Entries from Mt. McKinley
Another beautiful day and another strong effort from our crew! We took advantage of more amazing weather and single-carried all of our gear and supplies up
Ski Hill to set up shop at Camp 2, which sits at about 9,600' on the upper reaches of the Kahiltna Glacier. Our guys clearly trained hard and the long hours on the stairmaster paid dividends today hauling massive loads. We rolled into camp around 4:30 which made for a leisurely afternoon getting situated and taking in the amazing views. After a hot dinner of tortellini alfredo, we all crawled into the tents and are currently waiting for the bitter cold to set in once the sun dips behind Kahiltna Dome.
That's all for now, we'll check in again tomorrow!
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
On The Map
We woke early this morning, had breakfast, and packed up camp, ready to move to 14,200' before the sun had hit our tents. But the winds up high were too strong for my liking. We repitched our tents to seek shelter from the wind and waited for a few hours for the winds to abate. Unfortunately, the winds up high continued and a mean looking lenticular cloud had formed over Windy Corner, where we were headed. By noon we made the decision to stay in camp another day and avoid the risks of getting caught in a windstorm high in the mountains of
Alaska.
So we wait another day. Such is expedition climbing. The weather forecast looks good for the next few days, and we're confident that tomorrow will be the day to move camp. We'll let you know how it goes.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
There is something about ice climbing in a crevasse that is just mind blowing. Today the group got to experience ice climbing and how much fun it is.
We headed for the foot hills of
Mt. Francis to find a deep crevasse suitable for great climbing. Big smiles all day long. Tomorrow we are getting ready to go climbing Radio Tower. The team is excited to climb higher tomorrow and are doing well!
RMI Guide Andres Marin
"Pigs" is the term of endearment climbers use to describe any heavy load on a climb. On
Denali our "pigs" are our sleds, and today we took them for their first walk. The team woke to a bluebird day--welcome after the days of gray--learned about packing, strapping, and roping up our sleds, and then took them out on the trail from Basecamp to 7,600'. Day one of "walking the pigs" can often be a porcine rodeo with lots of grappling and twisting going on, but this crew made it look more like walking poodles at the Westchester Dog Show. We're now at the base of
Ski Hill, firing the skillet with fajitas, enjoying the stunning scenery up the Northeast Fork of the Kahiltna, and getting ready for tomorrow's push into steeper terrain--this crew is ready for it.
RMI Guide Kel Rossiter
On The Map
Hey everybody, checking in from the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier where we are settled into
Basecamp after a day of exciting weather. We woke this morning in Talkeetna to a couple inches of new snow on the ground and thought it was going to be another day of waiting around for flyable weather. But when I checked in with K2 at 8:00 they said it was actually clear at Basecamp and that as soon as the snow showers in town stopped we'd potentially be on our way.
Well, the clouds broke around noon and our intrepid crew loaded up onto a pair of otters and headed for the
Alaska Range. Clouds enroute nearly forced us to turn around but our pilots were able to make it happen and delivered us safely to the Southeast Fork. Some unfortunate planes were forced to turn around after the runway shutdown because of a bank of clouds that rolled in soon after our arrival. These folks eventually made it in later on in the evening when everything cleared up. The views here are breathtaking, if a little humbling.
Wish us luck as we head out on the route first thing tomorrow!
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
On The Map
Today we woke up with clear skies! After breakfast we shouldered our packs and went for a hike to the Southeast Fork of the
Kahiltna Glacier. The Fork offers spectacular views of the North Buttress of Mt. Hunter, South Face of Radio Tower, and the West Face of Kahiltna Queen. We also learned about snow anchors and glacier travel. It was really nice to be able to stretch our legs and hike around. It certainly was a fantastic day.
We also had the opportunity to eat dinner outside enjoying the incredible views. The weather is looking nice for the rest of the week, so we will be getting around.
Everyone is doing great!
RMI Guide Andres Marin
The weather has definitely been improving for us. The winds have calmed, and only light snow has fallen today. The storm produced a little over two feet of snow, with deeper drifts. Hopefully the improving trend continues and we can move
camp tomorrow. We're all ready and rested for some more climbing.
That's all the news from up high today.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
Woke up this morning to snow on the ground and sleet falling from the sky. It turns out that this doesn't make for the safest bush flights or glacier landings so we spent another day hanging out in
Talkeetna. We ate a lot of food, hung out some, practiced crevasse rescue, hung out some more, and some of us even drank a couple beers. Tomorrow is calling for more of the same but with a chance of partial clearing later in the day. We have our fingers crossed...
More to come as our
expedition gets off the ground,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
It is fascinating how much the weather can test us. One more day of a strong storm kept us in camp, but we find things to do to keep ourselves busy.
Here is how the day went for us:
Woke up with about a foot of new snow, had to do some maintenance in camp before any items got buried. Then time to eat breakfast. Lisa,
Kahiltna Basecamp Manager, rallied everybody in basecamp to stomp the runway, then we did a class in avalanche decision making and transceiver and probing work. After dinner, Akira finished snow blocks to make an arch that marks the entrance of our bathroom. Impressive work!!! Now it is time for us to go sleep.
The strong front that is passing should start weakening tomorrow. High hopes for that.
We all are staying happy and learning from the mountain.
Living the dream!!!!
RMI Guide Andres Marin
On The Map
Another day goes by and we are still here at the
11k Camp. The winds have died down for the most part, but it is snowing and visibility is nearly zero. We're still doing well, tent bound mostly. Hopefully the storm passes soon and we can move camp up higher.
Cheers,
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
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Hey Craig, you seeing any good birds up there?
Posted by: Shelley on 5/22/2013 at 5:02 am
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