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Our Denali escapade has commenced! Everyone arrived in Anchorage without incident and enjoyed a surprisingly smooth drive to Talkeetna. We spent yesterday crawling through all our gear, packing, repacking, wondering if we should bring more, less, or had forgotten something entirely and tearing it all apart to start again. Once we were sure, we weighed it all in for the planes and got sorted for the two Otters that would ferry us to base camp. We enjoyed a last dinner in Talkeetna, and some took two, three, or four showers to make up for the coming weeks and be sure to fly on smelling like roses.

We woke up this morning ready and hopeful to launch immediately, but it wasn't to be. Base camp reported that they were in a snow globe with 12 new inches overnight. We commenced the chill, sipped coffee, visited the myriad shops, ate lunch, and became somewhat convinced that we would HAVE to spend another night in a bed, have to take another shower, and have to eat a meal. Then, suddenly the RMI1 team got told to ready 5 and launched. Our hopes changed - but also Came with the realization that we would be landing quite late, and cooking dinner would be even later. So, we compromised. We would sleep on the ground and forego a shower if we could have one more mountain high pizza meal. We grabbed pizzas, trapped the stack together, and flew in with them in our lap. Our flight was stunning, with the long light of evening lighting the thousands of peaks in the Alaska range. We landed, set up our shelter, ate our pizza, and are settling in for our first night on the glacier.

We will be in touch tomorrow with more news. Stay tuned!

RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer, Henry Coppolillo, Tatum Whatford, and Team

Hello everyone!

Welcome to the start of our Denali Expedition!

The team arrived in Alaska yesterday. After loading 24 duffels into the van, equaling far too many pounds to mention, we made our way to the launching point of our trip: Talkeetna. Talkeetna means where the rivers meet and it is also where many different groups of people meet. It is a dead end down bustling with energy and great food. Tourist from cruises, climbers sunburned and ravenous, fresh climbers with wide eyes and eager all gather at the various restaurants to enjoy a drink and soak in the scenery. 

Today was our prep day to get ready to fly tomorrow. After a scrumptious breakfast and several cups of coffee we headed to the hanger and exploded our gear. Before committing to the glacier we need to make sure everyone has the appropriate gear. The team passed with fly colors. Once all our gear was back in our duffle and backpack we divided the team into two for the planes. First we weighed each climber followed by their backpack and their duffle. We are carrying a lot of weight but looking at this team I think they are going to handle it just fine. With everything weighed and sorted we are set to jet in the morning. As long as the weather holds and clouds stay away, tonight will be our last night in a bed, last time flushing a toilet, and last time with cell service. Here's to disconnecting and enjoying the wilderness of Denali for the next few weeks. 

Climb on,

RMI Guide Hannah Smith and Team 

THE CLIMB BEGINS
Today we awoke for an 8am breakfast, the last luxurious basecamp breakfast for a week and a half. Hell has it really only been a week in this dust?! From meeting in peruivian airports to tent mates, how have we only known each other 9 days and in tents for 7?

We quickly ate our food and stashed away our future mountain lunch. Before long we were making our way up the mountain again. This time we kissed goodbye to the sweet creature comforts of basecamp… have no fear the speaker made it on the pack list! Up the winding switch backs, through the penetentes, over the glacier streams, and up the final scramble to our new home, campo uno. We set up camp, acquainted ourselves with our new bathroom situation, and started treating our water.

Tonight we feast on quesadillas and Indian style tasty bites… good thing we have our blue bags at the ready (RMI please take the hint). Tomorrow we have another big day, a carry to 18,000' feet. On this trip we’ve learned many things. We’ve learned why the moon waxes and wanes differently in the southern hemisphere. We’ve mastered the game of euchre. We’ve etched our guides pet peeves into our brains so as not to do those things..purposefully at least. But what we have yet to learn is our future on this mountain, we can only continue to set ourselves up for success, having each others back, and controlling what’s in our power to control. Summit or not, one thing we will walk away from this mountain without a doubt is what we’ve learned about ourselves, our proven strength, our attitude, and our camaraderie as a team of strangers turned friends.

I’d like to make a call out to our two biggest fans Eddie and my mom Michelle, and our other fans the polish team and the burrows. We have yet to decide on a team name, please send your suggestions in the comments, no guarantees we will use it, but we would love your thoughts!

And lastly. Happy early birthday to my ride or die Ambre, I love the hell out of you and I hope you have the best birthday. Lord knows I was thinking of you crossing that river!

Climber Mikayla Demers

Hello friends, families, Farmer Dave and anyone else out there who might be following our blog. We have just kicked off the first Ecuador Expedition of 2023. It started with a rainy travel day and a rainy day for our Quito city tour (although a few of us still managed minor sunburns). Today, we took our first acclimatization hike and were surprised/delighted to wake up to partially sunny skies! 

The hike up Rucu Pichincha is really quite scenic. I think it’s my favorite day hike in the world that is more or less in a major metropolitan area. A gondola takes us to 13,000’ where we begin our ascent to the summit of Rucu Pichincha (13,354’). Along the way there are a variety of wildflowers and the final push to the summit is engaging, involving a short section of class 3 scrambling. 

I should also mention that the team is in good health, especially thanks to the newly renovated penthouse spa here at the Hotel Mercure. Many of us have used this opportunity to cycle cold plunges and wet sauna or cold plunges and hot tubbing. Henry, the ultimate masochist, prefers cold plunge only, first thing in the morning. 

Tomorrow we will depart Quito early to head north. The itinerary of this trip has us working our way from north to south, making attempts on Cayambe, Antisana and Chimborazo. These are the 3rd, 4th and 1st highest mountains in Ecuador, respectively. We also hope to capture a glimpse of Cotopaxi, which is normally on the itinerary but was scratched this time due to recent eruptions and a moratorium on summit bids. Better to witness that from a safe distance. 

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier

The Mt. Shuksan - Sulphide Glacier August 2 - 5 team reached the summit of Mt. Shuksan today led by RMI Guides Hannah Smith, Henry Coppolillo and Seth Burns.

Hannah reported that the team was having a great day on the mountain with very few climbers on the route and fairly clear skies.  The team will return to camp for their final night on the mountain and walk out to the trailhead tomorrow to conclude their programs.

Congratulations to today's climbers!

The Four Day Climb led by RMI Guides Adam Knoff and Alex Halliday reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today on the newly established Disappointment Cleaver Route. Guide Adam Knoff reported clear and windy skies. Tempratures were cool in the morining, but starting to warm up, so the team will have a pleasant descent back to Camp Muir.

Congratulations to Today's Team!