Entries from Mt. McKinley
May 26, 2014 - 10:12 pm PT
Now that we are in the holding pattern, waiting for our window, any day could be our chance to move to 17K and take a shot at the summit. This morning wasn't it though, as we woke to a large, gray lenticular cloud hanging on to the upper mountain. We rested, traded books, listened to music, did a little 14K Camp crossfit, and took a walk to the "
Edge of the World," where the Genet Basin looks over the lower Kahiltna. From the vista we could see our first camp of the trip at the base of Ski Hill. The forecasts continue to be mixed, so we're taking it day by day and seeing what opportunities the mountain provides us. We'll send the news of tomorrow when we know what it is. Until then, we're going to bury ourselves in piles of down and get some shut eye.
RMI Guides Pete, Robby, and Josh
On The Map
May 26, 2014 - 5:18 pm PT
Hello everyone!
Saying hello from Talkeetna, Alaska! We made it off this afternoon despite the evil forecast. This morning we left 9,700' and walked down glacier into deep clouds that retreated as we made our way to
Kahiltna Base Camp. All day we heard and saw fleets of airplanes coming in and by mid afternoon we were on one of them. So the team is safe and sound taking showers and indulging in vices.
It's been a fantastic trip with a great group. Thanks for tuning in!
RMI Guide Leon Davis
May 25, 2014 - 11:56 pm PT
We took full advantage of our
rest day today, eating a big brunch of egg, bacon, and veggie quesadillas (there is a recurring theme here involving our meals). The storm that was forecast for last night and today didn't materialize, so it was a great day for chatting in the posh, catching some sun, and catching up on journals and reading. Everyone's legs appreciated the recovery from yesterday's big effort.
The forecasts going forward are pretty scattered, and aren't really painting a clear picture, so at this point we're in standby mode, waiting for our weather window to present itself. We'll see when that happens, but until then, we are living really comfortably at 14 camp. We'll be in touch with more news tomorrow.
RMI Guides Pete, Robby, and Josh
On The Map
May 25, 2015 - 5:33 pm PT
Despite a poor forecast for today, we awoke to calm and only scattered clouds which allowed us to return to our
previous camp and retrieve our cache. The scattered clouds made for some pleasant walking temps and our loads felt lighter than ever before... A nice change for our tired shoulders. We spent the afternoon reviewing climbing techniques for our carry up to 13,500 feet (hopefully tomorrow). Everyone is feeling well rested and we are crossing our fingers that tomorrow will bring another nice day!
RMI Guide Brent Okita
On The Map
May 25, 2014 - 6:27 pm PT
Our team is spending another day at the
14k Camp today, with strong winds apparent up high again. We're hoping to take advantage of a brief window of calmer winds this week in order to take a crack at the summit. We're hoping to move to high camp tomorrow if the weather allows. We've got our fingers crossed, as tomorrow will be day 19 of this expedition and the shot clock is winding down.
We'll let you know how it all plays out.
Cheers,
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
May 25, 2014 - 8:47 pm PT
Hi everyone!
The team is back at camp safe & sound after an adventurous attempt on
Kahiltna Dome. The predicted weather came in but with less snowfall than anticipated. At 6 am we had enough visibility to leave camp and start up the east ridge. The climbing was great fun and we had just enough visibility to keep going. We passed the high point from the previous seminar by chopping and probing our way up and around the ridge. A great team effort! At 10,700' the clouds came in thick and the snow began to fall heavy and this put a firm halt to our upward progress. So we turned and navigated our way in the flat light down to camp. Despite falling short of the summit everyone was really excited for the adventure and it was great fun to explore new terrain. Tomorrow we travel back to Base Camp on the Kahiltna Glacier in the twilight to see if planes will take us back to civilization.
Good night and see you all soon!
RMI Guide Leon Davis
May 24, 2014 - 11:21 pm PT
Going to sleep last night we didn't know exactly what morning would bring. The winds last night had picked up and was blowing spin-drift all around. We could hear the winds coming off
Kahiltna Pass into the wee hours, but when we finally awoke and peeked out the vestibule of the tent we were happily surprised to find gloriously beautiful weather.
Our move up to our new camp couldn't have gone better. The team crushed it! What a nice change from the loads we had making our single carries. Tomorrow we will head back down to our old camp to pick up the cache we buried there.
Getting in to camp at 1:30 this afternoon was almost like having half a rest day. We even built a 'proper' Posh House. This is a big shelter under which we cook and can all dine together. Tonight's menu: Indian cuisine, served on a bed of rice and preceded by a tasty soup. Of course, this is always followed by an after dinner drink. Coffee, tea, hot cider or everyone's favorite: hot cocoa.
Wish us luck on the weather front. It's been good so far. But regardless of what happens, we're sitting pretty right now and everyone is doing well and in good spirits.
A bientot from 11,200' camp.
RMI Guides Brent, Leah and Nick
On The Map
May 24, 2014 - 11:24 pm
Patience. Climbers looking to come to the big mountains of the world often focus mostly on
physical training. I need the strength to climb this steep section, the strength to get to the top. What about the strength to wait out weather for a few days, a week,12 days!? Patience is a crucial component of the mental strength needed to not only succeed in the worlds great ranges but stay safe and return home. Luckily we have a great team that seems to understand this model and is doing a fantastic job of staying patient.
Today was actually a gorgeous day, blue skies and variable wind. So you might be asking yourself why are we still at 14,000'?. The problem here is that one great day does us very little good. We need 2-3 days of good weather. One good day to get to 17,000' camp, one good day to summit and one last good day to descend. With our forecast calling for extremely high winds and 1-2 feet of snow tomorrow, moving to a very exposed 17,000' camp would be foolish. So Alas! We must stay patient, hopeful and in good spirits, and it would appear we have just the team for the job. Plus I hear building snowmen is great for acclimatization!
All the best from
RMI Guides Steve, Mike, Solveig and team!
On The Map
Hello all!
The team is here at camp 9700' poised to go for the summit of
Kahiltna Dome if the weather cooperates. Everyone did well getting here and fortifying camp was a great team effort. As we finished our dinner clouds started in from the southwest, obscuring views of Mt. Hunter, Denali and the Kahiltna Dome itself. But we are ready and excited for whatever happens. In the pre-dawn we hope to be walking toward Kahiltna Dome's East Ridge.
Good night everyone!
RMI Guides Leon Davis, Mike King & Katrina Bloemsma
On The Map
May 25, 2014 - 1:57 am PT
After several days of winds up high, and cold conditions that turned several teams around, we hit the jackpot today. We walked out of camp just as the sun hit, turning a pretty chilly morning balmy. We stopped just below the fixed lines to get ready, then headed up for our first run at them. Despite pretty blue and icy conditions, the climber traffic over the last couple days left some nice buckets for our feet scratched into the surface of the ice. Once above the lines, we headed out the
West Buttress proper, which offers some of the best climbing and views of the whole route. At the base if Washburn's Thumb, we set our cache of food and fuel, then turned back the Buttress to descend. We rolled into camp just in time for dinner and to catch the weather report. It sounds like we're going to have a proper snow storm tonight and tomorrow, with 1 to 2 feet forecast. With that news we spent some more time fortifying camp, then crawled into sleeping bags just as the snow started. We'll give you an update tomorrow and let you know how we fared.
RMI Guides Pete, Robby, and Josh
On The Map
Previous Page
Next Page
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
-640x480.jpg)
Thanks for all the updates! Singing ‘here comes the sun’ - hoping it brings you good weather :)
Enjoy!!
Posted by: Mo on 5/26/2014 at 7:12 pm
View All Comments