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December 2, 2024 - 12:41 pm PT

The first thing you notice about Antarctica, as you look out the airplane window anxiously anticipating your arrival, is the scale. The scale of Antarctica is infinite. Snow, ice, mountains and clouds seemingly go on forever.

Then you notice the colors of Antarctica. The colors of Antarctica are equally enticing, but they are few - only the endless white and the brilliant blues. The pure white ice and snow that cover this grand continent interrupted only by the the hints of blue tinting the cracks in the glaciers when the sun hits them just right, the natural blue ice runway, and the vast blue sky. (This of course ignores the spectrum of bright primary colors in the climbers’ down coats, tents and other gear that pepper the landscape, but those are not the natural colors of Antarctica.)

Then you notice the sounds of Antarctica. The sounds of Antarctica are many, and they are distinct. Each step on the ice in our mountain boots and crampons delivers a high-pitched squeak,  like pieces of styrofoam being rubbed together - squeak, squeak, squeak - so loud it’s impossible to have a conversation while walking. Each plant of our poles similarly punctuates every step with an exclamation mark. The sound of Dominic firing up our camp stove is similarly unique. The roar of the white gas igniting like a miniature jet engine summoning us to our cozy mess tent for hot drinks.

And the melodic chatter coming from the tents of the Chinese contingent we are sharing high camp with, matched by the friendly sing-song of Anja’s voice greeting us each day - “good morning” - wishing us a nice meal - “bon appetite” - or singing us a German lullaby before bed.

But the most distinctive and telling sound of all is the howl of the wind. And boy does it howl. The howl tells us it’s cold, very, very cold. And, unfortunately,  for the last two nights starting in the early hours of the morning the relentless howl has clearly and triumphantly announced that we would not be climbing today. That we would remain at high camp, confined to our cramped tents for another day. That the summit would have to wait. The howl is the gatekeeper to our adventure. So here we are again today - our third day at high camp - relying on our creativity to pass the time. Meeting other climbers from around the world and chatting with them for as long as you can stand the biting cold, shivering in front of the stack of squeaky styrofoam ice blocks arranged to give a hint of privacy while you try to poop into a plastic bag before you get frostbite in places you had never before worried about getting frostbite.  Or laughing and telling stories of our prior adventures in the mess tent over cups of hot chocolate.  Or listening to a podcast, concerned the entire time you’re wasting valuable battery life that will cost you pictures of the summit when we get  there tomorrow, or the next day, or the next day …

RMI Climber Chris Lind

The Four Day Summit Climb August 7 - 10, 2012 led by RMI Guides Brent Okita and Andres Marin radioed from the Columbia Crest at 7:02 a.m. The teams were enjoying clear skies, cool temperatures and a very light breeze on the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. They began their descent from the crater rim just before 8 am. The teams will return to Camp Muir for a bit before continuing to Paradise this afternoon. We look forward to seeing them at Rainier BaseCamp later today. Congratulations to today's teams!

Our first night at 14 camp went well. Not that folks didn't notice the altitude and the cold here in Genet Basin, but everybody showed up for bacon and bagels breakfast in a reasonably cheerful state. We didn't get up early, since it takes the sun until about 9:30 AM to get far enough around Denali's South Peak to shine on us. And we took our sweet time getting geared up for our "back carry" -the mission to retrieve our cache below Windy Corner from three days ago. We left 14K at 10 minutes past noon and made fine time getting down around the corner. It was another windless day where we were, but we could see that the gang at 17 camp was catching it in the teeth. The cache was right where we'd left it and it didn't look like the ravens had even bothered trying to dig into it. We loaded up and began the slow walk back uphill over the now familiar terrain. We were back a little before 5 PM. Job done and the approach finished. Now we can focus on the climb. Via the radio, we knew that Adam Knoff and his crew were quitting high camp and descending ahead of a multi-day storm. They had our sympathy, obviously, but we looked forward to seeing them at 14. They didn't stay too long as they wanted to get down around the end of the West Buttress before the snow started falling. The evening was the calm before whatever storm we'll get though. We still had good views of Mount Foraker, across the way, but it and every other peak, was stacked high with lenticular clouds... something is coming. But we've got everything we need to deal with such things, and we are dug into our fortress at fourteen. Best, RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Thursday, May 12, 2022 - 7:10 pm PT

Today was nearly a mirror image of yesterday's weather: mostly sunny, then partly cloudy, then mostly cloudy. It made for great travel as we ascended Ski Hill. As we gained the 9500' plateau, mostly cloudy changed to light snow and moderate winds coming through Kahiltna Pass. We had another good day, and decided to cache at ~9650' rather than press further into deteriorating weather. After leaving our gear deep in the hole we dug, we descended back down Ski Hill to camp in time for a little siesta. We'll hope for good weather tomorrow so we can bump camp up to 11,200'. We'll let you know how it goes. 

RMI Guide Mike Walter

The Five Day Climb teams for June 24 - 28, 2021 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier led by RMI Guides Mike King and Andy Bond.  The teams reached the crater rim at 5 am, happily reporting cooler than expected temperatures for today.  Blue skies and beautiful views were enjoyed from the summit before the teams began their descent.  They are making their way back to Camp Muir where they will stop for a quick break and to repack their gear before continuing their descent to Paradise this afternoon.

Congratulations to today's Five Day Climb teams!

The Four Day Summit Climb reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. The team reported great route conditions and warm, sunny weather. The team is making their way to Camp Muir where they will rest and refuel before returning to Ashford this afternoon. Congratulations climbers!

Saturday, May 21, 2022 - 11:02 pm PT

Things were perfect to move to 14,000' Camp today when we woke up, except that all of camp had the same idea too, and were up early as well. We decided it would make a lot of sense to enjoy a good smoked salmon breakfast and let the unbroken line of climbers that stretched from the top of Motorcycle Hill work things out. A few hours later, we were packed, no teams in sight, and we rolled out of camp heading uphill. A high, thin cloud layer and light breeze kept us happily cool through breezy turn. As we came out the other side though, the wind died and it got HOT!  We climbed the last bit of elevation and happily arrived at 14,000' Camp. We dug in a nice camp for the next several days next to the first RMI team and gathered for dinner and cherry cheesecake before the chill of our new, higher home drove us to our sleeping bags. Tomorrow is a rest day. We're psyched.

RMI Guides Pete, Leif, Erika, and team

Wednesday, May 26, 2021 - 11:54 pm PT

Another bluebird day here on the Kahiltna Glacier. Today was all about crevasse rescue for us. We found a nice big hole about 20 minutes from camp and practiced our haul systems from about 9 am until the sun got the better of us in the early afternoon. We retreated to our tents for our routine afternoon shade session.

The plan was to cover sled rigging and hauling before dinner, but all these perfect warm weather days caught up with the structural integrity of our camp. Our kitchen tent collapsed on itself as its foundation slowly melted away. Not a big deal. We moved it over twenty feet and built a new and improved version. Like so many home improvement hopefuls before us, once we started we just kept going, and before we knew it we had buffed out our entire camp and it was time for dinner.

We’ve got a bit of a weather system moving in over the next few days. It’s lightly snowing as I write. Weather permitting, tomorrow we’d like to pack up some gear and get out of town for a few days, venturing somewhere down on the main fork of the Kahiltna Glacier. We’ll wake up tomorrow, see how the weather looks and make our decision then. We’ll check in tomorrow, hopefully from our new home.

RMI Guide JM Gorum

Thursday, June 28th, 2013 We enjoyed a final, but ample breakfast at the Roadhouse and then hurried out to the airstrip to get ready for flying. Sure enough, conditions were favorable and so we loaded up in two big and beautiful K2 Aviation ski-equipped Otters. There was some smoke in the skies from forest fires and a little cloud as well, but we had magnificent views of forests, rivers, lakes... and then eventually of nothing but gargantuan mountains and glaciers. Our pilots, Randy and Jeff, had us into the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier and safely landed by 9:00 AM. After unloading and a few handshakes, they were off and we were left in our breathtakingly beautiful new home. We set to building camp and then spent a lazy afternoon reviewing rope techniques and getting set for glacier travel. We ate an early dinner under the intense Alaskan summer sun, did a few more last chores and then turned in. It was good to touch base, via radio, with the other RMI teams on the mountain and to feel like we'll soon be joining in the fun. The plan is to be up at 1 AM if the weather stays fine and we'll hope to be on the march a few hours later. Best Regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map

Sunday, June 30, 2019 - 5:16 PM PT We're enjoying the thick air at Camp 4, at 14,200' in Genet Basin. We got a good night's sleep last night, slept in this morning and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast of bagels, cream cheese, and bacon. An ample coffee. Today we are resting and waiting for colder temps by which to travel. There is a weather front affecting Denali right now, bringing winds up high and clouds and precipitation down low. We're sitting in between in the sun and happy at 14k. Our hope is that we can travel through the night down the Kahiltna Glacier to the Basecamp Airstrip and that cloud and precip will dissipate tomorrow so that we can fly back to Talkeetna. We'll let you know how it goes. RMI Guide Mike Walter

On The Map