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Posted by: Dominic Cifelli, Ben Luedtke, Mike Bennett
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska
Elevation: 11,000'
June 15, 2025 - 8:38 pm PT
Gooooood evening Denali blog followers and welcome back to your personal tell all of mountain news, gossip, and glory. Today, just like the itsy bitsy spider we climbed that spout again. We were gently awoken by our guides at 5:30 and left for a 6:45 start back down the mountain to our cache below. At 10,000 feet we… and by we I mean our relentless guides… dug out our cache filled with snacks, solar panels, clean clothes, and summit gear. And thank god I was reunited with my cheese. ‘Twas a short jaunt back up to 11,000' Camp where we enjoyed bagels with bacon and honey jalapeño cream cheese. Contrary to yesterday’s blog, the American Canadian peace balance now falls in the hands of the Oilers and Panthers.
We then got a quick refresher course on how moving up the rest of the mountain will go as we ditch our snow shoes and move into crampons. A few of us gathered in a big circle and traded cheeses of all kinds until we made certain none of us would ever poop again.
Tomorrow we await to see what the weather brings in hope of moving more gear up to the next cache.
I continue to think about and question why a person takes on an effort such as this. Perhaps there’s answers we think the mountain holds, perhaps a bottomless pit of an ego we are trying to fill, the need for contrast from our everyday lives, or maybe it’s just the love of mountains and pushing ourselves to the jagged edge of our capabilities. No matter the reason, it’s an honor to be here with such talented and kind human beings. Sitting here at 11,000 ft our team has no idea what the future holds, to that I raise a toast to my fellow climbers at all stages on Denali… To the mountains we are meant to summit, and the ones we are not, may we enjoy the company, the views, and the climb either way.
I want to say thank you to my parents, I wouldn’t be here without you, and a special shout out to Moose Hockey Alaska, and the 525 bulldogs, YBYSA!
Love,
RMI Climber Mikayla
New Post Alerts:
Mt. McKinley Expedition June 9, 2025
Here’s a shout out to the team… You all got this. And here’s a special shout out to Mikayla DeMers AKA my sweet, bad-ass, airplane fixing, jeep driving, mountaining climbing, hockey pucking, doggie-wrestling, airplane flying, extra cheese eating daughter! That’s almost scratching the surface. So now it is time for Papa’s inspirational sayings! Mikayla, remember that you eat an
elephant (Mt McKinley) one-bite at a time… It’s no hill for a climber… slower is faster… slow and steady wins the race (the climb)... you are blooming where you are planted… and no matter what, know that you’ve pushed yourself to new heights. New heights that only a fraction of a percent of people will ever get see. Remember, although you may have weather delays, that slower is faster and it will give you time to adjust to the altitude.
I love you bunches… think warm thoughts! Cyber hugs are flying your way at the speed of light!
Posted by: Dan DeMers on 6/25/2025 at 4:46 pm
Mikayla! I am so excited to read up on your adventure! I was amused by the cheeses and hope you have been able to have a few bms since this posting! You are brave and adventurous! I am praying for a safe journey! Looking forward to pictures!
Posted by: Angela Snyder Miller on 6/22/2025 at 9:18 pm
Congratulations J!
Posted by: Mindy on 7/10/2018 at 8:29 pm
Jim we all cannot wait to hear about your amazing climb! To all of you who climbed so glad that all went well!! Congratulations!
Posted by: Linda irvin on 7/6/2017 at 7:01 pm
My husband Luis, returned yesterday in 1 piece. After hearing all the stories, I couldn’t be more proud to be called his wife.
His physical strength, mental strength, spiritual strength & all the team effort is what helped him reach the top.
Congratulations to the team.
Thank you, Pete, Chad & Jessy for providing this experience, but I don’t think you see me anytime soon.
Elizabeth Carrasco
Posted by: Elizabeth Carrasco on 7/6/2017 at 9:38 am
Posted by: Robby Young, Eric Frank
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Peru Seminar
Elevation: 10,000'
How can we track our kids while they’re climbing MT Rainier? Our 2 daughters - Shauna and Kerry Manion are with John Marquart and Tiffany Marquart as part of a group of 12 people guided with Sherpa’s. They told us there was a link to follow them on the trip. They arrived on 9/21 but I think they were in training today and starting the climb tomorrow on 9/23. Can you give me any information? Are they on one of your expeditions?
Posted by: Joanne Manion on 9/22/2017 at 4:57 pm
Posted by: Mike Walter, Mike King
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
SO PROUD OF YOU!!!!!!! And your team And a thanks to your guides :-) :-) :-) :-)!
Posted by: Diana on 7/16/2017 at 11:34 am
Awesome! Congrats, guys!
Posted by: Kate Turk on 7/16/2017 at 9:58 am
Best wishes to Geoff and the team. hey Geoff, I’m working down the hall from your Dad in South Portland, ME. He’s been kind enough to keep us posted on your progress. I just want you to know that you have my dream job!! Enjoy as I sit in my fluorescent lit cube, pounding away on this keyboard. LOL! Be safe!!
Posted by: CJ Knight on 7/29/2016 at 10:40 am
yeah Geoff and team!!! Cheering for you today!
Posted by: Elías on 7/29/2016 at 8:59 am
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