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Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Henry Coppolillo, Tatum Whatford
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 7,300'
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
Thank you for the blog posts! We love hearing about what Bailey is experiencing. We praying for safety and an incredible experience for the whole team!
Posted by: Karlyn Sullivan on 5/14/2023 at 4:42 pm
Lap pizza is my new favorite Denali beta!! Hope it tastes even better from the glacier :D
Posted by: Corey on 5/12/2023 at 11:01 am
On The Map
Nice going big brother! Of course you made it.
Love you much. Enjoy some well earned down time with Sue and everyone in the Maldives.
Linny
Posted by: Linda Hill-Lindsay on 4/2/2013 at 10:46 am
Congratulations to all of you! What an amazing accomplishment. I can only image how blessed and beautiful you must have felt to see all those amazing sights.
Posted by: Lara on 4/1/2013 at 9:31 am
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Seth Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Vinson Massif
Elevation: 7,200'
On The Map
HW: Great to know you are be step closer to home. Hope you will be ale to fly to Punta Arenas soon. We had a lot of fun at the birthday party. Love, -Fan
Posted by: Fan on 12/16/2012 at 6:22 pm
Sterling, The plane ride sounded like it might have been another highlight of this trip. We hope to see you New Years Day. Have a great trip home.
Posted by: Dave & Shirley on 12/16/2012 at 10:43 am
Linden checking in from Camp 2
On The Map
Posted by: Dustin Wittmier, Mike Bennett, Avery Stolte, Layne Peters, Tate Hughes, Nina Bridges, Julian Kral, David Rathbun
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Four Day Climb August 17 - 20 led by RMI Guides Dustin Wittmier and Mike Bennett reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. The teams delayed their departure from Camp Muir a bit due to the colder tempertures, with a 2 am departure, they reached the summit around 8 am. They enjoyed some time on the summit before turning around and retracing their steps. Once back at Camp Muir the team will repack and continue their descent to Paradise.
Nice work team!
Awesome Dustin!!!
Very Cool Pictures!!!
Farmer Dave
Posted by: Dave Kestel on 8/21/2025 at 3:45 am
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Henry Coppolillo, Tatum Whatford
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 11,000'
Wednesday, May 31, 2023 - 1:28 am PT
Denali's 17,000' Camp is a necessary evil. It's not particularly pleasant to exist there, even when it's nice out. With our objective secured yesterday, we were all ready to get out of that high and forlorne place. We set out today to get as far from 17,000' Camp as we could. We descended the West Buttress, down the fixed lines to 14,000' Camp. After some socializing with the other teams at 14,000'. We set our goal again with the intention of getting to 11,000ft. It has been snowing quite a bit since we passed these locations. There was a good boot track in, but there was well over 12 inches of new snow blanketing the Polo Field and Windy Corner. We'll wake up early and rally to the airstrip with the hope that we can fly first thing tomorrow. Fingers crossed. Snow camping is fun, especially at altitude, but all anyone can talk about is beer and burgers, and it is time for a shower and feeling warm once again.
RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer
Posted by: Mike Walter, Caleb Ladue
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 12,500'
Logan - I was thinking of you as I watched the colorful sunrise from sea level this morning. Looks like it was beautiful at 12,500’! Hawken says he’s proud of you for getting as high as Little Tahoma. Love you! ~ Susie
Posted by: Susie on 8/28/2017 at 1:36 pm
Greg, we have been thinking about you all weekend! Hope it was a wonderful trip and that you felt well during the ascent! So excited and proud of you! Know we love you and can’t wait to hear all about your adventure! Love Mom and Dad
Posted by: Julie Oyan on 8/28/2017 at 8:44 am
On The Map
Way to go gentlemen! I hope Seth didn’t mind short-roping Alden. Smirnoff all around!
Posted by: Tom Power on 7/1/2016 at 9:22 am
Bravo Gordy and Team! Well done! Ill let Sunnyside know asap.
Posted by: Ron Bobman on 6/30/2016 at 7:43 am
Posted by: Casey Grom, Seth Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
Congratulations Wesley McCabe on climing to reach your dreams July 8th, 2014. Proud of you Buddy, Love Dad
Posted by: Roger McCabe on 7/8/2014 at 10:01 am
Congratulations Wesley McCabe on climing to reach your dreams. Proud of you Buddy, Love Dad
Posted by: Roger McCabe on 7/8/2014 at 9:59 am
Thinking of you guys…
Posted by: Terri Beernink on 6/11/2012 at 10:37 am
DTM,LB and Jay….thinking of you all! Hoping the weather has cleared and you were able to summit!!!!
Posted by: Starr Law on 6/11/2012 at 9:22 am
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