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Easy day today!  We were up at 5 AM on another fine weather day at 11,000 ft.  Shortly after 7 AM we started walking downhill to retrieve our cached food and fuel at 9700 ft.  The low clouds had cleared out overnight and so as we came close to Kahiltna Pass at 10,000 ft we could see well out into the tundra and an endless series of lakes and ponds down in the lowland.  It took just over a half hour to reach our cache.  Thankfully the ravens hadn’t disturbed it (they’ve been known to end an expedition or two) and we dug it up and loaded up.  We got back up the hills in about 2 hrs.  During the day it was worth doing a little review and practice with avalanche beacons, some discussion of crampon and climbing techniques and a refresher on handling the ice axe. 

Tomorrow, the game changes a little as we take on steeper and more serious terrain.  Out of the snowshoes and into the crampons.  With all of that training we managed to fit in some excellent naps as well.  After dinner and storytelling, we got our packs and sleds ready for a carry tomorrow. 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team

Monday, June 7, 2021 - 2:31 pm PT

We got some more snow last night and woke again to calm and clear weather. After yesterday’s trip up the fixed lines we figured another night at Denali's 14K Camp would help people acclimate and sleep better before moving to high camp at 17,200’. We are expecting a low pressure weather system to roll in this evening. If it does then we will likely be at 14 for a few more days. If it doesn’t appear then we will likely move up to high camp tomorrow. Time and weather will tell. Until then, warm tents and some card games will keep us occupied. The team is healthy and happy but looking forward to moving up. Thanks for following along.

RMI Guide Mike King

Good Morning,
Last night after the move to Camp Schurman the team elected to split into a group focused on advanced climbing/crevasse rescue skills and a summit team.
The summit team woke around 10pm for their summit push. After dealing with warm nighttime temps, isothermal snow, and punching through multiple snow bridges the team decided to turn around at about 10,500.
All team members are now back in camp beginning a day of ice climbing, glacial navigation and crevasse rescue training.

RMI Guide Drew O'Brien

PC: Drew O'Brien

Friday June 17, 2022 1:47 am PT

Hello everybody!

Sorry for the late post, here’s what happened yesterday! The short story, we moved to 17 camp and it was exhausting. Oh wait, huh? You want the long story. Alright fine….

So we pre-packed as best we could the night before because we were looking to get a early start. Nothing is more annoying than be stuck behind folks on the fixed lines. Lucky for us our plan worked out. We were the first ones out of 14 camp… actually we were one of only two teams moving that day. The weather forecast has been rather wishy washy so I think spooked some teams from moving. Thankfully we had the inside connection to several forecasts and forecasters so we were optimistic that this was the right move. Anyhoo the team styled the fixed lines again, though this time was a little less joyous due to heavy packs crunching down on our hips. At the top of lines we began to climb some of the best terrain of the trip, the West Ridge! It was an exciting mix of snow, rocks, big exposure, beautiful views, running belays and a little more ascending. The weather was perfect and the team had a blast. When we arrived at 17 camp the real work began, building camp! At 17,000 feet you gotta work slow otherwise you’ll exhaust yourself. The team put in a Herculean effort erecting tents, snow block walls and a bathroom. Then it was freeze dried food for dinner and time to get some well deserved sleep. Depending on the “nowcast” if we wake up to good weather we’ll make our summit push tomorrow!

Wish us luck and send sunshine and low winds our way!

RMI Guides Avery, Jack, Liam and the Team

June 17, 2023 11:04 PM PT

Day 12 of our Denali climb.

Today we had a sleep in at Camp 3 and woke up in beautiful sunshine and 15cm (6 inches) of fresh powdery snow. We looked at all the climbers who went up the fixed lines to get to 17k camp for a summit push on Sunday, but we all agreed the night before that we need more time at 14k camp before our summit push. We hope for another weather window at the end of next week (fingers crossed). No worries, big strong Andy still has two pounds of cheese left and will be safe.

Instead of climbing, we hired lovely Lenhardt for an intense yoga session to get mentally and physically ready for this mountain. After that railroad, Jeff improved our eating tent to make it comfier for the following days and Katherine worked hard to make Joey's long hair cut more functional and fashionable for the mountain.

The focus of the afternoon was listening to music, chill outside, eat snacks and hydrate, and let our bodies adjust to the new altitude. We also improved our sleeping tents, so the polar bear can sleep well at night and doesn't attack his tent mates. In the evening, Heidi gave us a call to come to the edge of the world for the first round of Denali's Next Top Model. We stretched our legs and walked over to this stunning place where the mountain drops 7,000 feet to the northeast fork of Kahiltna. We had great views of Mount Foraker and the valley. We had a good photoshoot, and all the Bond girls made it to the second round. Heidi was very proud of us. When we came back to our camp, Mr. Bond had already prepared a nice dinner for us.

To finish the day, a short German "th" joke for you . The captain of a boat is calling the German coast guard "Help, we are sinking, we are sinking". The German coast answers "Ok, no worries, what are you thinking about?".

Stephan Schiffer aka Polar Bear

Jambo from Safari Day One.  We left the Rivertrees Inn just past 7:30 this morning with our safari guides (and drivers) Simon and Nixon.  It took nearly an hour to break free of the big city of Arusha and to get traveling through the arid countryside to the west.  Before long we were seeing herds of cattle tended by Maasai in their distinctive tartan blankets.  We peppered our guides with questions about Tanzanian history, society and life in general.  By the time we reached Lake Manyara at 11 AM we were considerably smarter.  We entered the forest and the National Park all at once and began looking for wildlife.  Monkeys and Baboons were first up.  We began to see some great birds as well.  There weren’t great numbers of animals but eventually we were finding elephants, giraffes and Cape buffalo.  Simon and Nixon were clearly on a mission following our picnic lunch.  They were chasing clues that took us farther and farther into the park, basically a strip of forest between the gigantic lake and a steep escarpment of the Great Rift Valley.  Finally, we hit a small jackpot.   There were a family of elephants on one side of the dirt road we sat on -and three lions lounging amid trees on the other side.  About a hundred feet separated these two factions of the “big five” (and we were directly between them).  The lions (a big male and two females) were napping, but it was the kind of napping where they put their heads up to watch every move the elephants made.   Eventually we bid them goodbye as it was getting a little late and we had some distance to go to reach the town of Karatu and The Plantation Lodge hidden away back in the farmland.  We pulled in just before 7PM and quickly made ourselves at home.  Tomorrow we’ll get an early start on our journey into Ngorongoro Crater. 

Best Regards

RMI Guide Dave Hahn