Most Popular Entries
Wednesday, June 5, 2019 - 10:39 PM PT
Wow! We got a little bit of every weather pattern today on our move to
Camp 1 located at 7,800’. It was overcast, hot, cold, windy, calm, thunder and we got two different rounds of snow. Back to the beginning of the day, our flight into the Alaska Range was spectacular. After a quick breakfast, K2 Aviation told us to suit up and put boots on, we were going flying. The Team did well with the heavy packs and sleds. We got into camp after seven hours and while the tents are bombproof, the rest is like that pig who made his house out of straw. Tomorrow we hope to carry half our camp up to 10,000’ but we might get weathered in. Regardless we’ll check in and look forward to another day on Denali.
RMI Guide Mike King
On The Map
A bright and early summit this morning! The
Mt. Rainier team, led by
RMI Guide Mike King, reached the top at 4:50 a.m. With warm temperatures and a high freezing level forecasted, the team left Camp Muir early to get ahead of the heat. By 7:00 a.m. the team was well on their way back to Camp Muir after their summit success.
Congratulations to today's team!
We rallied the troops this morning at 8:30 in the lobby of Hotel Mercure for Day 1. After a quick round of intros and several cups of coffee to stave off the jet-lag we met with our tour guide, Pepe to go and explore the world heritage city of Quito. Our first stop was a visit to the equator. With Pepe's help we were able to conduct a number of experiments and confirm that the equator monument is in fact in the right location. Some of these tests included a demonstration of the Coriolis Effect where the water in a pan drains counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere then clockwise when moved across to the southern hemisphere. After a tour of several exhibits showcasing the indigenous history of Ecuador we moved on to investigate "old town" the hub of
colonial Quito.
Parched from the intense equatorial sun, our first stop was a local brewery where the team slaked their thirst before checking out some of the exquisite colonial architecture. The highlight was Compania de Jesus, a church completed after over 150 years of construction from the 17th to 18th century. The entire interior is coated with gold leaf and exquisite wood carvings. After Compania de Jesus we continued to wonder the narrow streets of "old town" eventually arriving back at Hotel Mercure.
The afternoon allowed for some much needed rest and gear-checks before dinner at 7. We found some local cuisine that also happened to be playing the Vikings - Saints game. What a finish! We are back at Hotel Mercure now all fueled up and ready for our first acclimatization hike tomorrow. Stay Tuned!
RMI Guide Jordan Cargill
Hello again everyone!
The team has finally made it off of the mountain and we are safely back in
Cheget. We sadly had our last meal from Dasha this morning before saying our goodbyes and hitching a ride downhill. She and her amazing mountain food will certainly be missed.
Hot showers were had by all, and its safe to say we are smelling good again.
We mostly relaxed the rest of the day and are just heading out to our celebration dinner where our wonderful local guides will no doubt "introduce" us to a little Russian vodka.
That's all for today.
на здоровье!
RMI Guide Casey Grom
We've arrived at High Camp! Summit push tonight.
It was a short and uneventful move from
Karanga Camp up to Barafu Camp, which is our launching point for the summit. The team did great and we arrived in just over three hours with sprinkles of snow falling most of the way.
We've had our summit talk where we discussed our plan and the teams strategy for tomorrow. Final packing is taking place as I write this and we'll have dinner shortly, then it's off to bed for a little sleep before the climb. Weather permitting, we'll be up at 11 pm, have breakfast, and hopefully hit the trail around midnight. As per usual, I'm expecting the ascent to take around eight hours with breaks to the "Roof of Africa".
Keep your fingers crossed for us, and there's a chance, if time allows, some of you back home might receive a satellite phone call from the summit. So keep your phones handy. My best guess is we'll be on the summit around 8 in the morning, Tanzania time.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
On The Map
We are back safely in Camp 1 after a beautiful carry up to Camp 2 at over 18,000ft. This camp in addition to being our "Camp 2" is also called
Guanacos Campo 3, or Chopper Camp because there used to be the pieces of a crashed helicopter sprinkled about. Those are all cleaned up these days and virtually no trace of a crashed helicopter is left. We enjoyed sunny skies and calm winds all day today while making great time. We were three-ish hours up and just over an hour down with a nice break up at our cache site in between. The team is back down soaking up some sun and relaxing the afternoon away. We have a rest/acclimatization day on deck that will hopefully set us up well for our climb higher.
All for now...
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
On The Map
June 29, 2016 - 1:23 am PT
We are all safe and sound back at high camp after an amazing summit day. I am proud to report that all members of our team made it to the highest peak in North America! The day started out cold but
Denali was kind to us. It turned out to be a clear and sunny day with very little wind...a rarity on this big mountain. We were just under 12 hours round trip from High Camp including a long time on the top taking pictures and enjoying our success.
We are gong to try to get up early and start our decent back to thicker air. Hopefully the weather cooperates like it has over the last few days!
Congratulations to the June 14th Denali Expedition Team!
RMI Guide Mike Haugen
On The Map
Our last day of the climb started out with perfectly clear skies at
Mweka Camp. The team got together for breakfast, mentioning sore muscles from the day before, but with everybody smiling and excited for the finale. After breakfast, our staff sang the "Kilimanjaro Song" while we clapped and recorded everything. A few short speeches were made and tips distributed, before we all headed down the trail. This walk was all in forest -an extreme contrast to our time up in the ice and rock alpine zone just a few hours back. As we dropped 4000 ft, we looked for monkeys and birds and marveled at giant camphor trees. At our finish line, the Mweka Gate, the Dik Dik Hotel had put on a splendid picnic banquet. With full bellies and tired feet we boarded the bus/truck for the ride through Moshi and back to the hotel on the outskirts of Arusha. It was then a relaxing afternoon of getting clean and trying out the hammocks of the Dik Dik. We enjoyed a memorable victory dinner together, recalling with laughter how we'd been utter strangers just a week before. In the morning, the main body of the group will go off on a game-viewing safari. We wish Keith safe travels on his way home and we are counting on spying Peter and Charlotte across some muddy hippo wallow in these next few days.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
The Four Day Climb June 30 - 3 July was unable to reach the summit today due to high winds. RMI Guides Joe Hoch and Tatum Whatford left Camp Muir with an alpine start but were turned back at Ingraham Flats due to extremely high winds. The teams returned safely to Camp Muir where they spent the rest of the morning. They plan to start their descent from Camp Muir to Paradise around 9 am.
After three consecutive days of hard work, we had a lighter day today. But it wasn't all rest; we had work to do, to go back down to 10,000', dig up our cache, and haul it in sleds and backpacks back to our camp at
11,200'. It wasn't easy work, but compared to the last three days it sure felt that way.
The snow conditions were excellent for travel on snowshoes and the temps were enjoyable. Intermittent clouds and light snow showers added to the great day. By the time we made it back to camp it was snowing a bit harder, but with no wind it didn't really bother us too much.
This afternoon we are resting, eating and drinking, and preparing gear and supplies for our next cache, which will be up around Windy Corner at about 13,600'. If the weather is good, that might happen tomorrow. We'll keep you posted.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
Previous Page
Next Page
Great photo of you all!
Posted by: Susan Rogers on 6/7/2019 at 8:31 am
Good luck y’all! Great shot, and great way to begin your journey. Have and step safe!
Posted by: Susan Moore on 6/6/2019 at 10:18 pm
View All Comments