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Thursday, July 4, 2013
Groundhog Day at 11,000 ft on Mt. McKinley. Another storm day from start to finish. Moderate winds, light but steady snow falling, poor visibility. Our POSH tent is a well dug-in fortress; essentially a covered pit in which we've cut benches for people and shelves for stoves. It provided excellent shelter today. Obviously, we drag out the meals for several hours, eating and talking and talking some more so as to avoid going back into our sleeping tents too soon and for too long. We each put in a few sessions of digging out the tents during the day, which is good for the tents, but also for our muscles and our brains. In late afternoon, the team assembled for a lesson in how we'll climb the "fixed ropes" section of the route between 15,000 and 16,000 ft. Then it was time for dinner, more talking in the POSH, and finally bed once again.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Posted by: Mike Walter, Solveig Waterfall, Ben Liken
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Welcome to the start of RMI's Denali climbing season! All of the team members have arrived in Anchorage, and we're on our way to the small town of Talkeetna. Talkeetna is the main access point for climbers heading into the Alaska Range.
We'll start the day tomorrow with breakfast at the historic Talkeetna Roadhouse, and then spend the bulk of the day packing equipment for our expedition. We'll also check in with the National Park Service and go through their informative orientation slide show.
That's it for now. We'll keep you posted with another update tomorrow.
RMI Guide Mike Walter & team
On The Map
Goodluck & Godspeed
Mar, Sherry & Robert
Posted by: Coffee a la Mar on 5/9/2013 at 9:49 am
The Four Day Summit Climb July 2 - 5 led by Chad Peele reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today. It's a beautiful day with light winds, warm temperatures and clear skies. The team began their descent from the crater rim at 8:30 a.m. en route to Camp Muir. They will return to Paradise later today.
RMI Guide Casey Grom led the Expedition Skills Seminar - Kautz July 1 - 6 to the summit today. The team reported great route conditions and a beautiful day on the mountain. This six day seminar will return to their high camp at approximately 10,000' for their final night on the mountain. The group will finish their training and descend to Paradise tomorrow afternoon.
Congratulations to today's summit teams!
Congrats Spencer Guinn! I will cook you a steak when you get back.
Posted by: Brandt Dooley on 7/5/2011 at 9:40 am
Hello friends,
Summit day is finally here!
The team is doing great and we are all well rested. It's been a beautifully clear day with fantastic views of Elbrus and the Caucasus range. Most of the day was spent telling tall tales, eating lots of Russian food (plenty of borsht) and watching scantly clad russians dance (really). We will be waking at 1 am for breakfast and start our climb shortly there after. If all goes well, we should reach the summit in 6 to 7 hours.
Wish us luck.
The weather cooperated yesterday and let us get to the top of La Malinche, 14,636’. The thunder rolled in as we got to the cabins.
Today we are in transit to Ixta. A few stops to get provisions and register with park at Paso de Cortez puts us between Popo and Ixta. We’ll have a nice hike to our camp to continue acclimating. Once in camp we’ll get our gear sorted for our move to high camp tomorrow and our summit attempt on Wednesday. The team is doing great, lots of laughs and camaraderie. We have clear skies as we drive and got our first views of Ixta and Popo. We’ll check in tomorrow from our high camp.
Thanks,
Posted by: Mike Haugen, Jenny Konway, Grayson Swingle
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 11,200'
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Friday, June 21, 2019 - 10:18 PM PT
We are sitting in the sun at 11K Camp. Happy Solstice! We have over 19 hours of daylight and it never gets dark anyway.
We had a great climb up here from our last camp. The team is really performing well with all of the hard work it takes to climb this mountain.
We have our submissions for the haiku contest. If you would like to vote for your favorite, please leave us a message on the blog. As most climbing trips tend to do eventually, many of our conversations and most of these haikus center around the clean mountain cans (CMC's) that we use to collect and remove our human waste from the mountain. What these lack in elegance and beauty, they make up for with creativity!
1)
Loners crevasse it
But all guides and their clients
Leave no brown behind
2)
Dinner so spicy
Feeling it burning my insides
CMC lookout
3)
Sleep eat hike eat sleep
Heavy load and extreme temps
All to make the top
4)
Mountain CMC
Thank you for taking our crap
You're a team player
5)
When I'm not at work
I crap in cans; hope for sun
Still better than work
6)
Scaling Denali
Be sure to use riser bars (on snowshoes)
Unless you are Grayson
RMI Guide Mike Haugen & Team Siete
On The Map
#3 - Go get it guys!
Posted by: Will Ellis on 6/28/2019 at 3:46 pm
#1 and #4
Great job team. So fun watching this adventure.
Posted by: Russ Williams on 6/24/2019 at 11:23 am
All is well at Machame Camp! The team was really fired up this morning. I was three minutes early to breakfast and I was the last to arrive. It's great to be on a trip with such an organized team.
The drive to the gate was smooth and after checking in at the gate we started our trek. The trail was a little slick and muddy but we didn't get any rain along the way. Once we arrived in camp the crew had everything set up and ready to go. Everyone is now settling in for the night and getting ready for the hike up to Shira tomorrow.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
On The Map
So excited to hear about your journey! We are proud of you Papa Roger.
You ROCK! Blessings to your entire team. xoxo
Much Love,
Dan, Robyn, Morgan, Paige and Ericka
Posted by: Robyn on 8/21/2014 at 5:02 am
You’re a B.A. Grandpa Roger. Keep it up.
Love Luke (I’m stay with dad tonight)
Posted by: Luke on 8/20/2014 at 2:46 am
Posted by: Mark Tucker
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Southside
New team member! We now have a second man on the team. Carter is his name and is husband of Lucy. We put him right to the test by climbing the 218 steps up to the colonnade at St. Isaac's Cathedral. No crampons, nor ice axe needed, but we did put on at least another six miles touring around and he handled it no problem. Super nice guy and loads of fun to be with, guess I need to make him a summit certificate. So much to see, what a great job they do here to make it user friendly. The rich history and the sights we visit, accompanied by a local guide, are overwhelming to say the least. Can't forget the multitude of food options with the group making some great choices. Definitely not cheap to get some calories on board, but if you do a little research the taste buds are well rewarded. I have been on the Borscht taste testing program when possible, this kind of beet-type soup can take on many identities. So far the smoked pear version has been the most far out in flavor. Being at the end of the Bay of Finland and part of the Baltic Sea,they say that they get about fifty sunny days here a year. The usual maritime climate prevails. We have been fortunate with the glorious days we have been so lucky to experience. Better get here quick before the nice days are gone for this year. That said, could not of had a nicer evening boat cruise to top off such a wonderful day.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Posted by:
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Our first day on the mountain is complete! Everyone is warm in their tents with tired legs. The first couple days climbing are always a shock to the system, but our team handled the first day of the snowshoe-sled shuffle better than any team I have climbed with before. Luckily we had two things to help us along, first was a beautiful sunny day and second was some very tasty banana bread. On behalf of the whole team I would like to thank Kellie for the great bread.
Whooo! Go team, go!
Posted by: Kelly on 5/28/2011 at 7:19 am
That is awesome! Glad the accommodations are treating you well.
Posted by: Kristin on 5/27/2011 at 1:09 pm
Today we went for our first acclimatization hike to Rucu Pichincha, one of the volcanoes that frame in Quito. We took a Gondola from 10,000' to 13,000', and then hiked to around 15,200'. The weather was very nice for hiking: a bit breezy and cloudy in the morning, and then sunny and warm in the afternoon. We had views of the impressive glaciated volcanoes Cotopaxi, Cayambe, and Antisana on our descent. Everyone did very well with our first venture up into that type of altitude - and it was an altitude record for many on the trip- hopefully there will be a lot more of those to come!
Last night we dined at a very nice restaurant that served typical Ecuadorian cuisine. Everyone sampled different local dishes, including cuy (guinea pig)- an Ecuadorian delicacy.
Tomorrow we are off for another acclimatization hike to the climbing hut on the Ilinizas, and we'll spend the night at a hacienda before heading on towards Cotopaxi.
I will check in tomorrow.
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Awesome news! We heard from Anders by Satellite phone that the weather broke and the guys were able to climb up past Windy Corner to cache some gear yesterday (July 5th) around 13K. Then they descended back to sleep at their now very familiar Camp three. Just posting this so other families get the news in case you don’t get to update the RMI blog soon. We were thrilled to hear you guys were able to do some climbing and make some progress! We look forward to reading Dave Hahn’s recap of the day, and hope you get another lucky weather break.
Posted by: judy christofferson on 7/6/2013 at 7:15 am
OK, enough already with the snow! Surely you guys have suffered enough and have earned a chance to get up that big hill! We are doing weather dances here on a frequent basis and hope that your weather fortunes soon improve.
Be sure to have Anders tell you about his love of penguins!
Posted by: Randy Christofferson on 7/5/2013 at 2:09 pm
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