Entries By ben thorneycroft

RMI Guides Tatum Whatford and Felipe Guarderas led their Five Day Climb teams to the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning.  The guides reported an amazing day with light winds and clear skies.  The route is busy with climbers so the teams reached the crater rim and have started their descent to Camp Muir. Once back at camp the climbers will enjoy a relaxing afternoon on the mountain and celebrate their accomplishment.  The team will spend tonight at 10,080' and continue the remaining 4.5 miles/4,500' down to Paradise tomorrow.

Congratulations to today's climbers!

The first Easton Glacier expedition of the 2025 season, led by RMI Guide Sam Marjerison, reached the summit of Mt. Baker yesterday evening. After leaving the summit and spending the night back at high camp, the team will head down the mountain this morning to celebrate their success with friends, family, and a nice warm meal.

Way to go team!

RMI Guides Seth Burns and Joe Crawford led their Five Day climb teams to the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning.  Seth radioed from the crater rim at 8:47 am. Its a goregous day on the mountain with clear skies and cool temperatures.  After spending some time in the crater the team will descend to Camp Muir and spend their second night on the mountain. Tomorrow they will continue down to Paradise.

Nice work today team!

The Expeditions Skills Seminar - Kautz June 6 - 11 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning via the Kautz Glacier route. After several days of training the team put their skills to the test ascending the Kautz Ice chute and Wapowety Cleaver.  They reached Point Success at 8:50 am and crossed to Columbia Crest, the true summit of Mt. Rainier 14,410' arriving at 9:12 am.  The team enjoyed a bit of time in the crater and then began their descent.  They will return to camp for a well deserved rest and spend a final night on the mountain. Tomorrow they will continue their descent to Paradise, returning to Rainier BaseCamp to conclude their program.

Way to go team!

PC: Felipe Guarderas & Layne Peters

Monday, June 2, 2025 - 10:30 am PT

After our last post after descending to 11,000', things happened quickly. We went to bed to moderate snowfall on the tents and woke to something of the same. With clouds all around, and a cloud cap above on the mountain, and after three big days, we didn’t rush out of 11,000' Camp, but took the time to get some coffee, breakfast, and repack into sleds, duffels, and packs for the snowshoe to Base Camp. By midmorning we were ready, and started out. That walk is always special, as the clouds and light played on the lower peaks of the range, there is a certain quiet and reflectiveness to the descent as we contemplate all we have just done, and how soon we will hopefully be home and this will all start to feel like a bit of a dream. We passed several teams headed uphill, still looking fresh, stubble only a day or two old, excited for everything to come. We made a brief stop at the base of Ski Hill to pick up our cache, then continued through the long flat stretches of the lower Kahiltna. Finally it was time for one more burn, the roughly hour stretch up Heartbreak Hill that would bring us to our destination. All day we had walked in and underneath clouds and didn’t hear much in the way of airplane traffic. Quite truthfully as we took our final steps into Base Camp, a message arrived via inReach from K2 asking if we were at Base Camp yet - weather hadn’t been flyable that day, but things were turning. So we arrived, but rather than sit and recover, we continued the movement and prep, quickly pulling apart sleds and bags, organizing, digging up our Base Camp cache, and shortly thereafter we got the news that two planes had launched to come get us. Just before 7 pm, the two red otters dipped out of the sky on the final approach to Base Camp. We loaded, and before we knew it, were being whisked back to town. Just as we seemed to swing into a stroke of luck with our summit day window (there hadn't been one since), we walked into quite a bit of luck with flying off as well. By 8:45 pm that evening, we were showered and sitting on the deck of the Denali Brew Pub enjoying a meal that hadn’t been boiled in water. 

Nick, Ben, and myself would like to thank this team for the incredible dedication they showed throughout this expedition, to themselves, to each other, and to us. That teamwork and selflessness was the key component in the success of our climb and it was such a pleasure for us to climb with this team.

Signing off for this year,

RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer

Tuesday, May 27, 2025 - 12:10 am PT

After a big day yesterday and sleeping at 17,000' still, we slept in to get what recovery we could. It was a cold morning, but we eventually roused, downed some breakfast, and got all of our things in packs and headed down. It’s been a funny day of environments. Weather at 17,000 was frigid and clear this morning. Passing through 14,000' Camp felt like we were at the beach, and we said Hi, Good luck, and See ya to our friends with RMI Guide Seth Burns and team.

Moving below 14,000' across the Polo Field, everything was white, muffled, and there was ~24” of new snow on the ground and it was snowing hard. We are now at 11,000' Camp, pausing to sleep and enjoy the warm and oxygen rich climes. It’s not at all how they felt on the ascent! Tomorrow, we’ll pack things one more time, and walk out the Kahiltna Glacier to base camp. We’re excited and ready.

RMI Guides Pete, Nick, Ben, and team

Monnday, May 26, 2025 - 8:09 am PT

Mt. McKinley Summit!

It was a splitter morning, so we prepped for a big day and left at 10:15 with sun on camp and the Autobahn in the shade. For that reason we were wearing pretty much everything we had. There had been maybe one other guided team above 17,000' this year, and not much traffic overall, so the infamous Autobahn needed quite a bit of foot scuffing and picket hammering as we passed. It made for tough work, but we were across to Denali Pass. Light wind and clouds that were in and out were the rest of the day, and at 6:15 AK time, we walked onto the summit. It’s always emotional reaching a big goal, and we took it in before turning our attention downhill. Moving down under the late Alaskan light we made good time and were back at camp at 10:15. A late dinner, recovery, and sleep are in store.

Tomorrow we’ll start the descent to the airstrip, which is always incredible in its speed.

RMI Guide Pete, Nick, Ben, and a very happy and tired team.

Monday, May 26, 2025 - 12:07 am PT

Summit success for the Mt. McKinley May 8th Expedition!  Yesterday Pete Van Deventer and team reached the highest point in North America.  Pete checked in when the team had safely returned to 17,000' Camp.  More details will be coming soon (we hope).

Congratulations team!

Saturday, May 24, 2025 - 9:03 pm PT

We made the big move and started the final push. Things looked good this morning so we got things running early, packed all the necessities for going up high, and walked out in the shade. Soon the sun was on us, and cold became very hot. We made good progress up the fixed lines, across the West Buttress and into 17,000' Camp. We’ve got camp built, stoves are roaring towards dinner, and we’ll wake up and see what tomorrow brings.

Best,
RMI Guides Pete, Nick, Ben, and team

Friday May 23, 2025, 6:48 pm PDT

After yesterday’s big effort, we took today to rest and recover. It’s been a beautiful, warm, and sunny day here at 14,000 feet. We treated ourselves to a brunch of bagels and smoked salmon, and spent the day stretching, reading, and drying out gear in the sun.

With our carry complete, we’re fully focused on the summit window now—and hopeful that it comes soon. All the preparation is behind us; now it’s just a matter of timing. Once the push begins, things will move quickly.

Send us all your summit-weather vibes!

—Pete, Ben, Nick, and the Team