Entries By dominic cifelli
August 12, 2021
Posted by: James Bealer, Dominic Cifelli, Chase Halbert, Stephen Inman
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 12,500'
The Kautz Seminar, led by RMI Guide James Bealer, was stopped by route conditions this morning. They reached 12,500' before making the call to abort their ascent. The team is currently working their way back to high camp. They have had a full week of training and will spend one more night on the mountain before concluding their program tomorrow.
August 3, 2021
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Dominic Cifelli, Leif Bergstrom, Augi Fleer, Emma Lyddan, Lauren Macklin
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
RMI Guides Peter Van Deventer & Dominic Cifelli led their Four Day Climb July 31 - 3 August teams to the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. The groups reached the crater shortly after 6 am and enjoy some time snapping photos and enjoying the views. Pete reported lights wind and a thicken lenticular cloud just off the summit as they started their descent around 7:30 am. The teams will return to Camp Muir for a short break before continuing the final 4,500' descent to Paradise.
Nice work today team!
July 30, 2021
Posted by: Dominic Cifelli, Henry Coppolillo, Jackson Breen
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
RMI Guide Dominic Cifelli led the Paradise Seminar team through training and to the top of Mt. Rainier this week! Various mountaineering skills were taught in order to arm these mountaineers with bigger mountains goals as well as feeling more comfortable in their climbing abilities.
The team is currently on their descent from the Mt. Rainier summit and will finish their program with a celebration back in Ashford.
July 21, 2021
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Dominic Cifelli, Luke Wilhelm
Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades
Elevation: 8,681'
Wednesday, July 21, 2021 6:20 pm PT
Hi Everyone -
We ALL made it to the top of Sahale Mountain at 3:15 pm today! We are on the descent now, off rock and back to glacier. The team is doing great! We will be back at camp soon, ready to get some rest and trek out tomorrow morining!
RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer & Team!
July 9, 2021
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Dominic Cifelli, Matt McEttrick
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Denali
Friday, July 9, 2021 - 12:04 am
It did not seem like it was going to happen today. We woke up groggily to find ourselves in the middle of a small tent village. The remaining teams on the mountain -six guided groups- were now all collected at Kahiltna Base Camp, waiting to fly out. None of us had made the top -the season end was just a nonstop progression of storms. Including the one that cloaked us in cloud and light snow for much of the day. We had already eaten a mountain dinner and were getting ready for another night in tents when airplanes started coming in through holes in the clouds. We packed sleeping bags, tents, pots, and pans… all in an instant and loaded into K2 Aviation’s beautiful Otters. And at 9:30PM we lifted off the glacier and caught the red eye into Talkeetna. Eventually we were out of the snow and ice and rock and flying effortlessly over impossibly green landscapes.
We have got a day left of drying and sorting gear and traveling, but tonight we shower and sleep in beds!
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team
Great going and thanks for the daily updates -wow, what a journey. There’s always 2022! Way to go Matt!
Posted by: Margie McEttrick-Maloney on 7/11/2021 at 5:49 pm
Thanks & best to Dave , team leaders for everything & to ur whole team —-Sanjeev felt safe & had loads of fun w/ y’all !!! Even tho he cant wait to share lots of wonderful stories , I know he will miss y’all lots !!!
A thankyou to the lord for bringing y’all down safely , so y’all can return to beds, etc :) !!!
& Cheers to many more climbs & to reaching summits in the future years !!! Godbless & Keep smiling !!!
Sincerely,
Rohan, Courtney, Nora , Niki & Anjalika
Posted by: Anjalika Nagrath on 7/9/2021 at 10:46 pm
July 7, 2021
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Dominic Cifelli, Matt McEttrick
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14, 200'
Tuesday, July 6, 2021 - 9:30 pm PT
The winds trailed off during the night -at our level, at least- but we got steady snow for most of the day. We sat in place at 14,200 ft. With the continued poor forecast, we are now just looking for a reasonable break in the storms to start moving downward. While it is a tough thing to give up our summit dreams for 2021, it is at least something of an easy call… the mountain simply has not given us an opening. We are still in an amazingly beautiful place, which we remember each time the clouds thin. And we have still got plenty of mountain climbing -albeit of the downward variety- to do before we’re done.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team
Get down safe, team! Tell Matt it’s 107 at home, so he won’t have to worry about being cold. First beer back is on me.
Posted by: Amanda Heidt on 7/8/2021 at 9:27 pm
Thinking of the team all the way from New Jersey. Have a safe and uneventful descent. Staying strong Dom!
Posted by: Art Cifelli on 7/8/2021 at 6:55 pm
July 6, 2021
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Dominic Cifelli, Matt McEttrick
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 14,000'
Monday, July 5, 2021 - 9:50 pm PT
Score one for the weathermen. They weren’t kidding about this storm. It is real. Came in during the night and by morning it was snowing and blowing and we couldn’t see much. There wasn’t any question of moving camp up to 17,000 ft. In fact, we retreated somewhat. Just after breakfast, RMI Guides Dominic and Matt geared up for the toughest of missions. They trudged out into the teeth of the storm to climb up to retrieve our food cache on the West Buttress. Yes, we were proud to have just placed it there two days ago, but now we can’t afford to be separated from those supplies should avalanche conditions set up in the coming days… which seems likely. The guys had hard going, breaking trail in rapidly accumulating snow. At the 16,000 ft ridge crest they were dealing with winds easily in the 50 mph range, the kind that sound like jet engines even from way down here at 14k. We had plenty strong winds in camp, but of course we were in shelter and comfy, warm and dry. Dom and Matt grabbed the cache and bolted safely back to camp in a total of four very difficult hours. But their work significantly eased our ability to meet our new primary goal: riding out the storm.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On the edge of my seat awaiting your next update. Stay safe, all!
Posted by: Susie Lambert on 7/7/2021 at 3:59 am
Kudos to Dom and Matt for their sprint to recover the cache on the West Buttress!
Hope that the storm abates and progress continues toward 17K.
Joe McEttrick
Posted by: Joseph P McEttrick on 7/6/2021 at 9:44 am
July 5, 2021
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Dominic Cifelli, Matt McEttrick
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 14,000'
Sunday, July 4, 2021 - 9:47 pm PT
Our team took a holiday today! We slept in and breakfasted slowly as the sun washed over camp at 9:30AM. As predicted, conditions at 14,000 were calm today while winds appeared to work over the summit. We enjoyed our rest but it was a bit of a tough day for morale. A number of the remaining teams on the mountain are in the process of quitting and going down without the summit. The forecasts are calling for a progression of storms to roll through in the coming week. We’re hoping the forecasts are wrong… but clouds are building up again this evening. It was already going to be tough to see the fireworks with twentyfour hour daylight.
Happy Independence Day from the highest mountain in the land.
Best Regards,
July 4, 2021
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Dominic Cifelli, Matt McEttrick
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 14,200'
Saturday, July 3, 2021 - 9:15 pm PT
There was still a big cloud cap on Denali this morning, but at 6AM the winds didn’t seem too bad. There were clouds in every other direction as well, but we were mostly looking up at the West Buttress as we ate breakfast and pondered a carry. It seemed worth a shot. We pulled the trigger and left camp just after 8 AM. It was colder this morning than it had been… not extremely cold, but colder than we’ve yet experienced on the trip. Our tracks -and anyone else’s- from yesterday were gone, so we had the added challenge of trail breaking in a few inches of new snow. Even so, we made steady progress upward. But the cloud cap made steady progress downward, so we were bound to come together. We were in murk and light but cold winds by the base of the fixed ropes. Which all made for a cold intro to climbing the steep, icy rope section. Thankfully, the winds were blowing from behind us and so we stepped into much needed calm at our destination, which was just perfectly in the lee and sheltered by the crest of the West Buttress. It was wonderful to hit our 16,200 ft target, but the clouds hid the grand views. We quickly cached supplies and geared up for a descent facing into the cool wind. A careful descent got us to 14,200 ft camp just as the sun came out there at 2:30 PM. The afternoon and evening were calm and easy with occasional snow showers. The storm is definitely easing, but of course they are predicting that another will follow. We’ll rest tomorrow in any case.
Happy Fourth of July, Hahn team!
Did you bring a few fireworks?
Marion & I hope your weather conditions cooperate.
Marion and Joe McEttrick
Posted by: Joseph P McEttrick on 7/4/2021 at 7:47 am
July 3, 2021
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Dominic Cifelli, Matt McEttrick
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,200'
The storm that moved in so deliberately yesterday evening seemed to pause this morning. At 6AM it was calm at 14k although we could hear big winds up on the crest of the West Buttress. Cloud was all around us, but it wasn’t doing a lot. We ate a slow breakfast and watched the weather. Having no other appointments or engagements, we decided to walk uphill to attempt our carry of supplies. The goal would be 16,200 ft, the top of the fixed lines. We were underway by 9 AM, by which time it was snowing lightly. Since we had two hours of straightforward uphill trudging before the start of the more complicated climbing, we figured we would give the weather a chance to improve. It did not. We turned around at 15,300 ft with the winds seemingly on the increase up above and snow beginning to fall heavily. It only took thirty minutes to reach camp again.
Winds began to hammer our camp by early afternoon and so we built big walls of snow-bricks to protect tents. Thankfully, the fury was short lived and not all that furious. We got a break by late afternoon, which certainly made dinner a bit easier to enjoy in the cook tent. The storm is still with us at 9 PM, ripping the upper reaches of Denali, but sparing 14 Camp for the time being.
We’ll give our carry another try tomorrow should we get the chance.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team
Hello Dave Hahn & Team
Great picture of the camp at 14000!
Is the hump in the background the summit?
Posted by: Joseph P McEttrick on 7/3/2021 at 3:19 pm
Nice work!! Very encouraging!
Posted by: Andre Fredy on 8/3/2021 at 12:33 pm
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