Entries By adam knoff
June 26, 2014
Posted by: Adam Knoff, Lindsay Mann
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 11,200'
June 25, 2014 - 10:42pm PT
Here I sit in
my tent
Wondering where the day went
A rest day at eleven camp for the team
With people in and out of their dreams
Mike Haugen and troupe passed through
Delivering a pee bottle to Adam -- woohoo!
For breakfast we had chocolate and pb pancakes (booya!) While we watched the snow flakes. For now the wind is pretty strong, and hopefully we won't have to shovel all night long.
RMI Guides Adam Knoff, Lindsay Mann and Andy Hildebrand
June 24, 2014
Posted by: Adam Knoff
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 11,000'
June 24, 2014 - 8:12 pm PT
Today we encountered the second oxymoron of the trip. The first, albeit not mountain related was not seeing the sun in the longest day in the norther hemisphere, hence the sunless solstice. Today's oxymoron was more exciting, helpful and might I say unexpected. At 13,500 feet there is a crucial feature of Mt. McKinley's
West Buttress Route that one must pass to gain access to Advanced Base Camp at 14,200 feet. This storied gateway is called Windy Corner. There have been many a harrowing epic here where sleds have been known to take flight like kites, ropes bend outward like giant crescent moons and rumor has it a climber was even flash frozen like a walking tuna when hit by a fridges gust. For us the corner was breathless!
Last night I had decided to make a carry of unneeded equipment and food up around windy corner because a snow storm is projected to pay a visit for the next few days. Despite having put our bodies to the test for the last four days without rest, this move seemed wise as to prepare the team to move up given our next nice weather day. Everyone's training has proven adequate and we are now in a great position for the days to come. We expect one or two more days here at 11,000 ft. Before making our next move. Everyone is happy and healthy.
Climb on.
RMI Guide Adam Knoff & Team
On The Map
June 24, 2014
Posted by: Adam Knoff, Lindsay Mann
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 11,200'
June 23, 2014 - 11:54 pm PT
We woke up to a beautiful day at
9,500 on Mt. McKinley enjoyed breakfast and broke down camp in record time. We had a smooth carry to 11,000 and conveniently found some old tent platforms that needed minimal work to make hospitable. A major highlight to our new camp is an unbelievable toilet with a real lid donated by Tyler Jones and his crew on their way off the mountain, it's the simple things in life. We are hunkering down for the night looking forward to a rest day tomorrow, however with a potential weather system coming in we might delay our rest day and make our carry to windy corner early before the weather changes. We will make our final decision in the morning when Adam can communicate with the mountain.
Hasta mañana,
RMI Guides Adam Knoff, Lindsay Mann and Andy Hildebrand
On The Map
June 23, 2014
Posted by: Adam Knoff
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 9,300'
These are the McKinley moments that tend to recharge the batteries and make the hard days tolerable. Inside the tent, wrapped in a mountain of down, fed by the culinary expertise of Lindsay and Andy with views straight down the
Kahiltna Glacier that knock your boots off. The simplicity of this entire process creates an appreciation for simple rest not realized in other facets of ordinary life. Get up, work yur' arse off, get real tired and hungry, eat and go to bed. No technology distractions, no depressing news feeds, simply us and the mountain.
Having just completed day three, we are all pleased with our current position. We awoke this morning to chilly temps, blowing snow and low visibility. Because of our lower elevation of 9,300 feet another move day seemed a bit much so we opted for a carry that landed a majority of our team's unneeded gear at the 11,000 ft camp which we plan to move to tomorrow. These first four or five days can be some of the climb's hardest but everyone has handled it with grace and competence. We anticipate another strong team performance tomorrow. Big hugs go out to friends and family who are taking the time to follow along.
Hasta mañana,
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
On The Map
June 22, 2014
Posted by: Adam Knoff, Lindsay Mann
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 9,600'
June 21, 2014 - 11:38 pm PT
This morning the team woke to some clouds in the sky and a lenticular on the top of the
Mt. McKinley. We got ready for the day while we waited for Adam to get the final words from the mountain gods on our next move. If only we knew what the mountain gods had in store for us...
Heavy loads up Ski Hill came first, followed by snow falling in a microwave followed by setting up camp in a serious snowstorm. The team made such impressive camp walls that a solo climber decided to use them as protection also for the night.
The best news of the day though is that today marked our last uphill single carry of the trip.
Happy solstice!
RMI Guides
Adam Knoff,
Andy Hildebrand and
Lindsay Mann
On The Map
June 21, 2014
Posted by: Adam Knoff, Lindsay Mann
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 7,800'
June 21, 2014 - 8:11 am PT
The transition from the sweet smell of blooming cotton woods, green grass, the easy access to showers to a life of arctic surroundings, grinding work and confined tent living comes abruptly! This morning that reality was as large as the towering mountains around us but the team motivated quickly and with resolve to get our grand adventure underway. The mental weight of shouldering a 60-pound pack connected to a 50-pound sled and then hauling it into an arena like the Kahiltna Glacier can be far more intimidating than the actual physical load. Faced with this challenge our team shined! We were thrilled to walk out of
Base Camp at 9:30 this morning onto the smoothest most user-friendly trail I have seen in all my nine trips to this glacier. Not only was the trail superb, we had the weather to match. Five hours after leaving BC we arrived at Camp One. At only 7,800 feet the vertical gain was not all that much but the distance was enough under monster loads to assure us this journey will not be an easy one. Tomorrow we will attempt to move again. Stay tuned.
RMI Guide Adam Knoff signing off
On The Map
June 20, 2014
Posted by: Adam Knoff, Lindsay Mann
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 7,300'
June 20, 2014 - 7:14 am PT
Three O Clock PM Talkeetna time. The kids in orange vests that load and unload the planes we were to fly in asked if it was okay to unload the 2,700 pounds of gear weighing down the aircrafts still grounded by ugly mountain weather near
Mt. McKinley. Sure we all said. By this time the thought of messing around with gear just to pass the time seemed like a safe plan. The flying conditions were reported to be bad all day so the perceived notion that we would fly at all was dwindling. The forecast for the next few days looked worse so I knew unloading those planes was the best move we could have made. Not more than 20 minutes after our climbing outfits came off and we were literally heading into town for a beer, base camp called, said conditions looked good and if anyone was ready, load 'em up ASAP and get them in! So, off with the jeans and tennies, on with boots and a mild-hurried panic and onto the plane. Forty-five minutes later we were on the glacier! Yeeee haaaa.
Everyone is buzzing with good energy and the days to come. Wish us luck on our move to Camp One.
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
On The Map
June 19, 2014
Posted by: Adam Knoff, Lindsay Mann
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 348'
June 19, 2014 - 11:24 am PT
The team spent yesterday packing, chatting and organizing food. Today we arrived at the hangar and we're told to stand by...a few hours later we are still standing by but are loading are bags onto planes and got the go ahead to change into climbing clothes. Hopefully, we will be loading the planes shortly and our next correspondence will be sent from the
Kahiltna Glacier!
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
June 18, 2014 - 3:00pm PT
RMI Guides Adam Knoff, Lindsay Mann, Andy Hildebrand and Team have arrived in Talkeetna, AK to start their 2014 Mt. McKinley Expedition. Everything is going as planned for the team. They have completed their equipment check, met with the National Park Service and with good luck plan to fly onto the
Kahiltna Glacier tomorrow.
Follow along on the RMI Expeditions Blog for updates on the team!
Hi there, we are having a great summit day! We left Camp Muir at 4 am and reached the summit at 9:15. The weather has been very nice. We are making our way down the mountain now. We'll check in when we get back to
Camp Muir.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
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Tell Dave Schick he is drinking too much water… :)
Hope the weather cooperates for a nice summit bid.
Best,
Jack
Posted by: Jack on 6/27/2014 at 9:38 am
Hope all is going well and the Team makes the camp today!
Love to my sis! And all my best to the team!
Posted by: Carolyn on 6/27/2014 at 8:52 am
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