Entries from Mt. McKinley

Mt. McKinley Expedition: Jones & Team Return to 11,000’

June 19, 2011

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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley

Elevation: 11,000'

The crew continues to impress. Today we once again met our goal of arriving back at 11000'. We enjoyed another priceless day climbing down the West Buttress to 14,00' camp to gather our cache and leftover food. The team took a couple hour rest before continuing down to the now thick air of 11000'. Tonight we all contributed the last of our meats, cheeses and bread products for a well deserved greasy fry pan delight. Now for some sleep and one last early start and our final long walk of Kahiltna Glacier to base camp. The weather at Kahiltna International Airport in the morning will determine our true final step in completing this incredible adventure. One last quote for the evening, shared from Lisa at base camp a few nights ago: "The summit is for the ego, the journey is for the soul." What a journey we have had!

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Hi Larry,
What an experience you and the team must have had up there. Can’t wait to hear more about the trip from you.
Congrats to all,
From your proud sis.

Posted by: Debbie on 6/20/2011 at 9:57 pm

Great job to the whole team! Soak up the views on the way down and enjoy the end of the journey. Craig and Josh, so proud of you guys! I can’t wait to see pictures and hear your stories. Big thanks to Tyler and team for keeping up in the loop.

Craig, miss you and see you soon in Alaska! Love Susan

Posted by: Susan on 6/19/2011 at 1:53 pm

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Mt. McKinley Expedition: Beren & Team Check in from 14,000’

June 18, 2011

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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley

Elevation: 14,000'

Hello from our 14,000' camp on Mt. McKinley. This is Mike Uchal, Gilbert, Jake, and team just hanging out after a carry to the fixed lined this afternoon. We made a cache up high and came down to a little bit of weather coming in. So we are going to hold tight for a day or two and see what develops and then hopefully move higher for our summit day. Everyone is doing well, and we will check in again later! RMI Guide Mike Uchal

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Hello from your FOAA management team! Hope you are enjoying the challenge of the mountain, and away from the challenges of FOAA-land!
Be safe!
MGL and Team

Posted by: Marie - FOAA TEAM on 6/22/2011 at 8:29 am

David Gee, keep trucking all the way to the top. Get our name on the heaven’s list while you are up there!! Love, Mom

Posted by: Connie Hall on 6/20/2011 at 10:37 am

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Mt. McKinley: Great Day Caching Gear for Haugen’s Team

June 18, 2011

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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley

Elevation: 7,800'

We woke up early to beautiful skies. Even though the sun never set, it was low enough to cast an orange glow on the large moon that hung over the Kahiltna Glacier. A five o'clock departure ensured solid glacier travel as we headed up to 10,100' to cache some of our gear. We plan to reunite with this gear when we do a ''back carry'' after we establish a camp at 11,000'. After 6 hours of climbing up to our cache and then back down to 7,800' camp, we spent the rest of the day resting and hydrating. We enjoyed some great conversation over Elias' amazing mountain quesadillas before heading to bed. Happy Father's Day to all of our dads! RMI Guide Mike Haugen P.S. Mrs. Chu, Patrick aced his finals! We are so proud!

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Hi everybody I am Elias´s brother, I am writting from Spain.I just would like to said Good luck to all of you! And please be carefull, there are a lot of danger at every step!

enjoy!

Posted by: JORGE DE ANDRES on 6/30/2011 at 1:54 pm

Happy Father’s Day to you all! I’m SO sorry I missed your call, I would have loved to hear the sound of your voice live (the message was nice though). We are all missing you and sending you lots of love. love, best daughter (hehe, the whole team is going to think your family is crazy!)

Posted by: Yashu on 6/19/2011 at 9:39 pm

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Mt. McKinley: Jones & Team Back from Summit

June 18, 2011

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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley

Elevation: 17,200'

The team woke early to the most incredible weather, no wind, blue skies, and sun on the tents. Although the over night temps dipped to -15F, the sun quickly warmed our group and fired up our motivation for a long day of hard work. By 9:30 we were headed back into the shade of the Autobahn and climbing up to Denali Pass, kicking steps into the soft, steep snow. Our crew set the track for the day being the first out. Two hours of cold shady trail breaking led us back to the sun and our first windless break at 18,300ft where spirits were rejuvenated. We continued to press higher and higher, until we arrived onto the flat plateau of the Football Field where the solar radiation had it feeling more like a day at the beach than 19,500' on Denali. One final grind up Pig Hill and we were on the summit ridge, with only one stretch between our team and the top of the continent. The clear weather gave us hundreds of miles of views in every direction, with only a few scattered clouds way below us to add texture to the breathtaking scenery. A few tears were shed as we climbed the final few feet to the summit, and then it was all smiles, hugs, and mugging for the obligatory summit photos. We stood on top for a half hour or so, and then began the descent back to thicker air and our cozy camp. What an incredible day in the mountains for our team! We're settled in now and planning for a fairly early launch back down the mountain. Our goal is 14k camp and the rest of our gear, then a quick trip downhill to 11k. We're all tired, sore, hungry, thirsty...but ultimately incredibly happy and proud of today's accomplishment. Kudos to everyone on the team, and thanks to everyone out there pulling for us! RMI Guide Tyler Jones

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DEAREST BEN, CAN’T WAIT TO HEAR THE STORIES OF THIS
ONCE IN A LIFETIME TRIP. SO VERY HAPPY YOU ALL MADE IT
TO THE SUMMIT SAFELY, CAN ONLY IMAGINE THE FEELING YOU MUST HAVE HAD. CONGRATULATONS ONCE MORE. A VERY SAFE RETURN TO ALL OF YOU. GOD BLESS YOU ALL. TE QUIERO MUCHO Y MUY ORGULLOSA DE TI. MA

Posted by: carmen keegan on 6/19/2011 at 4:52 am

Incredible experience you all are having! Congratulations on the safe summit! Reading the updates have been quite enjoyable.

Hope the rest of the trek goes well, Justin and Dad, us here in Columbia are cheering for you.

Posted by: Jacob Halls on 6/18/2011 at 8:03 pm

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Mt. McKinley: Beren & Team at 14,000’ Camp

June 18, 2011

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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley

Elevation: 14,200'

Jake, Gilbert & Mike called in from their 14,000' Camp. All is well and they will send another update soon.

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Aaron, congrats, yipeee. mom and dad

Posted by: joanne Anderson on 6/20/2011 at 11:00 am

Is this the team Dave Welles is on? If so, tell him good luck (to the rest of the team, too!). Take good care of him! :)

Posted by: Dottie Martin on 6/19/2011 at 1:06 pm

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Mt. McKinley: Jones & Team Summit!

June 17, 2011

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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley

Elevation: 20,320'

Tyler called from the summit of Denali at 5:35 pm PST. He said it was a perfect and beautiful day for their summit climb. It was chilly at the top so they spent a little bit of time taking pictures and will be heading back down soon. Everyone on the trip is doing great and he will send a full dispatch when he gets back to 17,000' camp. Congratulations Team!

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Happy Father’s day Tim Halls, or more properly known as dad to me. As well as all the other fathers in the group! Hope you have a great day doing something that you obviously love.

Jacob Halls

Posted by: Jacob Halls on 6/19/2011 at 1:31 am

Sweet summit! Safe decent team. xo mom

Posted by: Sharon Pyle on 6/18/2011 at 9:19 am

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Mt. McKinley: Haugen & Team Carry Heavy Loads

June 17, 2011

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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley

Elevation: 7,800'

A crisp early morning wake up in basecamp meant great traveling conditions for us as we eased our way up the glacier. It froze solid last night making our travel through crevassed terrain much safer. We carried our full loads of climbing and camping supplies as well as 21 days of food and fuel. Even with each of our sled and backpack combos nearing 100 lbs., we made the move to our new camp in exactly five hours. We are all feeling very fortunate to be sharing this extraordinary place with such a strong team. RMI Guide Mike Haugen

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Hi Jeff. I’ll be glad to share some of this 96 F heat with you. Love ya! Dad

Posted by: allen on 6/18/2011 at 8:45 pm

Yeah Patrick. I hope all your hard training is paying off.

Posted by: Sam on 6/17/2011 at 10:24 pm

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Mt. McKinley: Jones & Team at 17,000’ Camp

June 16, 2011

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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley

Elevation: 17,200'

We went to bed last evening to a blue bird sky after nearly 8 inches of new snow during the day. Today we woke to the same, blue bird weather and light wind. The crew broke camp at 14K fairly early, in good fashion, and headed on our way to the fixed lines. The clear sky made for a bone chilling morning until the major work up the lines started and we were greeted by the welcome rays of the sun, which warmed our souls. The West Buttress was windless and by far provided us with the best views and exposure the team has faced. The clear day gave us views over 10,000' below to the lower Kahiltna Glacier, while Denali stood proud and urged us higher. It was as good as it gets; in fact several folks said it was their best day climbing ever. We climbed for more than six hours so the the team is definitely enjoying some down time while trapping some evening heat in the tents. With a bit of luck from the weather and wind we will shoot for a summit in the AM on the 17th. Thank you all for the warm wishes - the team has greatly enjoyed all the comments. Keep the positive vibes. We will report back soon. RMI Guide Tyler Jones and team!

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Great news about the bluebird sky and good luck on the climb for the summit. Craig just to let you know Emma has been following you and the crew and now her 6th grade class are following your adventure and you and your team are included in their daily “special intention” prayers. The class will be following you on this blog. Good luck we are all so proud of you.

Posted by: The Doyles on 6/17/2011 at 7:54 pm

Congratulations to the whole team on reaching the summit. a special congrats to Tim and Justin. Our thoughts and prayers will be with all of you on your descent.
Love Pat and Lori

Posted by: pat and Lori Halls on 6/17/2011 at 7:48 pm

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Mt. McKinley: Haugen & Team on the Mountain

June 16, 2011

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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley

Elevation: 7,300'

After waiting at the airstrip in Talkeetna all morning due to socked in conditions at basecamp, the sky cleared and off to the mountain we flew. We arrived to beautiful weather at our basecamp on the Kahiltna Glacier. We set up camp, did some crevasse rescue practice, ate dinner, and prepared our sleds. Currently, we are tucked away in our tents trying to sleep through the midnight sun before our very early departure up the frozen glacier to 7,800 ft. RMI Guide Mike Haugen

On The Map

Mt. McKinley Expedition: Beren and Team at 14,000’

June 16, 2011

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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley

Elevation: 14,000'

Hello, this is Jake Beren with the RMI Mt. McKinley Expedition calling from 14,000’ camp. We arrived here yesterday and are happy in our brand new home and happy place. Before moving camp we made a carry the day before with our gear. The team is looking great, very strong as we climbed yesterday. We arrived late afternoon and set up shop. Today we are going to do a little bit of training and potentially make a back carry to pick up our cache. So all's well here, it’s a beautiful sunny day here in the Genae Basin. We are looking up at the fixed lines. The RMI Team lead by Tyler Jones made their move to 17,000’ camp this morning and are just doing great and heading up the West Buttress as we speak. So, that's all from 14,000’ on Mt. McKinley. It's great to be here with a good crew. We'll be checking in the future. This is Jake, Mike, Gilbert and team standing by at 14,000’.

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Enjoy my bredren and sistren. positive vibes to you.

Posted by: jason thompson on 6/17/2011 at 7:08 pm

Hey Jake and your team!! It is so exciting to watch the progress of your expedition. Please tell Clay Gilliland that all of his friends in Hot Springs are keeping all of you in our prayers for a successful and safe trip.
Tom Baird

Posted by: Tom Baird on 6/17/2011 at 5:03 pm

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Entries from Mt. McKinley

Mt. McKinley Expedition: Jones & Team Return to 11,000’

Mt. McKinley Expedition: Beren & Team Check in from 14,000’

On The Map

Mt. McKinley: Great Day Caching Gear for Haugen’s Team

Mt. McKinley: Jones & Team Back from Summit

Mt. McKinley: Beren & Team at 14,000’ Camp

Mt. McKinley: Jones & Team Summit!

On The Map

Mt. McKinley: Haugen & Team Carry Heavy Loads

On The Map

Mt. McKinley: Jones & Team at 17,000’ Camp

On The Map

Mt. McKinley: Haugen & Team on the Mountain

On The Map

Mt. McKinley Expedition: Beren and Team at 14,000’

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