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Rotation 2... ready, set, go!
We're at
Depot Camp (aka Advanced Base Camp), starting our dinner. We left Base Camp this afternoon after lunch, and after a small snow storm that made us initially question our departure. The weather cleared, and in a mere three hours we were already in our tents at the edge of the glacier. The team is feeling quite well and strong, as it is proved by the fact that we ditched one hour from our time last week. Tomorrow we'll be ascending to Camp 1, and then, the intentions are to reach Camp 2 and spend some time there afterwards. But we'll keep you posted as we go. That's it for now, we'll check in tomorrow after our move to Camp 1.
Regards,
RMI Guide Elías de Andres Martos and team
June 21, 2015 11:09pm PST
Our alarms woke us up early to a beautifully clear, but cold, morning. We had breakfast and set out around 5 a.m. to cache some gear up higher on the mountain. The route above 14,000 camp becomes very steep and we use fixed lines the gain the
West Buttress at 16,200'. When we got to the top of the fixed lines, our El Siete crew had not had enough. We decided to do some more climbing and bury our cache below a huge rock feature called Washburn's Thumb at 16,500 feet. Although we had to do some delicate passing of some upward teams on our way down, we made it back to camp in good time. We are taking a rest day tomorrow and then hopefully moving up to high camp the following day. That is all weather dependent of course!
Mike Haugen and RMI Team 7 "El Siete"
June 2, 2015 - 10:40 pm PT (Both updates received)
New heights achieved! Today we rose early to no wind and blue skies with a satellite lenticular cloud slowly inching closer, cluing us into the fact that the weather may change in the next few days. We loaded our food, fuel and other equipment making for a smooth and relatively quick trip up to our
next camp at 14,000'. We dug a large pit in the snow in the center of the Genet basin and filled it with many of the supplies that we will need for the next stages of the climb.
With the weather still holding we passed the infamous Windy Corner in breathless air. The crew flowed down hill flawlessly making a short stop at the rarely visited lunch rock bump view point. Taking in the full panorama of the enormous Father and Son wall, the upper Peters Glacier, NW Buttress and the Washburn Wall! Spectacular!
The short nap was well deserved this afternoon and the days timing was impeccable. The snow and a brisk breeze blew in shortly after our arrival. Which was followed by one of the best Ramen meals ever consumed on the slopes of Denali. Now as we crawl into our tents a light snow continues and we wait to see what tomorrow brings. Good evening all.
RMI Guide Tyler Jones
June 1, 2015 Blog
Today was another great weather day! We had bagels salmon and cream cheese. Not bad for mountain food! Yet we decided after four days of hard work we took a real full rest day in order to regain our strength and further our acclimatization.
The day progressed with some tent time laying around like mushrooms on a pizza. As the afternoon rolled in we spent time training our walking skills and prepping our kits for carrying our load to
14,000 Camp. We're hoping for good weather tomorrow. Send us good vibes. As the sun crests the horizon to the north in this latitude we stare at purple sky's to the south in the shade of the mountain.
RMI Guide Tyler Jones
On The Map
Our first rest day on McKinley. The sun was out all day today but there was a chilly breeze that kept us from over heating. The folks that have been stuck here for a few days are anxious to get moving and the Rangers broke trail to the top of Motorcycle Hill (a steep hill just above the 11,200 ft. camp). They turned back at the top, but a team of three from the Czech Republic pushed on ahead. That is s good sign for us to be able to carry loads to 14,000 tomorrow.
On The Map
Friday May 10, 2024 9:02 pm PDT
Everything that we could not see last night was visible and resplendent this morning. Skies were crystal blue, and Hunter, Foraker, and Denali were all standing proud. It was the perfect morning to start moving. Some breakfast and quite a bit of organizing, caching, measuring out ropes and sleds, etc., and then we were ready to start walking. First down Heartbreak Hill to the lowest point of the trip, then steadily up the gentle inclines of the lower Kahiltna. It should be the only day of the trip where we move with everything at once, so our loads were HEAVY! But the team did great churning the legs and we sidled into camp at the base of Ski Hill around 5.
Throughout the day the weather deteriorated, and we went from staring at these Alaskan beauties to being able to see 20 feet in really flat light. We went from stripping to sun hoodies, to putting on puffies, and set up camp in similar conditions with light snow. The sun is poking out now as the stoves roll towards dinner. Soon we'll be crawling into sleeping bags.
We'll check in tomorrow.
RMI Guide Pete VanDeventer & Team
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Denali Expedition, May 7, 2024
The winds went all night but didn’t cause much damage. Morning was a familiar mix of grey and greyer with light snow falling. Nothing was going flying today... too much of a mid-storm feeling to the world. We ate breakfast and attended lectures for the morning. After lunch, my gang eagerly showed up for a field trip in the Tucker snow bus. There were about 18 of us rambling along a flagged and gps-ed ice road in the big tracked vehicle. The snow storm continued, but we went on instruments to find the “wind scoop” by Mount Charles. We got out and donned stretchy traction aids to help our boots on the hard blue ice. We then walked toward an enormous snow and ice formation, the wind scoop carved out by patient and endless winds around the base of an
Antarctic mountain. Simple... except it was also beautiful and primal. It snowed on us as we walked, and the winds kept up, but every now and then, we could see enough to be impressed and awed by the scale and the relentlessness of ice, snow, wind, sun and rock.
When we got back to the comfortable dining tent at Union Glacier, it shocked us for a moment that the staff had put up all of the Christmas decorations. We haven’t given up on getting home for the big event, but dinner with friends in this wild setting was still pretty fun.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Monday, June 18, 2018 - 8:18 PM PT
Just when we were beginning to think the worst of the storm had passed, Hurricane
Horiskey came back with a vengeance. We spent the night trying to keep afloat by shoveling every hour on the hour. As the winds increased and the snow continued to fall we rallied the troops and began a train of shoveling in 30 minute shifts. This train of shoveling has lasted all day! And after a brief interlude for a warming Ramen dinner we are back at it. Although Hurricane Horiskey is a bit more intense than we would have preferred we are taking this opportunity to keep our shoveling arms strong and work on one of mountaineering's most important skills, patience. As you may imagine our Super Crew is crushing it and taking the weather in stride. When else would they have a chance to catch up on Breaking Bad or finish the Lord of the Rings Audiobook?? We are crossing our fingers that the weather will mellow a bit come tomorrow but until then continue to shovel as if we were headed for China.
Pray for good weather!
RMI Guide Mike Haugen and Super Crew!
On The Map
Wednesday, June 5, 2018 - 8:21 PM PT
This is Mike King with RMI's June 4th
Denali Expedition. We weighed all our gear and loaded up the 2 Turbo Otter ski planes and waited out the morning in the K2 Aviation hanger. Grey skies and a cloud bank at the foot of the Alaska Range prevented an early flight. Around 2:30 we got the call that pockets of blue sky had developed so we buckled up and took off to try and sneak into Denali Base Camp.
The flight in was spectacular, clouds above and below and nothing but bluebird in between. Our pilot went through triple crown pass with views of Foraker, Hunter and Crosson. After landing at Kahiltna International we set up camp, rigged sleds and divided the food and fuel rations. With the later departure and the heat of the sun reflecting off the snow we decided to spend the night here.
We'll get an early start and travel while the temps are cool and never setting sun low on the horizon. The Team is firing on all cylinders and eager to move up glacier tomorrow and get this expedition started.
Thanks for following along and we will check in from the base of Ski Hill tomorrow.
RMI Guide Mike King
On The Map
Well, our luck had to run out eventually. We've had a good run so far this trip, but
Chimborazo proved to be our match. Our teams turned this morning just under 19,000' due to a variety of compounding issues, but the climb still provided us with over six hours of engaging terrain, from challenging rock steps to steep and firm snow slopes. Although we would have all loved to have reached the top, everyone agrees we made the right decision to turn around early and are all glad to be back down safely, celebrating the successful conclusion of our seminar down south.
From a guide's perspective, not summiting this morning provided us all with one last valuable lesson: mountaineering isn't always about standing on top. So much of climbing is learning to recognize when a summit just isn't in the cards and being able to make the conservative call. Chimborazo will be here for a while. We didn't make it this time, but I like to think of that as an open invitation to return again some day down the road.
Tomorrow morning we will return to Quito, say our final goodbyes, and fly home to our families. It has been an incredible two weeks, and I've enjoyed getting to know this wonderful group of people. Pretty soon, you'll be able to hear all the stories that never made it to the blog directly from your loved ones.
It's been a great adventure!
Signing off one last time,
RMI Guide Nick Hunt
The
Expedition Skills Seminar – Muir led by RMI Guides
Brent Okita and
Mike King reached the summit of Mt. Rainier at 7:22 am this morning. The teams reported clear skies and light winds. The team will spend one more day on the mountain training before descending. We expect them back to Rainier Basecamp tomorrow afternoon.
Congratulations to the Seminar Team!
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It has been great reading your blog and hearing about your progress. Would like to give a special shout out to my big brother, Arthur Muir. He is such an inspiration: his hard work, drive and determination are amazing! He gives new meaning to retirement! Way to go, Art, sending best wishes and much love to you and all the team! Bonnie
Posted by: Bonnie Bair on 9/21/2016 at 9:19 am
You have to be feeling a bit like a yo yo with the ups and downs! I have to think it takes real resol e to retrace those difficult steps. You guys inspire me!
Posted by: Rick Deerwester on 9/21/2016 at 6:29 am
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