Entries from Mt. McKinley
Sunday, June 16, 2019 - 11:36 AM PT
Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads reading this. We got a little snow and slight breeze last night. The weather from the SE continues to bring clouds and precipitation towards the mountain. We have opted to stay put today and see what Monday brings. There is a period of improving weather Wednesday to Friday. Since we have our cache in at 16,200’ we just need 36-48 hours to launch up for a summit attempt. Moral is still high in the Team. A snow couch and lounge area was built yesterday with a large snow “TV” carved out for viewing the clouds roll over Mt Foraker. Obviously we would have preferred to have been up and down by now but that’s not what Denali had planned for us. We will improve camp today, eat a big lunch and continue the 14,000' Camp hangout. Everyone is healthy and happy, fingers crossed for improving weather.
RMI Guide Mike King
On The Map
Sunday, June 16, 2019 - 10:13 AM PT
We let the snow surface freeze up a bit after dinner and left camp at 9pm, headed up the
Kahiltna Glacier with our backpacks and sleds loaded with food and supplies we'll need a we move higher. The traveling was efficient and the views were stunning as out team enjoyed beautiful pink alpenglow on Kahiltna Dome and Foraker, two neighboring giants that are dwarfed by Denali.
In three hours time we made it up to around 10,000' where we cache our gear in a hole dug deep into the snow. By 2 am, five hours after we started, we were back at our camp at the Base of Ski Hill and ready for bed.
This morning we slept in and will enjoy an extended egg and bacon brunch. Then we'll have some more resting in store as we will wait for the glacier to freeze up again in order move our camp to 11,200'.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
Saturday, June 15, 2019 - 2:21 PM PT
We got up with a few more clouds in the glacial valleys below us and figured we would hope for the best. After breakfast we packed up camp and headed towards the fixed lines. As we climbed the lower slopes out of 14 Camp the clouds moved in with a light wind and snow. After an hour we caught our last view of the
upper mountain and saw snow blowing 500+ feet into the atmosphere. Since there hadn’t been any snow accumulation up there for a while we decided the winds on the Buttress were to high for the exposed terrain we needed to travel through before reaching 17 Camp. The Team is back in camp at 14,200’ and settled in for our continued hangout. We will be watching the forecast closely and looking at the “nowcast” and hope for a 36-48 hour window to sneak up there and have a summit bid. Thanks for following along.
RMI Guide Mike King
On The Map
Saturday, June 15, 2019 - 1:51 PM PT
When we hit the sack after dinner last night the weather was beautiful and we expected much of the same today. But the weather threw us a curve ball and at 3 AM we woke to snow and wind. We felt like we were inside of a Ping Pong ball, and the cloud cover prevented the snow from freezing last night. So, all in all, not an ideal morning. We pumped the brakes a little and decided to postpone this morning's climb for tonight. Instead, we had a great breakfast of bagels, cream cheese, and smoked salmon to pass the morning. We're currently still in the Ping Pong ball and wet snow is still falling. Hopefully tonight's weather will treat us better and we can get a cache of supplies up to around
10,000'. We'll keep you posted.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
Saturday, June 15, 2019 - 9:17 AM PT
Greetings all,
And just like that, we’re back in civilization. Just two days ago,
we were standing on top of North America, at 20,310’, after a long and demanding effort over the course of two weeks. And now, green grass, crowded Talkeetna streets and restaurants, and the comforts (and burdens) of modern technology and bustling civilization. It’s quite a shock to the system. But here we are, tired after finishing our walk out to Base Camp Friday morning, celebrating our expedition and our success here in Talkeetna. We enjoyed a wonderful celebratory dinner at the Wildflower Cafe with fresh seafood as the fare of choice, and reminisced about all the experiences we’ve shared over the last few weeks. It’s been an incredible couple weeks, and all the Team should be incredibly proud of their accomplishment! We’re headed back to Anchorage this morning to put the final steps of a great adventure in place, and head back to our friends and family. Thanks for following along all these weeks!
RMI Guides
Robby Young,
Nick Scott,
Joe Hoch and Team Homeward Bound
Friday, June 14, 2019 - 5:26 PM PT
The Team had another calm night here at
14,200ft. Our four nights here have been great for sleeping and acclimating and the fifth should be no different. We ate another big brunch, just without the mimosas. The weather has been splitter and the outlying forecast seems to be delayed. We also are not seeing the tell tale signs of deteriorating weather, lenticular clouds over Mt. Hunter and Mt. Foraker. With light snow and calm winds for tomorrow and Sunday our plan is to move up to 17,200’ and hopefully summit on Father’s Day the 16th.
We walked out to the “Edge of the World”, an outcropping of rock where Genet Basin looks down into the Northeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier. The glacier valley is how climbers can begin the West Rib and Cassin Ridge climbing routes. The clouds came up quickly and the views were obscured. Regardless we got out of the tents and stretched the legs and lungs a bit. Fingers crossed this streak of weather continues and if it doesn’t, we will continue to sit here at 14 and wait for a better window.
RMI Guide Mike King
On The Map
Friday, June 14, 2019 - 3:35 PM PT
RMI's June 11th
Denali expedition is officially under way. After an orientation with the National Park Service that focused on safety and environmental stewardship, as well as information about the West Buttress climbing route, we spent the rest of the day packing supplies for this three week expedition.
We flew into Basecamp on the Kahiltna Glacier yesterday and promptly hid from the scorching sun as we crawled into our tents. We waited until the snow surface to freeze before we went anywhere which entailed an alpine start at 3 am. The glacier was in great shape and we traveled smoothly without the need of snowshoes for flotation. Here, at Camp 1, at the Base o Ski Hill (7800') we repeated the process of hiding from the sun. Tomorrow we will again take advantage of colder temps and firmer snow and get an alpine start to shuttle supplies up to somewhere around 10,000'. We'll keep you posted as to how it goes.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
Thursday, June 13, 2019 - 9:32 PM PT
We’re back down here in the thick air of
11,000’! We were so excited to wake up to another beautiful day at 17 Camp this morning, and we were still ecstatic from a fantastic summit day yesterday. Despite some crunchy, achy bodies this morning, we were up and attem as early as reasonable to start making our way back down to the airstrip, and eventually home. We’ve paused our descent for just a few hours here at 11 Camp to get some rest and recovery, and we’ll then continue our way to the airstrip tonight around midnight, when the lower Kahiltna Glacier is firmed up overnight. Hopefully the weather allows for a flight off the glacier first thing in the morning. Wish us luck, and hopefully see all you friends and family soon!
RMI Guides Robby Young, Joe Hoch, Nick Scott and Team Homeward Bound
On The Map
Thursday, June 13, 2019 - 5:18 PM PT
Today we got a casual but cold start to begin our carry to 16,200’ at the top of the fixed lines. The route heads out of camp and ascends moderate glaciated slope that terminates at the bergshrund. From there we clip our ascenders on a fixed rope to climb the 35-40 degree slope and gain the
West Buttress of Denali. There was a lot of traffic on the Buttress from teams descending and ascending. We opted to cache our food and fuel at the top of the lines rather then play a game of red light/green light above 16,000'. The Team did well, we will make a few refinements for our second lap on the lines for our move day to 17,200’ Camp. We are all back safely at 14,000' Camp and looking forward to a rest day tomorrow. From there we will have to see what the weather does. Everyone is acclimating well and appetites have remained strong. Currently there are lots of laughs and conversations happening in our kitchen tent. We high fived Robby Young’s RMI Team on the fixed lines after their successful summit yesterday. Thanks for following along, the amazing views and beauty of the Alaska Range continue to astound.
RMI Guide Mike King
On The Map
Wednesday, June 12, 2019 - 10:00 PM PT
Greetings Loyal RMI Blog Followers!
Today, at approximately 2:20pm, our entire team stood on
top of North America! This team put in a heck of an effort and were rewarded with an amazing summit day! We wanted to call from the summit, but the only wind we had all day was the top 20’ of this climb. Despite the cold, the team spent a good joyful 20 minutes on top before making our descent back to 17,000' Camp. I couldn’t be more proud of this team today, digging deep and climbing hard! Tomorrow, we begin our long descent back to civilization. Ideally, we’ll be sleeping at 11,000’ camp tomorrow night in the thick air we miss so dearly. The weather looks like it may cooperate for the next couple days so wish us luck!
RMI Guides Robby, Nick, Joe, and Team Summit!
On The Map
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Summiting!!
Not flippin submitting, stoopid autocorrect ;)
Posted by: Dan Naylor on 6/17/2019 at 1:26 pm
Rogers & Gaz, keep it up lads sounds an amazing expedition.
Good luck with the weather for submitting :)
-Naylor
Posted by: Dan Naylor on 6/17/2019 at 1:25 pm
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