Entries from Mt. McKinley
This is Seth checking in from 7,800 feet on the Kahiltna Glacier. Today we awoke to clear skies in the Alaska Range. It was great to have a 'normal' day after a whirlwind start to our trip. Yesterday was supposed to be our packing day in Talkeetna but we had an opportunity to fly in the evening so we decided to go for it and now we're a day ahead of schedule. After a breakfast of bagels and smoked salmon we spent 5.5 hours on the trail. We then enjoyed some warm weather while we had dinner in camp. Now the sun is behind the mountains and everyone is tucked in their warm bags. It's been a great start to the trip.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Everyone (and their baggage) arrived on time in Anchorage yesterday, and we headed north to the small town of Talkeetna. We had a relaxing evening, eating dinner as a group at the famous West Rib Pub, talking about the trip, and getting to know each other. This morning we met at the the Talkeetna Roadhouse for a group breakfast to formalize our plans for packing and preparing for our upcoming expedition. Talkeetna is a small and unique town; situated on the south side of Denali National Park, it is the staging point for hundreds of climbers who venture into the Alaska Range. Town is still sleepy this time of year, just coming out of its winter hibernation; the streets are quiet, few airplanes are in the air, and patches of snow are still in the yards. When we return in a few weeks, Talkeetna will be in full swing; tourists and climbers will be walking through the streets, the air will be filled with the buzz of single engine aircraft (and mosquitoes), and all of the trees and lawns will be green.
Most of the day today was spent at the hangar of our bush pilots, K2 Aviation, packing our gear and going over all of our equipment. While we all have spent months planning this trip, today was still a very busy day making sure we had the right gear for the trip, inspecting our tents and stoves, and double and triple checking everything.
We also met with a National Park Service climbing ranger for a formal orientation to Denali, which included a slide show of our climbing route.
We plan to fly into Kahiltna Base Camp tomorrow (weather permitting) to start our adventure. We will be in touch with detailed dispatches throughout the trip. Everyone says hello to our friends and loved ones back home. Here’s to a safe and successful trip!
RMI Guide Mike Walter
What a great adventure! I’ll bet you don’t know that Mrs. Richardson’s fifth and sixth graders in Indianapolis are traveling alongside you!
Regards,
LA
Posted by: Lee Ann Richardson on 5/6/2011 at 9:51 am
Kenny and team-
Good luck. Excited to hear about this adventure. I hope you have fair weather conditions and a safe, fantastic climb for all. Chris Mannschreck
Minden, Nevada
Posted by: chris mannschreck on 5/5/2011 at 7:48 pm
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer
Categories: Mt. McKinley Mount Rainier
For twelve days in late March, 9 other guides and I convened in the Wasatch mountains of Utah for the AMGA Ski Guides Course. The course, first in the ski guide certification track of the American Mountain Guides Association, is aimed at teaching and honing the skills for ski guiding in technical but non-glaciated terrain (the majority of the skiing terrain in the lower 48!) Over the 12 days, we mixed evening classroom sessions of technical rope skills, coaching, soft skills, and video analysis for skiing, with days spent touring the incredible terrain surrounding Salt Lake City. The course culminated in a two night, three day yurt trip near Logan, UT.
The three day yurt trip allowed us to have lengthier and more realistic “mock guiding” leads. Acting as guide for a group of guides who are playing the part of clients can be a contrived situation, and often presents challenges that are above the typical demand of a normal day guiding. The pressure is ratcheted up, as one can imagine setting a steep kick turn in an uphill track, while four other guides and two instructors all judge that kick turn and comment. Besides the pressure of setting tracks and style, there was the pressure to find the group good snow on the descent, and more often than not, the classic problem of people seeing their own lines that were “better” and desperately wanting to step out of their roles. The challenges were often humorous, though, and the pressure pushed everybody to step up to the plate in a type of guiding that was unfamiliar to most of us. Almost everyone in the course came from a guiding background, however, most often this was alpine guiding, the kind of climbing we do here on Rainier, the North Cascades, and Mt. McKinley. Many of the skills from the alpine realm are readily transferable to ski guiding; client care, many of the technical rope systems and short roping, and uphill guiding are all very similar. But ski guiding presents its own challenge: Down guiding. Trying to guide a group of skiers safely down a line can be a totally different ball game. Balancing the safety issues of being out ahead first to assess snow pack, safe zones, and boundaries, with the desire for client satisfaction, first tracks, good snow, and an uninterrupted run can be tricky. In addition, all of this happens at much higher speed, and things can change quickly.
Guiding techniques are always changing and improving as people dream up new systems or improve on old ones, and I always take away a lot of new tricks. This course was no exception. Add to that new snow almost every day (several feet fell on the Wasatch while we were there) and a great group of fellow students, the ski guide course was a great experience and chance to get a lot of feedback from other guides! A big thanks to the First Ascent/Eddie Bauer and RMI guide grant for helping me to get there!
RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer
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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Hey!! We got flown off Denali this afternoon. It was our 21st day on the mountain and it began with low cloud and unflyable conditions. We cooked up a casual breakfast on the glacier and waited patiently, checking in hourly with K2 Aviation via sat-phone. By mid-afternoon, the sun was trying to peak through and our visibility had improved a great deal. K2 was having some difficulty with thick cloud blocking the approaches on their side of the mountain, but they kept on trying to find holes. At three PM their perseverance paid off, in came the airplanes and out we went. The gang is getting together one last time in just a few minutes. Time for a triumphant feast at the West Rib and a few toasts to a good mountain, good luck and good friends.
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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Hey, this is Dave calling from Denali. We made it from 11,000' to base camp today. It took a long time: we started walking at 3:30 in the morning and got here about 2:30 p.m. Hard weather conditions on route, hard crevasse problems but everyone made it through okay. It's nice to be down. We haven't gotten picked up yet. The weather wasn't good enough to fly in but hopefully tomorrow morning.
Hey, this is Dave calling from Denali. We moved from 17,000' to 11,000' today. There was a lot of new snow down below and we were post holing through deep snow all the way down the West Buttress, down to 14,000' and all the way to 11,000' breaking trail. It all went really well. Today was a nice day, nice, calm and sunny.
Now we are camped at 11,000'. We hope to get up in a few hours and make our way to the airstrip and perhaps be there and ready to fly out tomorrow morning. So, I'll give a call if that happens. Today is Monday so that would be Tuesday morning that we would be at the airstrip if all goes well on the lower glacier. Talk to you soon.
The team is still stuck at 17,000' in blizzard conditions. Has been snowing continuously and winds blowing around 30 mph or so. The group is doing well; they have plenty of food and fuel and are just hanging out until the weather gets better. They will see how the weather looks in the morning. Dave will give us a call tomorrow with an update.
The team is at 17,000' right now. They were going to head down to 14,000' this morning but a snow storm moved in so they are just waiting. Dave was glad they headed to the summit when they had their small window of opportunity. Weather dependent, the team will descend further down the mountain. With the snow storm it is more likely that will be tomorrow.
July 10, 2010 - SUMMIT!
Dave Hahn and team reached the summit of Mount McKinley, North America's highest peak, yesterday evening. They had some wind up high but everyone was doing well.
Congratulations!
Dave Hahn called from 17,000' on Mount McKinley. They moved camp yesterday and made good time, reaching 17,000' camp in about 5 1/2 hours. It was a bit windy when they arrived but they got camp set up. They woke up this morning to a very pretty day - the best since they have been on the mountain. They can see all the way down the Alaska Range.
There is a little wind today but they are planning on heading out in about an hour for their summit push.
We wish them good luck!
This is Dave Hahn checking in from the familiar surroundings of Advance Base Camp at 14,000'. Life is good here, but we're not so sure that's the case at 17,000'. A cloud cap formed over the summit of Denali this morning, indicating high wind and changing weather conditions. Sometimes a cap will blow off, followed by settled weather. On the other hand, it may be a harbinger of worsening weather. At any rate, we're sitting tight for the moment, watching and waiting. We'll keep you posted.
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I will be praying Jim, for you and your team, that you have a safe trip.
Love Always,
Ann
Posted by: Ann Boyko on 5/6/2011 at 8:11 pm
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