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January 26, 2023

The wind is a feral creature, lamenting into the void. Our nearly constant companion, shifting mercurial between head and tailwind the moment we accept whatever circumstances fate most recently dealt us. 

We sojourned beyond the impossible luxuries of basecamp, making our way up serpentine paths through scree and scramble, to deposit material ever higher in preparation for climbs to come. 

While the sun shown splendid, the wind conspired with the very rock to threaten barrages of stones upon our heads. Luckily, our benevolent overlords: Don Dom, Toothpick, and Gator, ensured protective gear emplacement, forestalling calamity and facilitating a timely return to basecamp, amid jubilation for our first successful climb of the trip and empanadas without equal, from our generous Grajales hosts. 

Climber Jack R

Monday, May 16, 2022 - 6:54 am PT

We spent our first night in the Alaska range cozy in our -20 bags and woke to clear skis and a stunning view all around. The peak of Denali above had a small cloud hat, but otherwise the mountains jutted up into the blue and the sky promised another gorgeous day. We fired the stoves for breakfast and as the sun got closer to camp, woke everyone.

After bagel bacon sandwiches, we set to the task of organizing what gear we were going to move uphill to cache. A fair bit of our food and fuel made up the bulk of it. We departed, loads considerably lighter than yesterday and worked our way up Ski Hill. Several hours of steady uphill work brought us to 9700', where we opted to dig a deep hole in the snow and hide our treasure, to be retrieved in a few days. Moving light and downhill, we made quick work of the descent back to camp and a dinner of burritos. And so goes the rhythm of Denali - wake, eat, walk, eat, sleep. We'll touch base tomorrow.

RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer, Leif Bergstrom, Erika Birkeland, and team

Tuesday, July 6, 2021 - 1:00 pm PT

There's not much new to report today. We're still at 14,000' Camp, waiting for an opportunity to head downhill to the airstrip. Unfortunately we're also still in a snow globe. Apparently it's totally socked in all the way to Talkeetna, with rain in town, so all of the planes are grounded a well. We've got plenty of food and fuel, and we're warm and dry in our camp. The forecast is grim, but we're not desperate, and we'll patiently await a change in the weather.

RMI Guide Mike Walter

Monday, May 31, 2021 - 4:55 pm PT

After going to bed last night there was an earthquake that shook camp and caused some ice to fall waking up the guides and a few in the group. The others were too deep in sleep from our exhaustive day of trail breaking. Today we got a casual start with a big bacon and cream cheese bagel breakfast. Around 10:30 we headed down to our 9,500’ cache and by 11:30 we had started back up hill in the sunny weather and thin clouds that can feel like your being microwaved. The team did well and are all back in their tents enjoying some down time and their luxurious accommodations. Hard saying what will happen tomorrow cause there is stormy weather in the forecast. We will shoot for a carry of food and fuel around Windy Corner. Thanks for following along.

RMI Guide Mike King

On the road again! We woke this morning to the hustle and bustle of the other teams packing up their camp. The sun creeped into camp warming our tents. This was our alarm to get up. Everyone had a good night and were feeling good this morning, so we continued with our plan to carry gear to Camp 2. Group piles were made while the stoves roared. Toasted bagels with cream cheese and bacon would fuel us to 18,000' and make the rest of camp jealous with its aroma. It was a busy day on the trail with almost all of Camp 1 occupants moving to Camp 2. After a few hours of walking and getting new views of snowy mountains we arrived at Camp 2. A new sea of tents scattered the rocky camp like skittles. We cached our gear, watched the other teams set up their camp, and then we packed up our things to head down hill. We arrived back to a peaceful Camp 1 with only our tents plus one other still standing. The rest of the afternoon we enjoyed the warm sun and fresh popped popcorn for an afternoon snack.
Having the camp to ourselves is nice and will be even nicer tomorrow on our rest day. The quiet will be much appreciated for sleeping in. The air is chilly now, so we are all off to bed to get warm.

Till next time,
RMI Guide Hannah Smith and team

On The Map

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On The Map