Entries from Mt. McKinley
Ed Viesturs and I, along with the team, pulled into the 14,000 foot camp today! We spent 5.5 hours climbing. It was a great show of strength for our group. We started out in questionable weather but after two hours of climbing the clouds lifted and we were able to round Windy Corner in sunshine. We then spent a few hours building camp. Its necessary to build snow walls at the upper camps here to prevent the tents from being crushed by the wind. We're all settled in now for the evening.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
Our crew is resting today at Camp 3 (11,200'). We were tempted to move up to Camp 4 (14,200') today but the weather was a little squirrely this morning. Our team is strong, and climbing very well, but I decided that we would all benefit from rest and more time at 11,200' before pushing camp up to 14,200'. We're all eager to move up higher, and we're hopeful that tomorrow will be the day.
Hopefully next time I update our progress it will be from Camp 4. May the weather gods cooperate!
RMI Guide Mike Walter
This is Seth checking in from 11,200 feet on Denali. Today we completed our carry to 13,500 ft. The weather was spectacular when we awoke and our climbers were psyched to get higher up on the mountain. Everyone put in a good effort and we made great time. The forecast looks good for tomorrow with a deteriorating trend starting on Wednesday. So our plan is to move to 14k tomorrow and wait out the weather there. That's all for now.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
Our team is back at camp now, after a successful day. We cached food and fuel at ~13,700', got some great views of the upper mountain, and stretched the legs on our climb today. Now we are in position to move to Camp 4 (14,200') when the time is right. Everyone is doing well and the team climbed strong today.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
After a calm night and a good night's sleep at Camp 3, we're packing our backpacks and getting ready to head out to take a cache of gear to 13,500'. The weather is beautiful, sunny with no wind...but the temps are still cold!
We'll be in touch tonight or tomorrow and let everyone know how our day went.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
First things first: Happy Mother's Day from our Denali climbing team!
Yesterday we woke to clear skies and cool temperatures at Camp 2, and we packed up camp and moved up to Camp 3 at 11,200'. The snow conditions were excellent for traveling, and the temps were cool but comfortable, and perfect for climbing .
After good day of climbing, and a few hours of establishing camp, we settled in to the comfort of our cook tent to enjoy a delicious meal of chicken quesadillas.
Today we are resting, hydrating, and acclimating to this new altitude. After a huge breakfast of eggs and bacon, we have begun to fortify our camp- reinforcing our snow walls and our tent anchors. This afternoon we will spend time sorting our gear in preparation for taking a cache to 13,500'.
Everyone is doing well, and we're hoping for good weather tomorrow to get our cache in place. We will check in again tomorrow, and let you know what we're up to.
Mike
Hello from 11,200' on Mt. McKinley. Our team is wishing all moms a Happy Mother's Day. We're having a nice rest day in a little bit of a storm. Our tents are nice and toasty though and we'll be all set to carry a load to 13,500' tomorrow if the weather allows.
We're at 11,200 feet! The camp is quite the scene as there are at least 6 nationalities represented. The weather today was stellar and we moved smoothly into camp. We're all set up for a few days here, and tomorrow we plan to take a well deserved rest day.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
Yesterday we flew in to Kahiltna Base Camp to start our climb. The weather was beautiful, and everyone enjoyed the spectacular flight from Talkeetna; flying over the tundra and then into the Alaska Range; seeing the extensive span of mountains, with the dominating presence of Hunter, Foraker, and our objective, Denali; passing the Pika and the Ruth Glaciers then over the Kahiltna and landing on the glacier. We arrived at Base Camp early, and took advantage of the good weather to pack our equipment and move to Camp 1 at the base of Ski Hill.
Today we moved up to Camp 2 pulling our sleds loaded down with equipment, food and fuel for the next couple of weeks. The conditions have been great for traveling and the weather cooperative. Some clouds moved in this afternoon and very light snow started as we got to camp. The forecast looks good, with some light snow tonight and tomorrow; we should be able to get to Camp 3 (11,200') tomorrow.
Everyone is doing well. We'll be in touch again soon.
Cheers,
RMI Guide Mike Walter
Today we moved to 9,300' on Mt. McKinley. We had great weather on the trail. As we reached the top of Ski Hill it started to snow so we set up camp and hunkered in for the evening. We are all settled in and are resting for another great day tomorrow.
We will keep you posted on our progress.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
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Hey Kev
It is great seeing you pass by “Kahiltna” in your climb - the name makes alot of sense now. Doing awesome!! Patti
Posted by: Patti on 5/11/2011 at 10:22 am
From RTD:
Hi Kevin, I am enjoying following you! Good job! Dad
Ditto - Mary!!
Posted by: Mary Satur on 5/11/2011 at 9:33 am
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