Entries from Mt. McKinley
We woke today to a blend of blue and white swirls, but with more blue above and more white down low--And with our team still charging strong--we made the push to cache food and gear at 13,600'. This trek takes us onto a different aspect of the mountain, with views over to the "Father and Sons Wall" and the glaciers to the west, which feed north to the Bering Strait.
Pushing upward to 13,000' we could see the tops of Foraker (17,000') and Crosson (12,000') poking out above a thick sea of clouds around 11k--we were happy to be above it all. After caching our gear we headed down (a much quicker trip!) and we're now back at camp just as the sun has begun burning through the clouds--perfect timing!
RMI Guide Kel Rossiter
On The Map
Hello from
Talkeetna, Alaska
The result of a day of hard work sorting and packing stuff we'll live with for the next two or three weeks. With a little luck we might be flying onto the glacier in a couple of hours or so. The weather looks promising here, but of course it could be completely different on the mountain.
We're all set and doing great. But first, breakfast at the Roadhouse ...
RMI Guide Brent Okita
Hi Everyone!
We are back at
14 Camp after a great day carrying a load of food and fuel to the top of the fixed lines at 16,200'. Our team climbed strong and we were all excited to get a feel for the upper mountain and steeper snow and ice.
We arrived back in camp with enough sunshine left in the day to sit outside the tents and relax and rehydrate while our boots dried (and more importantly AIRED!) out.
The weather is looking good and we hope to move up to high camp soon and make our summit bid!
RMI Guide
Solveig Waterfall & Team
There's a great German game show called "Stackenblocken" where contestants arrange objects on a desk at right angles. A judge then comes out with a framing square and a riding crop to punish the contestants who cannot make their desk "Stackenblocken". Well, the weather has been so sunny and warm here at 11 camp that the wall surrounding our camp was indeed no longer "Stackenblocken" and in fact leaned to the point where it comically collapsed... Fortunately for us there was no judge with a jockey's disposition and the blocks remained intact. We were actually able to rebuild it in a few quick minutes; turns out its not so hard on the second go around when all your materials are ready-made.
On another note, the team also spent a bit of the day retrieving our cached food and fuel from the
9,600' camp. We made such short work of our back carry that it really felt like a rest day. Good times!
More about our intrepid crew as our adventure unfolds...
RMI Guide
Billy Nugent
Everybody made it to
Alaska just fine with just one not-so-minor hiccup. One duffel never showed up and had one of us spending the afternoon at REI replacing missing items. As luck would have it, we got a call from a climber in Talkeetna who had picked it up at the airport by mistake. With that behind us we were ready for a beer and turned in after our big travel day.
Today we were busy getting the incredible amount of gear needed for this adventure ready for our flight in the morning. Everyone is excited about getting started. Me too, even after all these years.
More to come soon...
RMI Guide Brent Okita
On The Map
This morning we woke up early, broke camp and flew off the
Kahiltna Glacier. We are now enjoying a nice meal at the West Rib Pub. The group is doing fantastic and we all looking forward to a warm shower. All and all and incredible time with everyone.
Thank you all for the fantastic time!!!!
RMI Guide Andres Marin
The weather was beautiful today, sunny and warm, and barely a breath of wind. We took a quick trip back to Windy Corner (13,600') to retrieve the cache we left there well over a week ago. The hike back to the cache took us 15 minutes, and about an hour to ascend back to the
14,200' camp that we established yesterday. The rest of the day was spent buffing out camp and practicing fixed rope travel techniques in preparation for tomorrow. Tomorrow we plan on carry supplies up above 16,000' to get ready for our summit bid. The weather looks good for the next few days; hopefully the forecast pans out. Tomorrow will be two weeks into our expedition, and we're all excited to get up high soon.
We'll let you know how our carry goes. Stay tuned...
RMI Guide
Mike Walter & Team
On The Map
In the movie "Spinal Tap" there's a comical part where the rock god explains to an interviewer that, whereas most amplifiers only go up to ten, his "goes to eleven" in case he's really rocking out and "needs that extra push." Well, our strong team definitely needed no extra push in making it to 11K camp today.
After a calm night at 9600' we woke to clear skies and prepared to "go to eleven." After caching some
gear and food in a snow hole ( which we'll pick up tomorrow) we enjoyed the feeling of dramatically lightened packs and sleds as we moved up. Arriving in camp the team had its first experience with building a true Denali-style fortified camp. Some people were shoveling, some were cutting blocks, some were carrying them: everyone was working hard and in an hour or so we had a veritable Great Wall in place. Everyone enjoyed the upper body workout and the concrete results. The sun sets late at 11K (it's about 10pm now and still brilliant) and folks are settling in to a well-earned sleep.
Tomorrow will be a "half-rest" day: we'll be making a three-hour trek to retrieve our cache, but without the work of breaking down and setting up camp we'll be able to also rest and acclimatize.
RMI Guide
Kel Rossiter
On The Map
After our unsuccessful attempt climbing
Radio Tower due avalanche conditions, we spent our last day hiking to the first camp on Denali. We all had the opportunity to pull sleds and go for a long glacier hike. The group enjoyed the views and exercise that took to get there. We finished our day climbing up Heartbreak Hill back to Denali Base Camp. All and all a fantastic day.
Tomorrow we will be packing our camp and be flying at noon back to Talkeetna.
RMI Guide
Andres Marin
Hello All!
We awoke this morning to calm winds and relatively warm temperatures; a welcome change from the last week of stormy living at 11,000'. We had a quick breakfast and broke down tents just as the sun began to thaw out camp. Eager to make our move, we started our ascent at 10 am and arrived at our camp in the
Genet Basin at 14,200' at 3:30pm. Everyone did great and we enjoyed the warm sunshine and lack of chilly breeze getting around Windy Corner.
We spent the rest of the day working hard building walls and getting our camp in order.
Looking forward to getting a good nights rest and getting our cache tomorrow!
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
-640x480.jpg)
go pete and the team! barb and I are praying for you in this awesome adventure!
Posted by: mike tubbs on 5/25/2013 at 8:58 am
Happy birthday Pete! I baked you a huge cake but I guess I’ll just eat it myself. Hope the trek continues well!
Posted by: Dan bos on 5/25/2013 at 7:36 am
View All Comments