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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Southside
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
RMI Guide Leon Davis calls in from Boston Basin.
Hi to Meredith, Leon, and the whole team! Wishing you stellar conditions and a great experience.
-Geoff
Posted by: Geoff on 7/11/2014 at 6:51 pm
RMI Guide Jake Beren checks in from the Cotopaxi Express Expedition.
On The Map
Posted by: Dominic Cifelli, Seth Burns, Daniel May
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 14,200'
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Friday, June 23, 2023 - 11:43 pm PDT
After a stormy night it was time to say goodbye to our beautiful Camp 2 on the magnificent Kahiltna glacier. Some of us got a little sentimental about it, as it was home to us for the last five nights. I guess we never had a chance to mention it earlier, but we put quite a lot of effort in our camp to make it nice and neat with the snow walls around it, especially our restroom, this was a piece of art :).
We woke up at 6am and following another great breakfast and then packing we had to wait until we got the right window at 10:30 am for Mother Nature to clear up the weather and let us to move to the higher camp. We ventured into Motorcycle Hill, then retraced our steps from yesterday and went through Squirrel Hill which leads us to through polo field and then the famous windy corner. The Windy Corner deserves its name, yet the Squirrel Hill isn’t any less windy. I was about to fly away two times with the backpack and the sled. When we passed the Windy Corner and started going up the last hill before we reached Camp 3, the mighty Denali decided to show us its warm face. As the sun went up and the wind stopped, we started getting extremely warm on the hill. Since nobody ever claimed a name for this hill before I decided naming it "Double Fry Hill" (I have nine witnesses now :) The upcoming two days stronger weather is waiting for us in the Denalian wilderness. Yet we are hoping to carry the cache tomorrow from 13k.
Today we were lucky to get the right time window to move to our new camping place which is one step closer to conquer the fabulous Denali Summit. The team remains strong, positive, and hopeful that Denali will grant us clear skies in the next few days so we can spread your wings and soar towards its magnificent summit!
Stay tuned.
Till tomorrow! A bientot!
Climber Ilknur Colak & Team
Ps. The word of the day is "clutch" (from Travis)
Posted by: Mike Walter, Abby Westling, Henry Coppolillo
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 11,000'
Saturday, May 14, 2022 - 10:08 pm PT
We enjoyed some pretty amazing weather today. We had a relatively easy day retrieving our cache and returning to 11k camp. On our journey we were treated to a unique wildlife viewing, with snow geese flying in formation above us. They landed on the glacier up around Kahiltna Pass, something I have never seen before. Back in camp, the good weather continued and we relaxed and shuffled gear for the next stage of the game. Tomorrow, weather permitting, we will establish a camp up above Windy Corner. The forecast looks good and we're climbing strong, so we're optimistic that will happen tomorrow. I'll let you know how it shakes out. Either way, it's good to be in the mountains and we're enjoying our time here.
Go, MAK, go!!!
Posted by: Jenn on 5/16/2022 at 5:46 pm
Great to hear the weather is holding up for the team, sounds like smooth climbing so far. Keep up the hard work!
Go Mike K, Go!!!
Posted by: Tina on 5/15/2022 at 8:57 pm
Posted by: Mike King, Alex Halliday, Abby Westling
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 9500'
Friday, May 28, 2021 - 5:09pm PT
We had another stormy night here at the base of ski hill. We woke to clear skies and decided to try and move some food and fuel towards Kahiltna Pass and the turn up to 11,200’ camp. 30 minutes into the day the wind picked up and the loose snow started spinning. With some warm gloves and a few layers we leaned into the very consistent and very cold 15 mph wind and took it an hour at a time. Eventually we got to 9500’ which met the goal for the day. The ravens will dig up shallow caches so we dug a deep hole and buried our food and fuel. We beat feet down to camp and are currently enjoying some sun on the tents while that very consistent 15 mph wind spins snow everywhere.
We’ll see what we get tomorrow and a move to 11,200’ is planned.
RMI Guide Mike King & Team
Farmer Dave to Brother Tom….Remember You are Tough as Nails!!! Sing a little John Denver, that will always make things seem perfect!
Posted by: Dave Kestel on 5/30/2021 at 8:56 am
Good luck to the whole team
Posted by: Cathy H on 5/29/2021 at 7:48 pm
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On The Map
Robin,
Looks like you have an amazing view from up there!. I see that the movie quotes abound up there… wonder who that could be??:) Hope you are having a great time near the top of the world looking down on all us flat landers. Can’t wait to hear the stories and see the photos. Stay safe and stay warm.
Love DAD
Posted by: Matt Prosser on 6/10/2013 at 10:53 am
Sounds like things are going well and the food certainly sounds good. I’ll eat just about about anything that has bacon or peanut butter on it. How’s the weather looking? I assume you’ll be looking for that 3-day clear window before leaving 14 camp. Wish I was there with all of you.
-Larry Seaton
Posted by: Larry Seaton on 6/10/2013 at 9:38 am
Hello, this is hrishi from Hong Kong. Hearty Congratulations to you all for the successful expedition!
Posted by: Hrishikesh Kulkarni on 11/27/2011 at 9:34 pm
Lucy, Corell, and Elsie…HAVE A GREAT TRIP!!!! Can’t wait to hear about your adventures and fun!
-DM
Posted by: Dana Marie Buchanan on 7/25/2011 at 8:27 am
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