Most Popular Entries

The Four Day Summit Climb teams led by RMI Guides Adam Knoff and Solveig Waterfall reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. The teams reported warm temperatures with winds at about 15 mph. They spent over an hour on the summit enjoying the views before beginning their descent back to Camp Muir. After a week of Denali Prep training, Mike Haugen and the Expedition Skills Seminar – Kautz team also reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning with 100% of their team. They have started their descent and will be back at Rainier Basecamp this afternoon. The American Lung Association Climb for Clean Air is ascending to Camp Muir today with Win Whittaker as their lead guide. He sent us a photo of the team's climbing school from yesterday. What beautiful weather the teams have been climbing in!

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads in the lowlands! After our day of training, we were raring to go carry up the fixed lines. Packed up, alarms set but when we woke the wind was blowing and the snow was swirling. Dragging our feet provided little clarity, with the basin clearing out just enough to show high winds on the West Buttress. Tough to establish a trend, but we decided to wait another day here at 14 Camp. It ended up being a good call as the clouds regained control of camp and it has snowed heavily since. Armed with an optimistic forecast, we plan to carry tomorrow and get in position for a move as soon as we can. Wish us luck down there and enjoy the day celebrating all the Fathers. RMI Guide Jake Beren

On The Map

The Camp Muir Skills Seminar is back down off the mountain! We had hoped to give the summit one more shot but, as was our luck, the rain returned overnight. The mountain did clear at the mid elevations yesterday giving us hope but the weather fronts were stacked up end-to-end this week so we packed our things this morning and headed down. Even though we weren't able to summit, Camp Muir provides an excellent high-altitude training site so we were able to train in the complex skills necessary to climb a glaciated peak. And so when the team parted ways everyone was psyched up for new adventures. One of the main things that makes a successful trip for me is if everyone returns as friends. This is no small feat with 15 climbers and 5 guides, but if this is our yardstick we definitely succeeded after our week at Muir. RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

RMI Guides Seth Burns and Joe Crawford led their Five Day climb teams to the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning.  Seth radioed from the crater rim at 8:47 am. Its a goregous day on the mountain with clear skies and cool temperatures.  After spending some time in the crater the team will descend to Camp Muir and spend their second night on the mountain. Tomorrow they will continue down to Paradise.

Nice work today team!

Saturday, July 3, 2021 - 9:15 pm PT

There was still a big cloud cap on Denali this morning, but at 6AM the winds didn’t seem too bad.  There were clouds in every other direction as well, but we were mostly looking up at the West Buttress as we ate breakfast and pondered a carry.  It seemed worth a shot.  We pulled the trigger and left camp just after 8 AM.  It was colder this morning than it had been… not extremely cold, but colder than we’ve yet experienced on the trip.  Our tracks -and anyone else’s- from yesterday were gone, so we had the added challenge of trail breaking in a few inches of new snow.  Even so, we made steady progress upward.  But the cloud cap made steady progress downward, so we were bound to come together.  We were in murk and light but cold winds by the base of the fixed ropes.  Which all made for a cold intro to climbing the steep, icy rope section.  Thankfully, the winds were blowing from behind us and so we stepped into much needed calm at our destination, which was just perfectly in the lee and sheltered by the crest of the West Buttress.  It was wonderful to hit our 16,200 ft target, but the clouds hid the grand views.  We quickly cached supplies and geared up for a descent facing into the cool wind.  A careful descent got us to 14,200 ft camp just as the sun came out there at 2:30 PM.  The afternoon and evening were calm and easy with occasional snow showers. The storm is definitely easing, but of course they are predicting that another will follow.  We’ll rest tomorrow in any case. 

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Tuesday, June 1, 2021 - 3:10 pm PT

The forecast ended up being accurate for a change. We got light snow and wind beginning around midnight that has intensified over the morning. Between the wind, snow and lack of visibility we are staying at 11,200’ today in hopes of making a carry to 13,500’ when the weather allows. Until then we are enjoying the heavier meals and lot of good stories in the kitchen tent. While not the most exciting part of the trip, days like this let the legs rest and the heart/lungs acclimate which will only help us up higher on Denali.

RMI Guide Mike King

Monday, June 24, 2019 - 10:53 PM PT We have a group of happy campers here at 14,000' Camp on Denali. Although we had to delay our start time a bit due to snow this morning, we were eventually able to tear down camp and head up hill. The weather was very nice to us until we got to about 13,600'. This terrain is a convex area in the glacier that reflects all the sun off the snow and rock and becomes an easy-bake oven. Luckily we left early enough where our brains did not fully melt even though it felt like they might. We set up a great camp and had a birthday dinner of mac and cheese and no bake cheese cake for Zach and Ian. The group has earned their rest day tomorrow and we won't wake up until the sun hits our tents. Goodnight! RMI Guide Mike Haugen & Siete

On The Map

Hey RMI, this is Linden Mallory calling from high camp on Mt. McKinley, 17,200'. We just got back a little bit ago from our successful summit of Denali. We had a relatively easy descent, the winds picked up after we left the summit so it definitely got quite cold. We were bundled up in goggles and down jackets and neck gaiters and all that fun stuff, but the team did well. We motored back to camp and right now we are changing into dry socks and brewing up some hot drinks and dinner and crash out and get some rest. It's been a long day. Everybody's doing well. We had a great climb today. I'll try to get a written dispatch off tomorrow. Our plan is to head downhill. Try to make it down to at least down to 14 Camp or possibly further depending on the conditions that present themselves. Hope everyone is doing well at home. The team is very excited. Tired but excited. And we'll check in tomorrow. Take care, RMI Guide Linden Mallory

Good things come to those who wait. At 20 minutes to midnight yesterday, with the Southern Cross shining down on Punta Arenas, we left the continent. We were shoehorned into the cavernous cargo compartment of the Ilyushin 76 airplane, along with about fifty other passengers, a pickup truck and a mountain of gear and supplies. The flight took about four and a half hours and was almost completely lacking in any noticeable turbulence. We passed time by reading, listening to music and simply snoozing. With about thirty minutes to go, everybody began layering up, tying boots, and pulling on hats and face masks. With perhaps 15 minutes to go, the flight crew turned on a new feature, a big screen TV with the outside view from the nose of the plane. It was absolutely spectacular, like a clip from "Frozen Planet" or "Planet Earth". Surreal beauty, until we felt the wheels under our seats touching the ice surface in the picture. Then it became real as the engines roared to slow the plane. After the perfect landing, we marched out into the middle of Antarctica. After some photo-ops and handshakes, we shuffled over to a warming hut and then into a modified van for a ride across the glacier on giant tires. It wasn't to be as far as getting straight out to Vinson Basecamp. Weather there wasn't suitable for a Twin-Otter flight, so after an early morning welcome meal, we built our tents and crashed for a few hours. The weather slowly deteriorated during the day, with cloud building up and light snow falling. That didn't stop us from spending a few hours out in late afternoon to review rope techniques. We rounded out the first day with an excellent dinner and an evening spent chatting with various adventurers on exotic missions on ice. Best Regards RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map

Yesterday we got to the air strip nice and early. We arrived at the Kahiltna Glacier air strip at 7 am after a long trip down from 17,000' Camp. Unfortunately the weather was not conducive to flying until 6:30 pm, but we made it off! The team was excited to get back to Talkeetna and enjoy hot showers and food. Now everyone is working their way back home. It’s been a successful Denali expedition and thanks so much for following along!

RMI Guide JT Schmitt and the Denali team