Entries By dustin wittmier
May 27, 2019
Posted by: JM Gorum, JT Schmitt, Dustin Wittmier
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 11,200'
Monday, May 27, 2019 - 6:08 PM PT
As expected, the weather did not cooperate for a carry today. So instead of moving uphill we spent the morning making and eating pancakes. We ate breakfast until it was lunch time, ate lunch, and then enjoyed a few hours of sun and clear skies. We shoveled some snow of course, got a little training in, discussed the state of the universe, and I believe that Kirk has been meditating on the meaning of life for much of the day. He is scheduled to give a lecture detailing his enlightenment at dinner. David ate bacon today for the first time in 10 years. He seemed to enjoy it. There is talk of a pull-up contest if the weather doesn’t improve tomorrow, we will see. Dustin is the top seeded contender, but I have no doubt there are some dark horses in our ranks. As we move towards dinner, the snow has returned. Our plan is to get an early-ish start tomorrow and carry to 13,500, but we will see what the weather gives us. Hopefully we wake to clear skies and calm winds tomorrow.
RMI Guide JM Gorum
On The Map
May 27, 2019
Posted by: JM Gorum, JT Schmitt, Dustin Wittmier
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 11,000'
Sunday, May 26, 2019 - 11:41 PM PT
Well, the storm is here. It snowed all day today. Hard to say exactly how much. It’s ankle deep in some spots, and waist deep in others. We’ve been moving consistently and working hard every day up until now, so this forced rest day wasn’t the worst thing in the world. We spent our time shoveling snow, eating bacon, shoveling snow, reading, shoveling snow, and napping. We will probably wake up in the middle of the night to shovel some more snow. That’s
Alaska for ya. It looks like we probably won’t be going anywhere for a few days, but that’s no problem for us. When we finally do get to move we’ll be well rested, and well versed in the art of maintaining camp in a storm. Until tomorrow, the team sends their best.
RMI Guide JM Gorum
On The Map
May 25, 2019
Posted by: JM Gorum, JT Schmitt, Dustin Wittmier
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 11,200'
Today we woke to more clear skies, but with a hint of wind. We had a quick breakfast and then headed downhill to grab our cache. About twenty minutes of downhill walking got us to all of our gear, and then about an hour and a half of walking uphill got us back to camp. Throughout the day winds increased and snow started to fall, so we didn’t get to relax the afternoon away like we wanted. Instead we spent the second half of our day building snow walls and fortifying our camp. It seems like the weather system that forecasters have been calling for might actually be materializing. That’s no problem for us, as we’ve got a strong camp with all of our gear, so we are prepared to wait for as long as we may need to. We are planning on carrying some gear up to 14,000' Camp tomorrow, but unless the weather improves we will just be resting here at 11,200'. The team sends their best to everyone back home!
RMI Guide JM Gorum
On The Map
May 25, 2019
Posted by: JM Gorum, JT Schmitt, Dustin Wittmier
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 11,000'
Friday, May 24, 2019 11:08 PM PT
Last night the forecast called for increasing snow and wind, but we woke up this morning to find that to be 100% incorrect. Skies were clear all the way down the
Kahiltna and all the way to the summit. We packed up camp early in an attempt to beat the heat, and it worked out pretty well. We got moved in to our new home around 2pm, got a quick nap in, and ate a lot of food. Now we’re all relaxing in our tents and heading towards sleep. It’s always a long day getting up here, but the team handled it with grace and style.
Tomorrow we will retrieve our cache that is just downhill. It should be a short day, with a lot of relaxing and resting in the afternoon. Everyone is in good health and good spirits, though a few folks are concerned about NBA results.
RMI Guide JM Gorum & Team
May 23, 2019
Posted by: JM Gorum, JT Schmitt, Dustin Wittmier
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 7,800'
Thursday, May 23, 2019, 6:17 PM PT
We went to sleep last night surrounded by some of the biggest, most beautiful mountains on earth. When we woke up this morning, all we could see was white. Our blue skies had been replaced by clouds and light snow. Luckily, the change in weather did nothing to slow our progress. We rolled out of our tents, packed up what seemed like a totally unreasonable amount of food and gear, and then headed uphill. We hauled our packs and sleds up to 10,000', dug a hole in the snow, and buried all of our things. In a few days time we will be back to retrieve them, and move them farther up hill. After squirreling away our gear, we boogied back down to camp. The team made excellent work of the downhill, which is always a good sing. We are all dried out and are eating burritos now. Not much else to report from the day. The view were minimal. The work was hard. The plan is to go to bed early and move our camp to 11,000' tomorrow if the weather cooperates. Either way, we are having a great time here on the Kahiltna!
RMI Guide JM Gorum
On The Map
May 23, 2019
Posted by: JM Gorum, JT Schmitt, Dustin Wittmier
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 7,800'
Wednesday, May 22, 2019, 11:30 PM PT
Well, we are on the
Kahiltna Glacier. We have begun the climb! We flew on early this morning with perfect weather, a smooth ride, and amazing views of the Alaska range. After landing, we consolidated and re-organized our gear, picked up fuel from base camp, rigged our sleds, and started walking. After about five hours of travel time, we arrived at 7800 feet, our first camp on the Kahiltna. After setting up tents and building a kitchen we moved into an early dinner. We’re going to try to wake up a little on the early side tomorrow. Our plan is to carry a load up to 10,000 feet. Hopefully, with an early start, we can be back down in camp hiding from the sun during the hottest part of the day. Everyone did really well today despite the warm temps and heavy loads. We’ll check back in tomorrow afternoon.
RMI Guides
JM Gorum,
JT Schmitt and
Dustin Wittmier
On The Map
We are back at Senior Reyes' historic soap factory turned climbers hostel. The Mexican music and loud fireworks are going off like we had some remote control. The roosters and dogs are going berserk. But all the local acoustic entertainment is just part of climbing and traveling in Mexico. We are wrapping up a great 10 days with a fun group of guys. We climbed and stood on top of
three volcanoes, ate amazing food, sampled many of the local libations and enjoyed some of the clearest views of this area anyone in recent past has ever seen. This trip isn’t so much of an expedition as it’s a fun Mexican vacation where we climb high altitude volcanoes instead of sitting on the beach. If you need to test your mind, body and spirit at altitude this is a good choice. We will be getting an early start towards the airport tomorrow. Thanks for following along.
RMI Guide Mike King
February 23, 2019
Posted by: Mike King, Dustin Wittmier
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mexico
Elevation: 18,491'
Couldn’t have asked for a nicer day to climb the
3rd highest peak in North America! The entire Team is here, feeling a little worked but with smiles on their faces. Warm, clear night to start and a slight breeze once up in the glacier. We have a lot of smoke obscuring the views to the East and clear skies our to the West with Ixta, Popo and La Malinche. We have a long descent ahead of us and we will check in once back at Sr. Reye’s hostel. Drew, we missed you up here, hope the flight went well!
RMI Guide Mike King
The last two days have been a whirlwind. We had a long drive to
Puebla after climbing Ixta. The team rallied out that night for a much needed meal and then hit the racks for some well deserved sleep. The Hotel Colonial in Puebla was built in 1865 and is located on the historic square among several massive cathedrals.
We spent the day off exploring historic Puebla. Some of the group got massages while others wandered the various markets and narrow streets lined with colorful buildings. We are recharged and ready to head towards Orizaba this morning. The ride to Senior Reye’s climbing hostel takes us hours hours East towards the Gulf of Mexico. From there we will pack our mountain gear and head up in 4x4 trucks through the dry grassy slopes and dense pine forests that cover the lower flanks of Orizaba. Once at the Piedra Grande hut we’ll get a walk in to stretch our legs and get some rest for the main objective, Orizaba’s 18,400’ summit.
The group is doing well and surprised how fast the trip has gone.
RMI Guide Mike King
On The Map
February 20, 2019
Posted by: Mike King, Dustin Wittmier
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mexico
Elevation: 17,340'
This is Mike, we
topped out on Ixtaccihuatl around 7:50 am with a stiff wind for the entire climb. The air temperature was warm and we had a beautiful full moon. The combination of moon light and wind made for a crystal clear climb and amazing sunrise. We are in our descent now and will check in once we are back down at the bus.
RMI Guide Mike King
On The Map
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“ “When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself.” -Tecumseh”- Kirk Ludwig
Posted by: Jillian Ludwig on 5/28/2019 at 3:36 pm
Sending all you guys clear weather thoughts and big hugs! Hope you’re all doing well! And as far as a pull up contest goes… my money is on JT. Also… give JT a big smooch on the cheek for me, JM! Happy climbing to all!
Posted by: Maddy Emmer on 5/27/2019 at 9:54 pm
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