoyed a nice dinner of burritos in the cook tent. Tomorrow we will venture to the north side of Horiskey's Hump for some more training and climbing. Good night from a cold sunny glacier far far away.
RMI Guide Leon Davis
What a spot. Looks beautiful, some day I may be able to get the funds to do this trip as well. Keep saving and keep training. Have fun and be safe.
Thanks
Kevin Stone
Posted by: Kevin Stone on 5/6/2015 at 7:45 am
So excited to follow you all on this adventure….a dream for our son who is there with you. Be safe and enjoy every moment!
Hello from Talkeetna, Alaska! The RMI Alaska Mountaineering Seminar is underway here, and so far it's nothing but blue skies, sunshine, smiles and excitement. The team all arrived yesterday in Anchorage, and despite one delayed flight we were all able to rendezvous with our shuttle and make tracks north. A short shopping stop in Wasilla let us get all the final little treats that we'll want to eat on the glacier for the next week or so, and then we finished the drive to this quaint little town at the end of the road.
After a good night's rest, the team met this morning for breakfast at the fabled Roadhouse, followed by a stop at the ranger station to complete all our paperwork. We headed over to the hangar to finalize our packing and preparation, and then it was off to the races with training. Tent craft and now rope work, with the team learning a lot of new skills that we'll use over the course of our program.
We're scheduled to fly onto the Kahiltna Glacier this afternoon, so once we get the final weights of all our gear, we'll suit up and head into a very different world! We'll trade the trees and grass for snow and ice, but that's what we've all come to do.
Keep it tuned in for more updates, and thanks for reading!
RMI Guides Leon Davis, Garrett Stevens, Bridget Belliveau, and the expedition team
July 17, 2014 - 8:45 pm PT
In just under 24 hours, our climbing team went from the 17,200 ft high camp to the 7,200 ft basecamp. It wasn't remotely easy. Luckily, we had a calm start to the day which allowed us to balance carefully down the exposed and spectacular crest of the West Buttress. Things got tougher at the base of the fixed lines when we needed to virtually swim through bottomless powder snow. We reached easier terrain upon which one could walk laboriously in knee deep new snow and this ground got us to 14 camp. We did a fry-up of a few quesadillas while reorganizing gear and then set off in cloud toward Windy Corner. Plenty of snow kept us walking funny and breathing hard as we negotiated the side hills and corners of Squirrel Hill and then Motorcycle.
At 11 camp we threw up tents and downed dinner. The team wanted to just sleep for a few hours before resuming the march to BC at 2:30 AM. The early start would give our best chance at catching the lower glacier in a frozen (rather than slushy) state. We pushed on through the night gloom, a few thick fog banks and miles of glacier. It was great to see -as expected from conditions on the way in- that the lower Kahiltna was well put together. Very few crevasse crossings troubled us. Finally we got working, trudging and sweating up Heartbreak Hill. As we progressed, the weather improved to the point that with our arrival at the former site of Basecamp (nothing remains so late in the season) it was good enough to dial up K2 Aviation on the Sat Phone and seek a pickup. The K2 pilots did their normal exceptional job in whisking us out of winter and into the Talkeetna summer.
Day 21 of our climb will end with a victory dinner in town. True, we stopped a couple thousand feet short of the summit, but victory is still ours. It feels that good to have endured Denali together.
Best Regards and thanks for following,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
An amazing 21 days for the team and for those of us who climbed vicariously with you all the way up and back down! We do not regret missing the summit, since the climb is a great success in itself, proving who you all are, and allowing us “lowlanders” to share in your successes!
Dennis and Georgia
Posted by: Dennis and Georgia on 7/18/2014 at 10:30 am
Congrats on your safe return. It is always a good day when you live to climb another day. Now you can plan your next climb!! :o)
July 16, 2014 - 11:37 pm PT
Hey, this is Dave Hahn with the last team on Denali. We did make it out of 17,000’ today. We woke up, the weather was stable and we started working our way down. And sure enough, we found some deep snow, it was hard going, sometimes waist deep but we made it down to 14,000’ and then plowed through a bunch more new snow to get to 11,000'. We are taking a rest here at 11,000' and our hope, everybody is feeling pretty enthusiastic, about trying to get to the airstrip tomorrow morning. We are just going to rest a few hours and get on the trail again. We expect it to be a little bit easier now that we are down low and conditions will be a bit better than what we were dealing with.
All is well with us.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
RMI Guide Dave Hahn calls from 11,000ft on Mt. McKinley, Alaska.
July 15th, 2014 - 7:16 pm PT
Yesterday's storm hit hard at 17,200 ft. The heavy snow continued through dinner and the night, with plenty of wind to make things noisy. The team took turns through the night, going out to dig snow in order to keep tents from being crushed. The hard workers would come back into the tents coated head-to-toe in rime ice. By morning, several things were clear. Significantly, the sky wasn't one of them. Our climbers were wet and cold from the rough night and our summit ambitions were now going to take a back seat to getting down the mountain safely. Even before we could see the Autobahn, we knew it couldn't receive two plus feet of snow overnight without gaining a significant avalanche risk. Sure enough, after the morning shovel session and breakfast we did get some clearing and couldn't see any evidence of our track to Denali Pass. The slope had dramatically wind sculpted snow slab from top to bottom. We won't mess with it. Winds died in the afternoon, which made it a little easier for the team to dry out and get some rest. We'll give the slopes below us a day to cook in the sun and stabilize and we'll hope the next storm pulse holds off long enough for us to get down from the ridiculously high West Buttress.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Job well done to the whole team! Wish you could have made the summit, it is much better to be safe than risk get into trouble. Have a wonderful and safe journey down. Joe and Sean, can’t wait to hear about it. Cheers to all of you!!!
Posted by: Tower on 7/16/2014 at 11:12 am
It’s been fun learning about your trek. Be safe out there. Kb, I look forward to hearing a bit more about everything.
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So thankful y’all were able to finally fly out! Stay safe.. So excited to follow this journey! Proud of you Chris! Love you!
Posted by: Brooke Q on 5/10/2015 at 9:03 pm
Saw that you’re on Kahiltna. .Awesome. ..What an Adventure! Love the blog and following your trek Chris Q. ! Be careful! Can’t wait for the videos! !
Vanessa and Jeff Rose
Posted by: Vanessa Frazier Rose on 5/10/2015 at 4:23 pm
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