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Tuesday, May 31, 2022 - 7:31 pm PT

The morning after our summit push saw a speedy descent from 17,000' Camp as winds increased along with our desire to reach warmer, thicker air. We left our home-away-from-home of 14,000' Camp early in the afternoon and were soon making our way around Windy Corner and down towards 11,000'. Every step brought us ever so slightly closer to the airstrip and the end of our expedition. We rolled into 11,000' Camp in time for one last tortellini dinner and a quick cat nap. By midnight the sun had dipped below the tundra and we knew it was time to “rip the band aid off” and get to the airstrip. Despite heavy packs and tired legs, an all-night stroll down the lower Kahiltna provided a beautiful and fitting end to what has been an unforgettable 21 days in one of the greatest ranges on Earth. By 8:30 am the whole team was assembled at Kahiltna International Airport and by 10 am we found ourselves back on the tarmac in Talkeetna. It’s been about 36 hours since I last slept so I need to wrap up this rambling summary and get some sleep, but suffice to say we are all happy to be back in the land of green plants, hot showers and cold beverages, and will be remembering the experiences of the past three weeks for years to come.

RMI Guide Henry Coppolillo

Today was a rest day for the Mongolia Expedition. After five days off constant movement a little down time was well deserved. We filled the hours by drying and organizing our gear, hiking to a nearby meadow filled with wild flowers and napping in the afternoon heat. Things were low key and each team member enjoyed personal time. A beautiful sunset capped off the evening and tomorrow we will begin our trek back to Ulaanbataar with fond memories of our time in this area. RMI Guide Eric Frank

Good afternoon from Chopicalqui Camp 1. We waved goodbye to our cook and base camp infrastructure this morning, and with the help of our invaluable porters, we ventured uphill. Four hours of straight climbing brought us to 16,075'. Now we are perched on an incredible terrace with a view of what will be our route the next couple of days. Chopicalqui sure is a more intimidating peak but we're bringing our A game in anticipation of Huascaran. We're keeping our fingers crossed for good weather as we venture above the 20,000' mark here soon. Stay tuned for more! RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos and team

No. I'm afraid there were no royal celebrations of summit success for us today as we began the morning getting up with guarded optimism that the clouds and wind above us would dissipate just enough to allow us to get in a summit bid. But that did not happen, and instead we retreated back to our tents after prolonging our time over breakfast in the Posh. Unfortunately the clouds descended and eventually we were enveloped in wind and snow that just took some of the energy and motivation we needed to work on camp. So, instead we spent a restful morning in our tents, snug and warm from the elements just beyond the thin nylon fabric we rely so vitally on for our comfort and survival. What do we actually do during these times while waiting for the weather to improve? Of course, reading, listening to music, playing games all come to mind, but simply catching up on sleep is huge. With winds buffeting our tents during the night, coupled with the excitement and anxiety that affects us all before a possible summit day, we can all use the downtime. In fact, it's the climber that deals with this forced inactivity well that tends to be the better climber. A capacity for patience is a hallmark of good expedition climbers. But, I never thought that spending an entire day in the old fart sack helped you out much in terms of adjusting to the altitude, so when we got a nice break in the weather we went out and built the nicest bathroom on the mountain, walled and roofed, and ready for whatever the mountain throws at us. At least we'll take comfort knowing that, when that inevitable time comes, we'll be able to answer that call without sheets of wind blown snow covering our clothes and all too vulnerably exposed parts of our anatomy. As for tomorrow, though the forecast calls for high winds what I'm seeing right now makes me think we have a chance. The winds have calmed and it's sunny and beautiful, with simply gorgeous views of the Alaska Range from our perch here just below the summit of the tallest peak in North America. And now, some closing words from the poet laureate of the arctic, our own Lindsay Mann: At 17 we stay Wishing the wind away Cutting blocks and sawing snow People see out camp and say wow! A ceiling for our bathroom was done To give us privacy from everyone Stories over dinner we share cause team morale is still there Hoping to get the summit As soon as these winds plummet But for now we sit tight And wish for a beautiful night Good night from Brent Okita, Leon and Lindsay

On The Map

Today saw pretty much constant snow all day long. Fortunately, the winds have remained calm and our crew was able to back-carry today despite the precipitation and stay right on schedule. We are now sitting pretty at 14,200' with all of our provisions and fuel. The weather is supposed to remain a little bit squirrelly through tomorrow which will coincide nicely with a well-deserved rest day. We spent most of the afternoon after the back-carry chilling in the posh and sport eating. Good times. The crew is in good spirits and pumped for the climbing ahead! RMI Guide Billy Nugent

Thursday, June 23, 2022 9:41 pm PDT

We made the big move from 8,000 to 11,000 ft today.   This was on mostly familiar terrain for us, of course.  But the unfamiliar parts brought us into a whole new world.  We set out at 5:30 AM from the base of Ski Hill in perfect conditions for mountain climbing.  It was cool, shady and calm and the snow surface was frozen up nicely.  We cruised right on past our food and fuel cache from yesterday and reached the head of the 46-mile long Kahiltna Glacier.  What remained was a little steeper terrain on a feeder glacier, but we managed that hard work without any trouble and pulled into camp at 11 AM.  Things had clouded up a little, which was a good thing, keeping the sun off us as we did the hard pull into camp.  It was nice to be greeted by Andy Bond and his RMI team, enjoying their rest day at 11K.  We set into the hard work of building a new camp at a new elevation.  The clouds began to fade, and we were stunned at the beauty of our surroundings.  Whereas the scenery from within the valleys has been great, now that we are getting up a little, we can start to see out.  The glacial ice surrounding us is endlessly fascinating with giant walls and towers pitched at impossible angles.  We napped away the intense sun that came with the afternoon.  Dinner in a new camp with a new view was excellent. 

Tomorrow we’ll go back down for our supplies. 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team

Sunday, May 23, 2021 - 7:10 pm PT

The Kahiltna Seminar team all arrived in Talkeetna last night. We got to town, ate some dinner, settled in to our rooms and called it an early night. The real work began this morning. An early breakfast set us up for a full day of prepping and organizing gear, packing everything up, weighing it all, and loading the mountain of equipment onto planes. 

With some unsettled weather around base camp, we played hurry up and wait around Talkeetna for a few hours. That allowed us to catch up on a bit of napping and a bit of extra snacking before heading on to the glacier. Now everything is loaded up, and it sounds like the weather is good at base camp, so we’re going to get on the planes and fly in. It’s looking like weather is going to hold for us this evening, so my guess is we will be setting up camp on the Kahiltna glacier about an hour from now. Wish us luck, and we’ll check in again tomorrow! 

RMI Guide JM Gorum

Hello from Karanga Camp, The team is doing great and we are happily nestled in at Karanga Camp. The weather has been having a hard time making up it's mind the last few days, and today was no different. The mornings start out clear, but by mid-afternoon, the clouds roll in and stay around until dinner, and then it clears out again. Fortunately, there has not been much rain and the trail conditions have been great. This morning when we got up, every trekker in camp was looking up at the Barranco Wall. It would be hard to miss this almost 1,000' wall rising up towards the sky, but it is when you see the first few porters working their way up the trail is when you really take notice. You can hear the nearby groups talking about the Wall followed by "we have to climb up that". The vantage point from camp makes the trail appear to be near vertical, but once you start the climb, it is very straightforward trail. In fact, most find it a lot fun and our group cruised right up it. With most of the elevation gain for the day done while climbing the Barranco Wall, it was easy hiking the rest of the way to camp. We had a spaghetti lunch waiting for us when we arrived and then spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing. Now it's time for popcorn and tea. We are all excited to be moving up to our high camp tomorrow and will check in from there. RMI Guide Jeff Martin & Team Simba Sita

On The Map

The Five Day Climb July 11 - 15 was unable to reach the summit today. RMI Guide Pepper Dee and team climbed to 13,400' before turning back due to weather. Once back at Camp Muir they will rest and repack before continuing on to Paradise.

At 2:45 a.m. PST, Casey Grom and team were all standing on the "Roof of Africa!" As seen in the photo sent below, the weather was bluebird skies and everyone looks extremely happy. The team has descended from the summit and will continue down to Mweka Camp at 10,000' today. Congratulations to the team!

On The Map