Entries from Mt. McKinley
Wednesday, June 6, 2018 - 10:39 PM PT
The wolf huffed and puffed, but not on our house today. We woke up early after a short, but intense burst of snow last night, and things looked great. By the time we were done with breakfast though, we were watching huge plumes of snow sail off Denali's upper mountain, which gave us pause. We slowed our roll, and spent the morning watching to see if winds would abate. They did finally, but not until 4 pm or so, way too late for us. We'll try again tomorrow and hope for a different outcome. In the meantime, we are sitting through another intense bout of snow, turning everything white.
RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer, Jess Matthews, Taylor Bickford
On The Map
Wednesday, June 5, 2018 - 8:21 PM PT
This is Mike King with RMI's June 4th
Denali Expedition. We weighed all our gear and loaded up the 2 Turbo Otter ski planes and waited out the morning in the K2 Aviation hanger. Grey skies and a cloud bank at the foot of the Alaska Range prevented an early flight. Around 2:30 we got the call that pockets of blue sky had developed so we buckled up and took off to try and sneak into Denali Base Camp.
The flight in was spectacular, clouds above and below and nothing but bluebird in between. Our pilot went through triple crown pass with views of Foraker, Hunter and Crosson. After landing at Kahiltna International we set up camp, rigged sleds and divided the food and fuel rations. With the later departure and the heat of the sun reflecting off the snow we decided to spend the night here.
We'll get an early start and travel while the temps are cool and never setting sun low on the horizon. The Team is firing on all cylinders and eager to move up glacier tomorrow and get this expedition started.
Thanks for following along and we will check in from the base of Ski Hill tomorrow.
RMI Guide Mike King
On The Map
Wednesday, June 6, 2018 - 4:52 PM PT
After a busy week of pushing up to
14,000' Camp, we took a much deserved first full rest day. The team had a rough nights sleep at our new altitude and learned how to manage the morning “snowstorm” in the tent that develops from the condensation our breath gives off and freezes on the inside of the tent walls. To sum it up, it’s not a pleasant way to wake up! Despite that, we got to sleep in and wait for the sun to hit our tents before we had a big breakfast with bagels, cream cheese and salmon!! The morning sun helped dry out our sleeping bags before some afternoon snow showers moved through. Tomorrow we might have a more active rest day filled with some training and a walk to the Edge of the World. All and all, the team is enjoying some rest and should sleep much better tonight as our bodies continue to acclimate to our new elevation.
RMI Guide Tyler Jones
On The Map
Wednesday, June 6, 2018 - 4:43 PM PT
We were all set to climb to 17,000' Camp this morning but Denali had other plans for us. By 8 am this morning we could see strong winds blowing across our climbing route on the Buttress. We decided to put the move on hold until the winds slowed. Luckily, Mike Walter's team at 17 Camp provided hourly updates on the weather situation and we eventually decided that the weather was too severe to climb into today.
Not all was lost though, we took some time to remodel our mountain kitchen and built a new outhouse. Obviously important facilities when waiting out bad weather.
We will wake again tomorrow planning to move and see what the weather allows.
RMI Guide Walter Hailes
Wednesday, June 7, 2018 - 10:59 am PT
Nothing is easy about
Denali. After two hard days of climbing and finally reaching the summit yesterday, we are currently hunkered down in our tents, avoiding the wind and spindrift that the mountain is throwing at us this morning. It is currently too cold and windy to safely pack up and climb down the exposed West Buttress. So we're on standby, chilling out in our tents waiting for the wind to abate. Hopefully we'll be able to bump camp down to lower altitude and warmer temps soon.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
Tuesday, June 6, 2018 - 10:50 pm PT
Despite a less than ideal weather forecast, we awoke to clear skies and no winds. We fired up the stoves and woke our team. Muscles were weary after climbing for seven hours yesterday, but we couldn't pass up this opportunity.
The weather stayed good all day and the route was in great shape. It was a hard day of climbing but we got to stand on the
top of North America! We were ten hours round trip (high camp-summit-high camp). And now that we've eaten dinner and crawled in our tents, the temperature has plummeted, winds have increased, and snow is falling. Timing couldn't have been better.
We will start our descent tomorrow...
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
Tuesday, June 5, 2018 - 10:46 PM PT
So there we were, standing in our cook tent on
Mount Denali. This morning was a beautiful morning, and it really doesn't get much better here in Alaska, but tomorrow's forecast had been showing elevated winds for some time. With that stability of forecast, it didn't look like a summit day tomorrow, so we decided to drag our feet at 14,000' for one more day. It was a beautiful rest day, well enjoyed by the whole team. The cook tent was humming this evening with the energy of expectation of a move to 17,000 ft Camp tomorrow. We are all excited and ready, and can't wait to give high fives to RMI's Denali Team led by Mike Walter as we pass them on Denali's West Buttress.
RMI Guides Pete, Jess, Taylor, and team
On The Map
Tuesday, June 5, 2018 - 5:35 PM PT
The team enjoyed an excellent rest at 14,000 ft. today. We started the day with breakfast burritos. These weren't just any breakfast burritos. These burritos were so expertly prepared that they earned the coveted Alden Mills "Best Breakfast of the Trip" endorsement. After breakfast, we lounged, drank second and third rounds of coffee, and planned out the rest of our day. The planning was not very hard, since we really didn't have much to do. We took a walk out to a feature appropriately name the Edge of the World, and gazed 6,000 ft down into the NE fork of the Kahiltna Glacier. On the walk back to camp, the team practiced some rope skills that will greatly enhance our efficiency on summit day. After the hard work was done we ate as much cheese, sausage, and bread as we could in preparation for our summit bid. Now we just wait for a weather window to move to High Camp, and head for the top. The team sends their best to everyone following along back at home.
RMI Guide Walter Hailes
On The Map
Tuesday, June 5, 2018 - 4:28 pm PT
Well our lucky streak with the weather continued today. The Team was up early packing our equipment and taking down tents for our move to
14,200ft camp. The group of gentleman we have on this trip seem to get stronger each day developing skills both physically and mentally. Though we are all a bit warn down from this week's efforts, we are happy at our newly-built camp in the basin. We have spectacular view from our tents, which are currently glacier-front property. We are sitting pretty and looking forward to a full rest day tomorrow along with hydration, acclimatization, and a few skills for higher on the mountain. The camp will also get a few upgrades I’m sure.
RMI Guide Tyler Jones
On The Map
The winds up high were moving.
Snow trails off the mountain into the air.
We're snug and cozy at 14K with plenty of food and fuel,
So we sit and watch the tails of a mare.
This small verse sums up our day. We looked up, saw winds moving snow around up high, and decided to do the prudent thing and sit tight at
14K Camp. We're ready to crack when conditions line up, but until then, some igloo building, heads up, and sunbathing are plenty to keep us happy and occupied.
RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer, Jess Matthews, Taylor Bickford and team
On The Map
Monday, June 4, 2018 - 10:00 PM PT
The gang awoke to a clear, crisp morning on the day of our carry to 14, 000' Camp. The group was raring to go and many could hardly sit still. Whether it was excitement or to keep the cold at bay was difficult to tell. Today would be the first day of climbing, when the group would strap on crampons and walk with an ice ax in their hand. This would be made even more difficult by the ever thinning air as we gain more than 3,000' of elevation on our way to
14,000' Camp. However, this group of climbers, after tackling the approach into 11,000' with professional style, would not be phased by things as trivial as thin air, heavy packs, and the guides incessant reminders to rest step and pressure breath. Right out of camp the climbing hits you head on with a steep slope known as Motorcycle Hill. Lucky for us the snow had been packed down and our crampons with their many points allowed us to send motorcycle with ease. At the top of our first obstacle we were treated to views of the Peters Glacier as well as the Father and Sons wall, an impressive alpine face of granite and blue ice. Further in the distance the wilderness of the Alaskan tundra stretched far beyond the limitations of the human eye. The scale out here is truly impressive. Reinvigorated by the views, the climbers were ready to scamper up squirrel hill and charge across the polo fields straight to Windy Corner. Again luck was on our side as the often ferocious Windy Corner would not live up to its name on this day. With the bulk of the hard climbing behind us, only one hill remained between us and our cache site at 14,000'. In the style that us guides have come to expect from our climbers they crushed the last hill and strolled into 14,000' Camp with ample energy. Friends and other climbers from RMI groups ahead of us treated us with smiles and a much needed water refill as we dumped our gear in our cache and prepped for our return to our Camp at 11,000'. The day was only half over. With water and snacks in our bellies we turned our boots down hill hoping to make it back to the safety and comfort of our tents before the snow turned to mush and the sun baked our minds. The climbers of the Jones expedition once again did not disappoint as all members of our group made it safely back to camp in time for lunch and well earned nap.Tomorrow will be another big day if the weathers on our side?
RMI Guides Tyler Jones, Bryan Mazaika and Nick Scott
On The Map
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Rich and Team…congrats to you all for an amazing journey!! We have kept you all in our thoughts and prayers for a successful and safe climb. Can’t wait to hear all about it and see the amazing pictures! Love Mom and Dad
Posted by: Richard Lewis on 6/9/2018 at 6:01 am
I seriously refresh this page every single morning to see the latest updates. I appreciate the blog and am so happy to see everyone is doing well. Wishing for some good weather and that everyone makes it to summit!!!
Steve- I love and miss you so much. Chika, Lloyd and I can’t wait for you to come home.
Xoxoxo
-Cookie
Posted by: Misty on 6/7/2018 at 9:34 pm
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