Most Popular Entries

May 31, 2016 - 10:03 pm PT Finally, a day of rest. Smoked salmon, toasted bagels and cream cheese served at the civilized hour of 10:00 set the tone for the day. Our communal get together then lasted to noon. What we all talk of who knows, but obviously we enjoy each others company. Speaking of which, I thought I might share a small glimpse of who this team is that you're following. I'll start with the lady from NYC. A social live wire who keeps things fun in the Posh and can climb with the best. Of the three doctors in the group, the one from the east coast is not the talkative center of the group, but is so fun to get to know and importantly, never complains, even of our cooking. The other doc is our elder statesman, older than even me! (OK, by just a year) But with this wisdom comes a love and appreciation of everything and everyone around him. The third doc is a stud! But his strength is so overshadowed by his generosity and true commitment to the welfare of the group. We even have two paramedics on board. The first calls Boston home, where he only works four jobs to support his climbing habit. His good heartlessness is reflected in the smile he wears no matter how difficult the going is. The other medic defines strength. Even after breaking his leg in January, he gets the hard man award. Combined with just being a really nice guy, we're lucky to have him on the team. Another incredible member was an air force meteorologist who became a physical therapist. Her strength and will power is obvious any time you pick up her pack. Plus she can run a five minute mile. Amazing person! Another teammate was here two years ago where weather conspired to thwart his summit bid, but has come back determined and firing on all cylinders. Always good natured, especially when there's rice one the menu, he is a pleasure to climb with. Of the guides, our first year assistant is proving his mettal and performing really well in the harsh environment of the Alaska range. Interestingly, all the of us are ski patrollers in the winter. My first assistant is all one could ask for in a guide up here. Strong, fun, hard working and smart. And a bright spot in the Posh House. Then there's me, trying to manage as best as I can and get this old body up the hill one more time. So that's it, the team in a nutshell. I trust you'll recognize your friends, family, loved ones. It's a special group and I'm excited to be climbing with them. RMI Guide Brent Okita

On The Map

Thursday, May 5, 2016 - 10:17 a.m. PDT The RMI Office received word that RMI Guide Mike Walter and the May 3rd Denali Expedition has departed Talkeetna enroute to base camp on the Kahiltna Glacier. The team boarded K2 Aviation's Otter planes round 9 a.m. local time for their 45 minute flight into the Alaska Range. The RMI Denali climbing season is officially underway!

On The Map

Wednesday, May 4, 2016 - 9:01 p.m. Here we go! Everyone's travel arrangements worked out brilliantly the past couple of days and we all met in Anchorage yesterday afternoon and drove north to Talkeetna, a quaint little climbing village and the gateway to the Alaska Range. This morning we had an early orientation meeting with the National Park Service in Talkeetna where we discussed the route, leave no trace practices, and some of the history of Denali climbing. Then, after brunch at the historic Talkeetna Roadhouse, we spent the rest of the day at K2 Aviation's hangar checking our equipment and packing for our expedition. After a long day of sorting gear and weighing packs, we are confident that we are ready for out expedition on the West Buttress of Denali. The plan is to fly in to Base Camp on the Kahiltna Glacier tomorrow morning, weather permitting. From there, we'll be busy climbing for the next few weeks towards the apex of North America. We will be sending dispatches via satellite interface, and will try to make that technological magic work on a daily basis. Thanks for following along! RMI Guides Mike Walter, Billy Haas, Blake Votilla and the Team

The Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guides Jake Beren and Lindsay Mann reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Jake reported cloudy, smoky skies, light to moderate winds, and mild temperatures. The teams left the summit just before 8 am to start their descent to Camp Muir. We look forward to seeing them in Ashford this afternoon. Congratulations Climbers!

Friday June 26th 12:30 am PT We are on our way down!! After waking up when the sun hit our tents at 17,000, we packed up and headed downhill. Although sore and tired from a long summit day, we made good time down to 14,000 feet. We met up with Billy Nugent's group and had a healthy round of hugs and high fives. We picked up some cached gear and partook in the time honored tradition of fitting twice as much gear into a pack than should be possible and carrying said pack down another 3,000 feet to 11k Camp and our awaiting sleds. We are currently in a holding/napping pattern at 11k. We are going to walk early in the morning towards base camp and the landing strip in hopes of an early flight to Talkeetna. That is weather dependent of course! RMI Guide Mike Haugen

On The Map

Hey Everyone, Today Team 4 did a carry to Camp Two at 18000 feet. However, we didn't stop there. We were all feeling so good that after we dropped our gear at camp we ventured higher to 19000 feet. The team did great and we are now back at Camp One where 16200 feet is beginning to feel like sea level. Tomorrow we will have a rest day to fully recover and assist in acclimatizing even better. Thanks for following along! RMI Guide JJ Justman & Team

Today we spent our last rest day of the trip laying around Helicopter Camp (our camp 2). There are actually pieces of a crashed helicopter lying all over camp! Bundles of electronics, sheet metal, etc. can be found scattered about and some creative climbers have even incorporated the debris into rock walls that serve as windbreaks for tents. Our plan is to head up to Camp Cholera tomorrow morning and make a summit attempt on Friday morning, weather permitting. There is some concern about the wind but we'll see what kind of conditions we wake up to. Dan would like to send his love to his family; Kristin, Britta, & Anson. Thanks for following along everyone, we'll try and check in one last time before our summit bid.

Today saw a lot of wind on our carry up to Camp 1 at just over 16,000'. Lots of difficult walking in loose rock, scree, and icy penitentes brought us up to our first cache where we dropped food, fuel, and gear that will be needed on the upper mountain. Tomorrow calls for another rest and acclimitization day before our move up the mountain the following day. We'll check in again tomorrow.

The Five Day Climb June 15 - 19 ascend to Camp Muir on Day 3 after a day and a half training and preparing. They spent Day 4 of their program practicing cramponing up Muir peak and fixed line travel, and went over knots and hitches. RMI Guide Casey Grom and two other guides went up high doing some route work and shoveling the new snow from Disappointment Cleaver. Today the team went to Ingraham Flats and watched the sunrise over Muir peak and western Washington. Unfortunately unstable snow conditions from Monday's storm prevented from safely climbing any higher.  The team will descend to Paradise later this morning and conclude their program later this afternoon at Rainier BaseCamp.

PC: Tatum Whatford

There was improvement all around when we checked weather this morning, but not enough to permit moving up yet. The clouds were almost gone, which seemed to fit with the forecast that high pressure was building, but there was still wind up high blowing big streamers of snow off the ridge overhead. In the below zero temps we work in down here, one just can’t get a whole lot safely done while walking into wind. But today’s winds were nothing like yesterday’s. We followed our familiar Low Camp rest day routine of alternating naps reading and feeding. We didn’t cut blocks or add to our snow walls today though... we’re finally feeling temporary, like we’ll leave this camp tomorrow. We checked in with Base Camp a couple of times today, as usual. Their weather was actually worse than ours and the climbers were still waiting for clearing to be able to fly back to Union Glacier. Best Regards RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map