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Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Nick Sinapius, Ben Thorneycroft
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska
Monday, June 2, 2025 - 10:30 am PT
After our last post after descending to 11,000', things happened quickly. We went to bed to moderate snowfall on the tents and woke to something of the same. With clouds all around, and a cloud cap above on the mountain, and after three big days, we didn’t rush out of 11,000' Camp, but took the time to get some coffee, breakfast, and repack into sleds, duffels, and packs for the snowshoe to Base Camp. By midmorning we were ready, and started out. That walk is always special, as the clouds and light played on the lower peaks of the range, there is a certain quiet and reflectiveness to the descent as we contemplate all we have just done, and how soon we will hopefully be home and this will all start to feel like a bit of a dream. We passed several teams headed uphill, still looking fresh, stubble only a day or two old, excited for everything to come. We made a brief stop at the base of Ski Hill to pick up our cache, then continued through the long flat stretches of the lower Kahiltna. Finally it was time for one more burn, the roughly hour stretch up Heartbreak Hill that would bring us to our destination. All day we had walked in and underneath clouds and didn’t hear much in the way of airplane traffic. Quite truthfully as we took our final steps into Base Camp, a message arrived via inReach from K2 asking if we were at Base Camp yet - weather hadn’t been flyable that day, but things were turning. So we arrived, but rather than sit and recover, we continued the movement and prep, quickly pulling apart sleds and bags, organizing, digging up our Base Camp cache, and shortly thereafter we got the news that two planes had launched to come get us. Just before 7 pm, the two red otters dipped out of the sky on the final approach to Base Camp. We loaded, and before we knew it, were being whisked back to town. Just as we seemed to swing into a stroke of luck with our summit day window (there hadn't been one since), we walked into quite a bit of luck with flying off as well. By 8:45 pm that evening, we were showered and sitting on the deck of the Denali Brew Pub enjoying a meal that hadn’t been boiled in water.
Nick, Ben, and myself would like to thank this team for the incredible dedication they showed throughout this expedition, to themselves, to each other, and to us. That teamwork and selflessness was the key component in the success of our climb and it was such a pleasure for us to climb with this team.
Signing off for this year,
RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer
New Post Alerts:
Denali Expedition May 8, 2025
Posted by: Joe Hoch, Robert Whyte, Celeste Wilson
Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades
Elevation: 10,781'
The August 29th Mount Baker climb with Joe Hoch, Rob Whyte, and Celeste Wilson summited 100% of clients and guides at 8am Thursday morning with beautiful sunny skies and views from Canada to Mt Rainier. They spent a half hour on the summit and descended to base camp and out.
Congratulations Team!
Posted by: Dustin Wittmier, Mike Bennett
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Elevation: 15,300'
We are in our beds at the Cayambe hut and feeling motivated for tonight's climb. This evening, the clouds are settling and the mountain is out. We will check back in tomorrow afternoon after our summit attempt!
RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier
New Post Alerts:
Greetings friends, I know you have all been anxiously awaiting this update and I am proud to announce that we have in fact found Flaming Hot Cheetos and are currently in possession of enough to power a small factory. Mission accomplished. As for updates on our whereabouts, we had a great breakfast at the hacienda and made our way to the Otavalo Market where we did some shopping and exploring before heading for the hills. We arrived at the lower hut on Cayambe late afternoon and had some time to relax before a three course dinner. Afterwards talked some logistics about the days to come and shared some good laughs. Tomorrow we will rise early and make our way to the high hut before heading up to the glacier for a quick snow school in preparation for our Cayambe summit attempt. Morale continues to soar and we are all excited for what is to come. Hope all is well back at home, we can feel you all cheering us on and we greatly appreciate it! Even Jeff Daniels
New Post Alerts:
Ecuador's Volcanoes 12-2-2023
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Hannah Smith, Chad Gaffigan, Luke Wilhelm
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 11,200'
On The Map
Thank you, Hannah, for the Mac Cheese! I’m sure the crew appreciated it. And Dave, thanks so much for the blog - and the cool map. Very helpful for those of us at home.
-judit
Posted by: Judit on 6/26/2019 at 1:02 pm
Posted by: Solveig Waterfall, Gloria Roe, Megan Budge, Julie Ann Holder
Categories:
Elevation: 14,410'
Congratulations team…what an accomplishment!!!
Posted by: Shelli on 7/20/2017 at 6:16 pm
Woohoo! You ladies rock! Way to go moma
Posted by: Randi on 7/20/2017 at 5:18 pm
Posted by: Brent Okita, Lindsay Mann
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 11,400'
JPW good luck to you and team
LYM
Posted by: CHRIS WALKER on 9/7/2015 at 9:19 am
Anticipating a great adventure tale - way to go Kimberly & team!!
Posted by: Jennifer on 9/5/2015 at 1:34 pm
RMI Guide Casey Grom checks in from Phakding.
On The Map
Posted by: Brent Okita, Leah Fisher, Nick Hunt
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 11,200'
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On The Map
You guys are doing awesome! We have been following the blog. Hope the weather is beautiful for you Nicky and Bob! <3 Jay and Cara!
Posted by: Cara Marton on 5/25/2014 at 4:43 pm
Hey Steven Hart, glad to hear all is going well! I have been following the blog daily.
Wishing you and the team good weather, be safe and enjoy. Hope the bites are helping with sustained energy as you climb McKinley. So impressive!
Bi
Posted by: Bianca on 5/25/2014 at 12:41 pm
Posted by: JJ Justman, Katrina Bloemsma
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
Elevation: 13,800'
Thanks for the support! I have just a few min of connectivity; Set a personal best today, the gear carry to camp 1 (was super easy, NOT) put be at 4800m/15k ft. Back at base tonight.
Kiernan happy birthday!
Aidan i cant wait to hear how you won 5 bucks from mom.
Devlin i love you too.
Julian, team & guides are great and the jury is still out but I think Paris might have been a better vacation ;) Xoxoxox
Posted by: KenM on 2/9/2014 at 11:56 am
Rich! Love you so much and wish I were there with you! Have fun and enjoy the climb…looking forward to more blog posts we are following them closely! Stay safe
Siriana says “Daddy I love you have a good trip and make sure you are safe in Agacagua in Chile” LOL
Ky says “I love you Daddy and have fun at Aquacongua and be safe so we can see you on the computer while you are in your tent!”
Chanchai is sleeping so no comment from him right now. :-)
Posted by: Susie on 2/9/2014 at 9:05 am
Hey Dustin!
Did you tell your team they have just about the Best guide Ever!!! This is Awesome! Best of Luck to all of your team!!
Farmer Dave
Posted by: Dave Kestel on 12/7/2023 at 2:25 pm
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