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Posted by: Mike Walter, Abby Westling, Emma Lyddan
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 11,200'
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Thursday, May 18, 2023 10:40pm PDT
The weather finally cooperated with us, and we were able to make the move to 11,200'. Everyone did great pulling heavy sleds. We're currently cozy in our tents and looking forward to a good night's rest. If the weather is nice tomorrow, we're hoping to put a cache In above Windy Corner. We'll let you know what we find tomorrow.
RMI Guides Mike, Abby, Emma & Team
Posted by: Dave Hahn
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
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
Friday July 1, 2022 11:25pm PDT
We were repetitive today. “What a gorgeous day” was heard over and over. We were out of our sleeping bags and firing the stoves at 7 AM and … as usual… it was calm and clear and perfect at 14,000 ft. A little cool in the shadows, but by the time we’d eaten breakfast and done another big gear sort, it was 9:50 and the sun was coming on strong. We headed up the now-familiar terrain leading to the fixed ropes and the crest of Denali’s West Buttress. The work was certainly hard, carrying big packs on steep snow, ice, and rock at high altitude, but the scenery was magnificent. It was even more magnificent once we loaded up the supplies from our cache at 16,600 and pushed on to new ground. It was a thrill to walk along the ridge crest, balancing between the big drop down to Genet Basin on one side and the Peters Glacier on the other. We rolled into 17,200 ft at about 4 PM in calm and sunny conditions and began to build our high camp.
The decision was made, over dinner in our rather compact high camp dining tent, to take a rest day tomorrow (Saturday) and to focus on a summit bid Sunday. Conditions look good for Saturday, according to the forecast, but even better for Sunday and we’d like everybody to have their best shot at the top after so much hard work.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team
On on everyone! You’ve all worked SO hard. You are ALL amazing! MASSIVE GOOD LUCK guys n gals!
Posted by: Margaret Nolan on 7/2/2022 at 9:23 am
So proud of everyone and with you in spirit!! You can do this!!! Cheering you all on!!! Go, Jim, go!!!!
Posted by: Deborah Karmozyn on 7/2/2022 at 8:49 am
A good thunder storm and the rain hitting the rooftop of our cold, but dry cabana made for a very restful night of sleep. After breakfast at the IMSS training compound of La Malintzi, we got back on our bus to make our way to the La Joya Trailhead. On the way we stopped in the markets of Amecameca to purchase our water, fresh tortillas, queso, and last minute snacks for our Ixta climb tomorrow. Once we entered the gates of the National park, we were greeted with hail, thunder, and snow for the remainder of our journey to the trailhead camp. Spirits were kept high though, as we were served another warm and delicious meal by the local staff. After our final packing for tomorrow's move up to Campo Alto. We were lucky enough to see both Ixta and the smoke off of Popocatepetl in the clear evening light after the thunderstorm passed. We are excited to begin our first objective bright and early after a good nights sleep at our trailhead basecamp.
Posted by: JT Schmitt, Alan Davis, Kiira Antenucci
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 11,000'
Monday, June 7, 2021 - 5:38 am PT
We made it to 11,000' Camp last night! Even though our packs were lighter after our cache yesterday, the walk uphill wasn’t easy. The team put in the work to make it to camp before flurries of snow started to fall. Making it to camp was only half the work and we worked into the early hours of the morning setting up tents, melting snow for water, and cooking dinner. The team is settled into our new camp and we couldn’t be more excited to crawl into our sleeping bags!
RMI Guide Kiira Antenucci and the RMI team
Come on, sport! Let’s driiiiiink
Posted by: Craig on 6/8/2021 at 6:28 am
Neva send a threat on the internet just to prove a point
Posted by: NLE Choppa on 6/8/2021 at 4:47 am
Posted by: JJ Justman
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Southside
CONGRATS Maurine Braddock (Mom)—you are officially a badass! Love, Keith/Lindsey/Linus/Elaine
Posted by: Lindsey & Keith on 7/31/2012 at 5:50 pm
Congratulations Elsie, Charlotte, and the whole team. We are so proud of you! Can’t wait to hear more about it.
Posted by: Corell and Lucy on 7/31/2012 at 1:44 pm
Posted by: Jeff Martin
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Leif Bergstrom, Erika Birkeland
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 7,800'
Monday, May 16, 2022 - 9:37 pm PT
At 4 am this morning the wolf tried his first huff. He then continued to huff and puff and try to blow down our house but we had built it strong. While we hunkered in our tents it was clear that it wasn't a day to try to walk anywhere. It blew for the morning but by early afternoon began to abate and have us a chance to get out of the tents and stretch our legs. This evening turned gorgeous as the wind went calm and the skies cleared. We should have smooth sailing for a move to 11,000' Camp tomorrow. We'll touch base.
RMI Guides Pete, Erika, Leif, and team
Albert!!!
Imagino que podràs rebre el nostre missatge. Pel que veig, de moment dies amb bones vistes i només un dia de fort vent. Espero que estiguis bé i en forma i que l’expedició estigui anant bé. Les fotos del blog es veuen espectaculars. Molts ànims des de Catalunya!!! Endavant amb l’expedició!!
Posted by: Marc on 5/22/2022 at 11:08 pm
My wife and I are in Alaska and have a flight planned on Sat, 5/21 at 13:30 to view Denali and land on a glacier - with K2. Stu - I hope to see ya somewhere around the 14K camp - from the air. Good luck Stu - and the entire team. Kyle
Posted by: Kyle Martin on 5/20/2022 at 11:54 pm
On The Map
Thank you for telling about your climb to the summit of Kala Patar…it sounds like something I would like to summit for the awesome view of Mt. Everest. I’m adding it to my list of things to do when I do my EBC trek…as long as it’s not a technical climb.
Posted by: Lynn Via on 3/31/2013 at 7:36 pm
Mt. Everest will be forever blessed now that you have flown the Notre Dame Leprechaun and McMunn’s flags, as you promised. So proud of you, Billy.
Posted by: Dee Brown on 3/31/2013 at 7:33 pm
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Dominic Cifelli, Tatum Whatford, Seth Burns
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 11,000'
Sunday, June 26, 2022 - 9:56 pm PT
A full night’s sleep was had by all. We got up for a leisurely breakfast at 8:30. Followed by a leisurely lunch at 1 PM. And there were naps. Our run of good luck with the weather has continued. It was partly cloudy today with some breezes blowing but it hasn’t been stormy at all and the forecast continues to be relatively stable. There are very few teams here at 11,000 now as new arrivals to the mountain taper off with the end of the climbing season in sight. We were happy to have Hannah Smith’s successful team pass through in the early morning hours as they made their way to the airstrip.
All in all it was an excellent rest day and the team is ready for the big move to 14,000 ft.
Best Regards
Yayyy!! Some progress, hope the weather is good for you all again today.
Posted by: Kim on 5/19/2023 at 12:27 pm
Great Scott, that is a lot of snow
Y’all got this !
Posted by: Kim H on 5/19/2023 at 11:07 am
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