Entries By avery parrinello
Well, the summit is still very far away, but we are headed in the right direction. We left Penitentes this morning at 10:30 am with perfect weather. Temperatures were warm but not scorching, and there was a nice breeze to keep things bearable. Everyone was excited to get some blood flowing after long travel days, and we made it to our camp at
Pampa de Leñas in about four and a half hours. It always takes me a few days to adjust to the desert climate, but everyone else seems to be fitting right in. No sunburns, no blisters, just efficient movement through a giant valley.
The only snafu of the day occurred when a localized dirt tornado blew through camp and sucked one of our sleeping pads into the stratosphere. If it entered restricted airspace no one noticed, or no one cared. Against all odds, it fluttered back down to camp. A casual stroll and a quick inspection revealed that it was no worse for the wear.
We’re about to sit down for one of the best meals of the trip. A traditional Argentinian asado, with meats of all kinds cooked over an open flame. Then we’ll go to sleep under the stars, and continue the journey tomorrow.
RMI Guides JM Gorum, Hannah Smith, and Avery Parrinello
On The Map
Hello from Penitentes! Today we ate a nice breakfast at the hotel, and got an early morning start obtaining our climbing permits. It’s possible that one member of the team had to run around town and secure some important pieces of gear, but that’s par for the course. We ended up leaving Mendoza a little later than we had hoped due to some permit delays, but the team did an awesome job hustling once we got to Penitentes. We re-organized all of our gear so that the mules could better haul it, packed a lot of food and kitchen gear, and headed to dinner. Everyone is excited to start walking tomorrow. Once we hit the trail, things get much simpler. Whatever we have is what we have, and we just need to get from point A to point B. The team has done a great job leaping the logistical hurdles that mark the beginning of any long trip. Tomorrow we’ll check in from Pampa de Leñas.
RMI Guides JM, Hannah, and Avery
The team has arrived in
Mendoza! Most of the luggage arrived as well, with a few straggling bags to be accounted for. After introductions and a quick orientation, we set off to complete our climbing permits and a gear check. Dinner was fantastic, and at eight pm we were the first ones in the restaurant. Traditionally, people eat much later in Argentina, but after long travel days we need some sleep. Tomorrow we leave the big city behind, and head to Penitentes. We are excited to get this trip rolling!
RMI Guides JM Gorum, Hannah Smith & Avery Parrinello
Saturday, September 8, 2018 - 9:07 AM PT
RMI Assistant Guide Avery Parrinello checked in this morning from the base of the chimney's on the
Fisher Chimney Route of Mt. Shuksan. He reported that the team decided to abandon the summit attempt there because of poor and deteriorating weather conditions that included heavy rain. The team will return to camp and dry off the best they can for the hike out tomorrow morning.
RMI Guide Mike Walter and team were on the summit of
Forbidden Peak at 1:34 PM PT today. Mike reported light snow and not much visibility. The team will return to camp for their final night on the mountain. Tomorrow they will complete the trek out to the trail head.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
July 8, 2018
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Hannah Smith, Avery Parrinello, Nikki Champion
Categories:
Elevation: 348'
Sunday, July 8, 2018 - 3:32 AM PT
The team woke... slowly, at 11,000 this morning. Everybody remarked on the value of low altitude slumber. We ate and determined to get lower in honor of the former “tropical storm” headed our way. By this morning, we were the only team left on Denali. While it wouldn’t be quite “normal” to take on the lower
Kahiltna Glacier in July during the afternoon, we decided that a try was in order. The inbound storm was a definite- and it was clear it would be snowing hard for days on end... incompatible with both climbing and flying. So we pulled down Camp at 11,000' by 11:45 AM and got moving with heavy packs and sleds. Conditions were just plain easy to the base of Ski Hill at 7,800'. And then -although we crossed a few spooky snow bridges, things were phenomenally well put together for July 7. We made fine progress to the base of Heartbreak Hill. And although our last 1.5 hours was uphill, it was free of dicey bridges and nervy crevasses. Base Camp was gone at this late date... we passed on to the traditional late season upper strip 20 minutes farther along, reaching it at 7:30 PM. K2 Aviation already had planes in the air for us as they were anxious to beat the storm for our extraction. As we crossed the range, we saw the weather moving in while our ski otters dodged cloud after cloud. We landed in Talkeetna at 9:15 PM and raced to dinner in our mountain clothing, trying to beat closing times in the conventional world. In town, we caught up with all of the neighboring teams from the past three weeks and shared escape stories. We’re all full of amazement and admiration for the mountain that we didn’t climb, but also great satisfaction for the climb that we did have together.
Thanks for keeping track of us... until the next climb.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Saturday, July 7, 2018 2:37 AM PST
Some days you eat the bear...
We’re down at 11,000 ft. We had lofty ambitions this morning but
Denali played hard to get. There was a mean wind blowing through much of the night and sadly right through the morning. We waited it out as long as we could but called it at mid day. Tough as it was to let go of the summit, it was pretty obvious that it was out of reach under the circumstances. We broke camp at 17 and got moving down -as did every last climber on the mountain. A storm is moving in, according to the forecasters. For that though, today was spectacular once we were on the move. There is a bunch of forest fire smoke creating a haze, but we still got great views down to the Kahiltna Glacier as we carefully walked the ridge crest, dropped down the fixed lines, dug out our sleds at 14k and pushed on around windy corner with heavy loads. We piled on down the squirrel hills and motorcycle, and came into 11,000 at 9:30 PM. Our tents went up fast and dinner wasn’t far behind. The air down here is chock full of oxygen and it isn’t nearly so cold as we’ve gotten used to. We’ll get some low altitude sleep and plot our final escape to the airstrip soon.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team
Thursday, July 5, 2018 10:25 PM PST
Today was better weather than we expected -after a snowy and blowy night- it was crystal clear and calm at camp when the sun hit, there was a sea of clouds below. But the winds were blowing up on
Denali Pass and the South Peak until early afternoon which discouraged us from giving it a go. We’ve got reason to believe that tomorrow -Friday- will be our day. We chalked up another 17,000' rest day and hope that the extra time up high has made us more ready for success. We’re definitely feeling a little more like our old selves now compared to when we first rolled into 17k.
A short walk from camp to the big drop off and we can look down on the empty camp at 14,000'. The last groups of the season are here now and looking to take their shot tomorrow too.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Tuesday, July 3, 2018 - 9:52 PM PT
We could see forever this morning, and then it got better. The high clouds were gone, the low clouds were gone and the middle clouds were gone. We were up at six and walking by 8:45 in the cool shadow of the South Peak. By noon we’d topped out the fixed ropes and were starting up along the phenomenal crest of the
West Buttress. We never got anything stronger than gentle breezes, despite our exposed position. There were a few big smiles as the gang came up past Washburn’s Thumb and began to flirt with 17,000 feet. We pulled into the 17,200 ft camp in mid afternoon, six hours after leaving our Camp at 14,000'. Building camp was hard in the rarefied air, but we got it done and sat down to a six PM dinner in our newest snow dining room. We talked about how a summit day might work tomorrow and how to prepare tonight. We will need to get a little bit lucky on the weather, and everybody will need a good night’s rest... but then if it all works out, we’ll be ready to take advantage. Light, high clouds have taken over the western sky, but the sun is still powering through at 8:45 PM and we can see rivers, tundra, mountains, glaciers and planet Earth for hundreds of miles.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Monday, July 2, 2018 - 10:17 PM PT
A fine summer’s day in the Alaska Range. The gang slept late today, but when we emerged, the views were amazing. We could see clear down to Mt Spurr and the Tordrillos. Some clouds were still playing around the
South Peak of Denali and it appeared to be a little windy up that way, but as we had a slow and yummy pancake breakfast, nobody had complaints about the weather at 14,000' Camp. This rest day was just as relaxing as we could have hoped for. Even so, we weren’t totally relaxed... everyone is getting keyed up for the summit bid now. We prepared for moving up tomorrow and we hydrated, rested, ate, read and sorted gear (again). We’ll see what kind of morning we get tomorrow.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
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Happy New Year team! Hope you have a fantastic trip up the mountain! Someone give Hannah a hug from her momma!
Posted by: Shannon Smith on 12/31/2018 at 10:03 am
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