Entries from Alaska
Monday, May 12, 2025 - 9:58 pm PT
We ended the trip exactly like we wanted. Bathed in sunshine. Even though the trip started with some stormy weather and wet days it ended with perfect blue skies. Our final two days were spent exploring crevasses, ice climbing and continuing into the various corners of the Ruth Gorge. Our last day was spent packing up camp in the brisk early morning cold and beginning the trek back to the Ruth Gorge Ampitheater where the Sheldon Chalet oversees the landscape. With the warming of the day and the buzzing of airplanes overhead it wasn't long until we were back to our plane slightly sweaty and sunburnt. The ride that ensued after was probably the most beautiful flight I've seen flying out of the Alaska range. We punctuated the trip with food and drinks in sunny Talkeetna!
Until next time,
RMI Guides Dan May, Joey Manship and the Ruth Glacier Seminar team
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Nick Sinapius, Ben Thorneycroft
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska
Elevation: 7,800'
Monday, May 12, 2025 - 7:45 pm PT
Snow has been pattering on the tent walls most of last night and all day today. It was an easy decision to sit tight, in the white world that we woke up in. We lingered over breakfast burritos, then spent the day reading, watching movies, stretching, and chatting. Camp was calm and quiet as everyone else did the same. The forecast looks like snow tails off and things get clear tomorrow so we are hoping to make our move to 11,00' Camp in the morning. All in all, everyone appreciated the rest day.
RMI Guides Pete, Nick, Ben, and team
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Denali Expedition May 8, 2025
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Nick Sinapius, Ben Thorneycroft
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska
Elevation: 7,800'
Sunday, May 11, 2025 - 1:19 AM PT
The starting horn sounded! It was a beautiful morning in Talkeetna and the pilots at K2 were psyched to get going. We loaded the planes and were in the air a bit before 10 am. The flight in was one of the best I’ve ever had. As clear as could be, calm, and the pilots made a couple turns and loops to bring the big three (McKinley, Foraker, and Hunter) into profile. Once on the ground, we unloaded everything and watched as the planes climbed back into the sky. That turned out to be a small hiccup, as our cooktent hadn’t made it off the plane. We stalled for a bit as a result and it came back to us via a scenic flight. Reunited, we tossed on packs and left base camp, as heavy as we will ever be on this trip. As we got to the base of heartbreak hill, a decently strong wind greeted us head on We ended up walking into that the whole way, a bit unpleasant but nothing more. It was a small taste of what Alaska can brew up for weather. Now we are tucked into camp at the base of Ski Hill, glad to finally be on the move.
RMI Guides Pete, Nick, Ben, and team
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Denali Expedition May 8, 2025
Posted by: Daniel May, Joey Manship
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Alaska Seminar
Explored the crevasses and hidden corners of the Ruth Gorge under a flawless blue sky—no clouds, just pure Alaskan magic. Spent the day weaving through ice and granite, soaking it all in. Came back tired, happy, and hungry. Wrapped it up with a late dinner and the kind of sleep that only comes after a hard day in the mountains.
RMI Guide Dan May & Team
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Ruth Glacier Seminar May 2, 2025
Posted by: Daniel May, Joey Manship
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska
Today we waited out the snow by having our own avalanche course right here on the Ruth glacier. Skies cleared to a beautiful evening during dinner. The team is excited to go explore some new terrain tomorrow under blue skies!
RMI Guide Dan May & Team
New Post Alerts:
Ruth Glacier Seminar May 2, 2025
Posted by: Daniel May, Joey Manship
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska
Wednesday, May 7, 2025
We made use of being in the full white out of a snow globe to continue our skills practice at camp and have a few nice big meals in between. The sound of crashing avalanches and falling ice seracs filled the air all day, an eery feeling not being able to see them yet hear them.
Camped in the middle of the glacier has put us at a safe distance from any overhead hazard as we continue to fortify camp amongst all this new snow!
RMI Guide Dan May
New Post Alerts:
Ruth Glacier Seminar May 2, 2025
Posted by: Daniel May, Joey Manship
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska
Tuesday, May 6, 2025
We woke up to a surprising blue bird day. The frosty tents and cold night told us the skies were clear. Taking advantage of the good weather we hiked along the relatively flat Ruth Glacier heading deeper into the gorge eyeing new terrain along the way. We caught a glimpse of the east face of Mount Dickey, basically two El Capitans stacked on top of each other and riddled with snow and ice. After a whole day of exploring we made it back to camp just in time for a dinner of some tasty burgers. The team has decided that to counter the incoming bad weather we keep hearing about, they will work on digging underground tunnels from their tents to our cook tent using only sporks. Results to come in future posts.
RMI Guide Dan May & the Ruth Glacier Team
New Post Alerts:
Ruth Glacier Seminar May 2, 2025
Posted by: Daniel May, Joey Manship
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska
Monday, May 5, 2025 - 10:50 pm PT
Another day of unsettled weather and our fair share of snow. We hunkered down at our camp with the intent to fortify in lue of the impending snow storms. We boned up on our technical skills under the presence of the awe inspiring granite sentinels around us. Good lessons are being learned. It’s easy to make plans prior to entering a place such as the Alaska range but quickly we learned our plans are nothing compared to the mountains indifference. Our fingers are crossed for the high pressure lurking in the forecast. Until then we will continue to explore around us while learning the finer points of alpine climbing and mountaineering. In our downtime we etched a friendly ephemeral snowman to greet any passerby’s of our basecamp. Talk soon
RMI Guide Day May & the Ruth Glacier Seminar
New Post Alerts:
Ruth Glacier Seminar May 2, 2025
Posted by: Daniel May, Joey Manship
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska
Sunday, May 4, 2025 - 10:44 pm PT
Hello from the Ruth Gorge! We landed in the amphitheater today to some fickle weather and unsettled clouds, but K2 was able to sneak us on. After trudging through some knee deep snow for 3-4 hours, we got to work building camp below the granite spires of the gorge.
Seems like more weather is on the horizon so we will cross our fingers and take what we can get!
RMI Guide Dan May and the Ruth Glacier seminar
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Ruth Glacier Seminar May 2, 2025
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Jackson Breen
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 14,200'
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May 17, 2024 11:54PM PT
Today was super successful. Things were quite warm at camp and looked enticing enough to rouse everyone and start making preparations to leave.
Excitement was in the air as everyone in camp had similar thoughts - whether they were carrying or moving. Teams filtered out of camp uphill, and we made final adjustments, and then shouldered packs and headed up Motorcycle Hill.
We moved really well - caught a little breeze over the top of squirrel, then kept swinging along the polo field. It was a bit chilly again around Windy Corner, but the wind died on the other side and the oven turned on and we started pulling off layers.
We cruised into camp and set about building our home for the next several days tough work at 14,200’. Everybody is now recovering horizontally.
Tomorrow should be a much easier day, dropping back down to grab our cache and returning to camp with all our treasures.
Pete
Just enjoy what life throws at you!
Posted by: Maxine Hill on 5/13/2025 at 8:25 am
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