Entries By dominic cifelli
RMI Guides Dominic Cifelli and Jack Delaney led the entire Mt. Baker - Easton Glacier team to the summit of Mt. Baker today! Dominic reports it was a super nice day on the summit and that "things are going great!" The team is spending one more night at camp before making the rest of their descent tomorrow.
This climb wraps up our 2021 North Cascades climbing season. We loved climbing with all of you this year and are excited for the climbs to come in 2022!
Congratulations climbers!
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Dominic Cifelli, Chase Halbert, Henry Coppolillo, Axel Ryd, David Shuer
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 11,200'
The Four Day Climb August 29 - 1 September was unable to reach the summit today due to route conditions. RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer and Dominic Cifelli lead their teams to Ingraham Flats at 11, 200', they enjoyed the views as the sun came up. The team is now back at Camp Muir and will begin their descent to Paradise later this morning.
Posted by: Alex Halliday, Dominic Cifelli, Chase Halbert
Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades
Elevation: 9,131'
We had a short day getting to our camp at Lake Ann on Tuesday. The Fisher Chimneys were too wet for us to ascend any higher. So we woke up early to make our attempt at the summit. Starting in the dark and ending in the dark meant we had a very long and very hard but successful summit day yesterday. Today we will descend to the trail head and complete our program.
Thanks for joining us!
- RMI Guide Alex Halliday
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.
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!
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.
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!
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Dominic Cifelli, Matt McEttrick
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Mt. McKinley
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
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Dominic Cifelli, Matt McEttrick
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley 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
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Dominic Cifelli, Matt McEttrick
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
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
Nice work!! Very encouraging!
Posted by: Andre Fredy on 8/3/2021 at 12:33 pm
View All Comments