Sunday, June 10, 2018 - 9:04 PM PT
To Fresh Prince of Bel-Air:
Here is the story all about how
We’re stuck at 14 with so much pow
Just wait a little minute and sit right there And we’ll tell you all about these snow walls up in here.
These walls are high, they are not low
Like the saying goes, you reap what you sow.
The storm’s a brewin, it does not matter It just means we make these walls fatter.
Everyone’s spirits are high
Despite this Denali blizzard
Though we admit
We’d rather sip on some sizzer...d
Don’t you worry though
Because when this passes
We’ll be cruising up the pass the masses to the top I tell you loud and clear is our intent so don’t you fear.
RMI Guide Tyler Jones
Haha, nice rapping to make Will Smith jealous. It’s remarkable looking at you guys from the distance. I was thinking to myself:”This could be heaven or this could be hell. Welcome to the Hotel Denali. Such a lovely place.” Sweet dream, Lei, hanging there. Hao
Posted by: Hao on 6/11/2018 at 7:28 pm
To slim Jim and Paul what a dream your are experiencing let it soak in brother looking forward to seeing you both at the top.Keeping you all in my prayers Love Rob
We set out early this morning for our first acclimatization climb. The day started with a gondola ride from Quito to ~13,500’. Then the fun began. We headed west on a well-defined trail that followed a ridge on the shoulder of Rucu Pichincha. As the hiking continued, the trail got steeper and the air didn’t get any thicker. After a couple hundred feet of rock scrambling we arrived at the summit of Rucu Pichincha (~15,700’). Views were sporadic as clouds moved in and out. When the views were there, though, they were stunning, looking down on Quito almost 7,000’ below. The weather was pleasant and we spent a decent amount of time relaxing up top. Then we retraced our steps and rode the gondola back to town. Now, back at our hotel, we’re cleaning up, resting, and packing for an early departure tomorrow to head north towards the town of Otovalo where we’ll tackle our second acclimatization hike, this time to an ancient volcano called Fuya Fuya.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
June 15, 2017
Well the mountain is doing it's own thing at the moment. The winds are well more than forecast and the temperatures are chilly. The team is hanging in there and tomorrow will see us to the top or we will start our descent. We're hopeful on our efforts and time spent waiting that we will be rewarded with a trip to the summit of Denali tomorrow!
RMI Guide Tyler Jones
Tuesday June 23rd 6:48 pm PT
Greetings from another partly cloudy day here on Denali. Great weather and calm winds enabled us to push a cache up the mountain today around Windy Corner just shy of Camp 4. We were afforded glimpses of blue skies and the upper mountain through the clouds while we were preparing and covering up our supplies. We actually stumbled upon a perfectly sized cache hole abandoned by another party so little digging was necessary. Between that and the weather we've been making out pretty easy thus far. No matter, our team is gelling well and ready for the challenges that lie ahead.
Sitting pretty back at 11...
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
I am glad to hear that about a father and son team climbing together. As we climb mountains we get stronger physically, but as we face mountains in our faith we must climb over them and as we do we get stronger in our faith. Remember that God is with you on every step and that He will never leave you so all of us are always with our Heavenly Father as we climb
Posted by: Kevin Stone on 6/25/2015 at 8:12 am
Doug, been thinking about your trek back to Denali often, and wish you good weather and good companionship as you reach this next goal. Best of luck and stay safe!
Sunday, May 31st 9:45 am PDT
Hi there. This is Adam Knoff calling from high camp on Mount McKinley. Yesterday we packed up on a beautiful day at 14,000' and moved to high camp at 17,200'. The team certainly decided that yesterday's move was physically the hardest day of the trip with heavy packs and moving to a new altitude record for a lot of our climbers. We are taking a rest day here at camp today in beautiful sunny weather as we watch a lot of climbers head up the mountain towards the summit. We will be organizing gear and getting ready for our summit attempt tomorrow. The team is feeling great and happy to be at high camp preparing for their shot at the top of North America tomorrow. Wish us well, can't wait to report back. We will talk to you tomorrow. Bye.
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
RMI Guide Adam Knoff calls in from high camp on Mount McKinley.
Good luck Team Knoff on reaching the summit tomorrow. Proud of you , Shannon Long, for your drive and determination. Indiana will be anxiously waiting for a full report. Safe climbing and Godspeed!
May 31, 2015 - 2:39 am PT
Good evening from 11,000 feet! We woke this morning to more sunny skies and warm temperatures. After a casual start to the day and a nice breakfast, we ducked into the tents for a couple hours to get out of the heat. By late afternoon things cooled for more comfortable hiking conditions, so we broke down camp and got on the move! Even though it's been just a few days on the glacier, the team has adjusted well to mountain life and is traveling efficiently. So after a few hours of moving we arrived at camp, quickly put up our tents, and enjoyed a late dinner. Now we're all settled in for the night and it's time to get some sleep!
RMI Guide Tyler Jones
Hope you guys are able to enjoy the mountain without me there haha. You dont know how bad I miss that mountain. Play some gigantic twos, find a new friend to eat all your leftovers, build a new Taj Ma-stahl and make sure you get a good rap session in. Wishing you guys great weather and safe travels. PS i hope the other guides arent making tyler read these off.
-Lad (aka Jake Wander)
Posted by: Jake Wander on 5/31/2015 at 8:39 pm
hi Brenda looks like the weather and conditions are all in your favor. Enjoy the journey lol R
Posted by: Richard Larscheid on 5/31/2015 at 11:59 am
Hi this is Seth. We are finishing up our first day of safari at Lake Manyara National Park. It's been a good one with tons of monkeys and baboons, elephants, zebra, hippos, wildebeest, cape buffalo and giraffes. We were especially close to a large group of giraffes at a water hole.
The weather is very warm which is a big contrast to the past week we spent on Kili. It is really nice to thaw out for a bit.
Now we are headed to our hotel for the night and tomorrow we will visit Ngorongoro Crater.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
WOW! Safari looks and sounds amazing! Patty, I know you are loving every moment! We look forward to hearing all about this incredible adventure! Miss you, Love you
Posted by: Sally on 2/4/2015 at 3:50 am
Sarah & Jan - hope you are enjoying yourselves. It must seem unreal to have the animals so close. Will make nice pictures & glad the weather is warmer. Love Mom G. Great team and thanks to Seth.
Posted by: Beverly Goodburn on 2/3/2015 at 2:53 pm
The first step of having a great mountaineering trip is having a complete team with all our bags and I am happy to report that both our team members and all our bags arrived today in great shape. Once in town we were all able to buy last minute items here in Mendoza while enjoying an unseasonable cool but sunny day. Great summer weather. After a quick meet and greet we talked about what will happen over the next few weeks both on and off the mountain then headed out to one of the great eateries close to our hotel. We all shared the first, of what I am sure will be many funny, stories with each other and with bellies full of Argentina beef we all crashed at the hotel ready for another great day tomorrow.
RMI Guides Walter Hailes, Ben Liken & Stoney Molina
Hello again everyone,
All is well here in Ecuador. We had a slight technical issue yesterday which delayed our ability to send a dispatch.
So let me bring everyone up to speed. Yesterday we checked out of our warm and comfortable hacienda and made our way to the famous Otavalo market. It's the largest market in Ecuador and one of the largest in all of South American. The team spent a few hours negotiating the endless maze of goods for sale and worked on our bartering skills- some did better than others. :)
After everyone satisfied their shopping desires we headed uphill towards Cayambe, our first major climbing objective. The road to Cayambe is long, rough, and an accomplishment in itself. We were amazed that our bus was able to make it so far on what is clearly a 4x4 road. There were several times I was sure the mud was going to win, but somehow Hector, our daring driver was able to make it through. We hiked the final hour to the hut at Cayambe to help with our acclimatizing and spent the remainder of the evening relaxing.
Today the team woke early with a big breakfast and plenty of coffee. We then hiked up to the start of the glacier which is about an hour away, and spent a few hours refreshing our skills for tomorrow's climb. While out on the glacier we were not only amazed at the beautifully clear day, but also incredibly lucky to see a condor soaring not far away! Once back at the hut we reviewed the plan for the upcoming climb and got everything packed up and ready to go. A special thanks to Leon for whipping up one heck of a nice meal for everyone.
The team is off to bed now as we are waking early for tomorrow's climb. Wish us luck!!!
And one more thing... Keep your cell phones handy tomorrow morning. One lucky trivia winner will be making a satellite call from the summit if all goes well.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Good luck tomorrow! Sending good vibes from Cali. Go Dale!!!
Love, Erin
Posted by: Erin on 12/14/2014 at 7:54 pm
So glad you all had good weather today! Hope it continues on for the summit!! Glad to see an update and that besides updating the blog there haven’t been any other issues! Keep on keeping on!
Hello from 15,000' on Mt. Kilimanjaro.
All our team is here at High Camp, Barafu Camp (15,000'), in great shape and ready to go. We left from Karanga Camp this morning and made it to our new camp in good time. We enjoyed another nice lunch from our mountain staff and spent time organizing and packing up to make our early morning departure quick and easy. Here at Barafu Camp life is good. There are a few clouds around but that is not unusual and we are in hopes of a clear windless night ahead. We had a relaxing afternoon with lots of tent time, putting our feet up and drying out the boots, reading, writing, and maybe a bit of cards. We are taking it easy and making sure everyone is rested and ready for our upcoming adventure.
We will try and give you a shout out from the Roof of Africa tomorrow.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
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Haha, nice rapping to make Will Smith jealous. It’s remarkable looking at you guys from the distance. I was thinking to myself:”This could be heaven or this could be hell. Welcome to the Hotel Denali. Such a lovely place.” Sweet dream, Lei, hanging there. Hao
Posted by: Hao on 6/11/2018 at 7:28 pm
To slim Jim and Paul what a dream your are experiencing let it soak in brother looking forward to seeing you both at the top.Keeping you all in my prayers Love Rob
Posted by: Bob on 6/11/2018 at 6:09 pm
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