Entries from Denali
May 16, 2024
Posted by: Mike Walter, Jess Wedel, Michael Murray
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 11,000'
Wednesday, May 15, 2024 - 2:51 pm PT
With our cache established around Windy Corner, our team is resting at 11,000' Camp. It's a bit breezy in camp, much windier up high. A good day to chill.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
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May 15, 2024
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Jackson Breen
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 11,000'
Tuesday, May 14, 2024 - 7:47 pm PT
We had a stellar day of rest and recovery today at 11,000' Camp. The skies were blue as could be and camp was calm and warm. We waited to leave tents until the sun hit, and lingered over blueberry pancakes and coffee. The midday was time for naps, movies, wet wipe baths, fresh clothes, etc. Then we did a quick hour long practice session of cramponing, arrest, and rope travel practice, before a couple more hours of lounging. We're now properly setup for a carry around Windy Corner tomorrow. Ever higher we go!
RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer
Sign Up For Denali Expedition, May 7, 2024 Emails
May 15, 2024
Posted by: Mike Walter, Jess Wedel, Michael Murray
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 11,000'
Tuesday, May 14, 2024 - 8:42 pm PT
We had great weather today and got a cache established up around Windy Corner at about 13,700'. We are all back at camp now. Keeping it brief. Still lots of work to do tonight before we can get horizontal. We'll check in again tomorrow.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
Sign Up For Denali Expedition, May 5, 2024 Emails
Keep up the great work everyone! There are MANY of us following your adventure. Be safe. Stay warm. Keep crushing it.
Posted by: Bruce Wilhelm on 5/15/2024 at 7:57 am
May 15, 2024
Posted by: Dustin Wittmier, Daniel May, Lacie Smith
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 7,300'
Tuesday, May 14, 2024 - 9:44 pm PT
Hello everyone! It's been a hectic couple of days packing and prepping for flying on today. We arrived at Kahiltna Basecamp following a smooth and scenic ride from Talkeetna. The team spent the day acquainting themselves with life on the glacier and enjoying this beautiful place. Tomorrow we plan to head for the base of Ski Hill. Everyone still smells pretty good and we are feeling motivated to start moving.
RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier
Sign Up For Denali Expedition, May 12, 2024 Emails
Sending you guys love from Portland. Jazzy says hi, Sarah! <3
Posted by: Hannah on 5/16/2024 at 3:52 pm
Dan!
Way to go snookums, I couldn’t be more proud of you! Keep up the great work!
With Love,
Your Aunt Bon Bon
Posted by: Aunt Bon Bon on 5/16/2024 at 6:21 am
May 14, 2024
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Jackson Breen
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 11,000'
With today's move to 11,000' complete, we are done pulling sleds uphill, and are retiring the snowshoes until we come down! There was much celebrating. It was sunny in camp this morning and we let that dry tents and sleeping bags for a bit, then pulled it all down, packed it all up, and started walking back up Ski Hill. It was an incredibly pleasant day and we trundled along to 11,000' in good time. The team is clicking at getting stuff done, and tents were up in no time. Good thing to, as a big black wall approached from the west and enveloped us in fat snow flakes. It's incredibly calm, but we are building an inch or so of snow an hour, falling quietly, straight down. At another time of year it would evoke holidays, wood stoves, and cozy winter vibes, but right now it's making summer feel quite far away. Our intention is to take a rest day tomorrow at 11, refresh some climbing skills for the terrain above, and get ready to cache higher the next day.
RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer
Sign Up For Denali Expedition, May 7, 2024 Emails
Hi Jackson! This is your grandma Breen. Just wanted to tell you how proud I am of you and how amazed I am of all your adventures and accomplishments! I love you and be safe!
Posted by: Carol Breen on 5/14/2024 at 11:49 am
May 13, 2024
Posted by: Mike Walter, Jess Wedel, Michael Murray
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Denali
Elevation: 11,200'
We're resting and acclimating at 11k today. After a chilly night, the team enjoyed a leisurely morning and brunch with ample amounts of eggs, hashbrowns, and reindeer sausage.
Lounging, reading, and small talk make up the bulk of today's activities.
We'll also be sorting our gear in preparation for our carry up around Windy Corner, which, weather permitting, is on tap for tomorrow.
But for right now, we're enjoying the hang.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
Sign Up For Denali Expedition, May 5, 2024 Emails
May 13, 2024
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Jackson Breen
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 7,800'
After a couple of big days, today was a good one to rest. The sun decided to show too, and we could finally see the awesomeness of the peaks of the Alaska Range around us. Until now we've moved around in relative murk with the peaks above obscured. The scene around us is stunning and humbling, and for much of the day we could see clear to the summit of Denali. The sun also warmed the tents and us, giving us a nice dose of heat after a couple days of pretty chilly weather, even for Alaska. Some yoga, napping, and reading was most if the day's activity. Tomorrow we plan to move to Camp 1, rested and ready to climb this stretch one more time.
RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer
Sign Up For Denali Expedition, May 7, 2024 Emails
Sounds like everyone is doing great!! Keep up the good work!
Thank you for keeping all of us at home up to date on our friends progress!
Posted by: Jackie Millen on 5/13/2024 at 4:31 pm
May 12, 2024
Posted by: Mike Walter, Jess Wedel, Michael Murray
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 11,200'
Today we had much kinder weather than the last few and we enjoyed a nice leg stretcher back to 9,700' to retrieve our cache from a few days ago. We're back at 11,200' camp chilling before dinner. It feels good to reunite with all of our gear so we can prepare for the next stage of the climb, which will be establishing a cache up around Windy Corner. We haven't decided yet if we'll try to get that done tomorrow or the next day. In any case, our bodies are busy producing red blod cells as we adapt to living at altitude. One last note for today: Happy Mother's Day to Jeanne, Liz, Valari, Kristy, Karen, Kate, Dorothy, Tracy, Becky, Megan, Kathie, Fiona, Susan, Angela, Lynda, Veronique, Fatemeh, Joyce, Mary, Betty, Dee Dee, Anne, Sarah, Tania, Elaina, Dione, and Meredith.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
Sign Up For Denali Expedition, May 5, 2024 Emails
May 12, 2024
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Jackson Breen
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 9,400'
Saturday, May 11, 2024
We got most of our food and fuel pushed all the way to 11 today. We went into the day with a plan to carry as high as we could and made sense. It's been quite snowy on the Kahiltna below Kahiltna Pass. We were in the sun in the morning but it looked socked in above, so we dragged our feet a bit. We didn't see much evidence of wind, and a could of teams headed up, so with some trail breaking ahead of us, we decided to go. As expected, the light turned flat pretty quickly. But we were moving along well. We caught the last team in front of us around 9,700', and trail breaking became our job. We had a chilly breeze coming from behind, and we thought we might just lose it and get some better visability around the corner towards 11,000'. That worked, and then we were only 20 minutes from camp, so why not go the distance! It was a proud effort from the team. We dropped our loads, stowed sleds on packs, and with minimal weight on us for the first time on the trip, stretched our legs out on the descent. It had snowed yet more below, so we broke trail back downhill again, but made easy work of that. It was pretty pleasant and surreal, with snowflakes filtering silently down around us, and the snow on the ground absorbing every sound, we moved through a silent, empty landscape, the sound of our own passage swallowed up. It was a long day capped with a restorative bowl of ramen and then off to sleep.
Sign Up For Denali Expedition, May 7, 2024 Emails
May 12, 2024
Posted by: Mike Walter, Jess Wedel, Michael Murray
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 11,000'
Saturday, May 11, 2024 - 7:10 pm PT
Skies were blue above us when I fired the stoves this morning. A foot or more of fresh snow blanketed camp and temps were frigid. Bagels, bacon, and coffee were warranted. By the time we left camp the skies were obscured. Deep snow, cold air, and a stiff breeze were the constants all day. Our team climbed strong and we arrived at 11,000' Camp by 2 pm. After a few hours of digging in a camp, some tent chilling ensued while the guides fired the stoves for dinner. Tomorrow we plan to retrieve our cache from 9400. We'll let you know how that goes. It's dinner time now and life is good at 11,000'.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
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Keep up the great work team! waiting on these blog posts daily. So excited for all of you!
Pouliot you are my hero!
Posted by: Tucker G Balam on 5/16/2024 at 11:54 am
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