Entries By dustin wittmier
June 16, 2023
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Dustin Wittmier, Michael Murray, Sam Marjerison
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 7,300'
Thursday, June 15, 2023 - 9:20 pm PT
We couldn't hang around Talkeetna long enough for breakfast this morning. Denali was calling and we heeded the call. We snacked as we were gearing up to fly. The planes took off at 9 AM and at about 9:45 we were in basecamp unloading. We built camp. It is pleasantly cool for mid June. We made it a training day. We watched airplanes and helicopters come and go as we reviewed glacier travel techniques. Tomorrow we're going climbing.
June 15, 2023
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Dustin Wittmier, Sam Marjerison, Michael Murray
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 348'
Thursday, June 15, 2023 - 7:38 am PT
Talkeetna was cloudy and sometimes rainy but our team used the day to get all set for a Denali expedition. We started with a team breakfast meeting and then moved out to the hangar on the Talkeetna airstrip for getting organized. Guides and climbers set to work organizing both group gear and personal equipment. Finishing touches were made to the 22 day food supply. We stood outside for a briefing from National Park Service rangers on safety and environmental procedures.
We were happy to watch our fellow climbers in Dominic Cifelli’s RMI team load up and take off for Kahiltna Base as the weather improved. Our day finished with a weigh-in and final division of the supplies into two piles for two airplanes. We met for dinner in town to relax and talk once more on strategy for the climb.
Best Regards
June 14, 2023
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Dustin Wittmier, Sam Marjerison, Michael Murray
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 348'
Tuesday, June 13, 2023 - 11:11 pm PT
All present and accounted for in Talkeetna, Alaska. Most of us came together in the Anchorage airport this afternoon. Some traveled today, others in the proceeding days. We joined forces for the van ride up to Talkeetna under overcast and sometimes rainy skies. We busted up the three hour drive with a pause in Wasilla to round out provisions. All of this got us in to Talkeetna by about 7 PM. We did an easy evening of pizza downtown and came back for a rest at the Swiss Alaska Inn. The real business of the expedition starts tomorrow morning.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Just keep climbing.
Posted by: Shannon on 6/16/2023 at 10:17 am
June 8, 2023
Posted by: Dustin Wittmier, Trevor Katz, Michael Murray
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Expedition Skills Seminar - Emmons June 4 - 9 stood on the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. RMI guide, Dustin Wittmier called from Camp Schurman to report their success. The team has spent the last few days making their way from camp to camp before their climb this morning. Along the way, the team enjoyed many training oppurtunities to prepare them for larger expeditions like Denali or Aconcagua.
The team will do some more ice climbing tomorrow morning before beginning their descent back to Basecamp in Ashford tomorrow afternoon.
Nice work!
Awesome Dustin!!!!
Posted by: Dave Kestel on 6/9/2023 at 4:05 am
May 30, 2023
Posted by: Dustin Wittmier, Ben Luedtke, Sam Marjerison, Charlie Harrison, Bailey Servais, Mitch Valaitis
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
RMI Guides Dustin Wittmier & Ben Luedtke led their Five Day Climb teams to the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Dustin reported broken clouds and light to moderate winds as the teams were ascending the Ingraham Direct early this morning. The teams enjoyed some time in the crater before beginning their descent. The climbers will return to Camp Muir for a short rest and to pack their gear before descending the remaining 4.5 miles to Paradise later today.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
Congratulations all! Excited to follow in your footsteps this weekend!
Posted by: Keith on 5/30/2023 at 4:27 pm
Congratulations to Devin and the team. Can’t wait to hear about the adventure!
Posted by: Karm on 5/30/2023 at 9:53 am
May 21, 2023
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Ben Luedtke, Dustin Wittmier, Lacie Smith, Nicole De Petris, Will Ambler
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Four Day Climb May 18 - 21 led by RMI Guides Dave Hahn and Ben Luedtke reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Dave reported broken clouds above with some sunshine coming through and warming the team as they started their descent from the crater rim. There is also a cloud deck below them at around 8,000' this morning. Once back at Camp Muir the teams will repack and take a quick break before continuing down to Paradise. We look forward to their return to Rainier BaseCamp later today.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
Congrats to the summiteers. Especially Vaughan and Zaid
Posted by: Paul Andrews on 5/21/2023 at 3:59 pm
May 18, 2023
Posted by: Dustin Wittmier, Jack Delaney, Sam Marjerison
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier and the Expedition Skills Seminar - Muir team put their training to the test and made it to the summit of Mt. Rainier today. Dustin reported calm, light winds and sunny skies as the team was walking out of the crater rim just after 8 am to begin their descent. The team will return to Camp Muir for their final night on the mountain. They reached Camp Muir on Monday and have spent the last several days working on alpine mountaineering skills. The team enjoyed time at Ingraham Flats working on their ice climbing and crevasse rescue skills. Tomorrow the group will pack up and descend to Paradise, completing their week of training on Mt. Rainier.
Congratulations to the Seminar team!
Wednesday, May 18, 2023 5:38 pm PDT
Hello world!
It's time for an update from the team up at Camp Muir. The cycle of sun in the morning and clouds / thunderstorms in afternoons haven't impacted our seminar in the slightest. We've been spending the days training and afternoons learning. Today is our last day of training before our summit attempt. We spent the morning ice climbing in a crevasse up at Ingraham flats, the guides even got in on the ice climbing fun! Our afternoon will be spent fine tuning our crevasse rescue skills and then heading to bed early to try to get some shut eye before our alpine start. Check back in tomorrow to hear about our summit attempt!
Cheers,
Dusty, Jack, Sam and The Team
May 2, 2023
Posted by: Andy Bond, Dustin Wittmier, Daniel May, Abby Westling, Ellison Boord, Sam Hoffman
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 10,080'
The Five Day Climb April 28 - 2 May led by RMI Guides Andy Bond and Dustin Wittmier are descending from Camp Muir this morning. The team made the most of their time on the mountain getting in a Climbing school to learn cramponing, rope travel and ice axe arrest techniques. They then ascended to Camp Muir, 10,080', where they spent two nights and were able to do additional training. Lightning near Camp Muir and high winds kept the team from making a summit attempt this morning. We look forward to seeing them back at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.
February 18, 2023
Posted by: Dustin Wittmier, Lauren Macklin
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mexico
Elevation: 18,491'
With bellies full of cheese from last night’s dinner, we powered our way through a midnight wakeup. The first few hours of the route take us through “The Labyrinth”, which would be an easy place to take a wrong turn. Fortunately, we have Allen (our local guide) with us to help us efficiently navigate. Through the Labyrinth and at the base of the glacier we donned crampons and make our way up the ever-steepening slopes of the Jamapa Glacier until finally topping out on the third highest peak in North America!
Congrats to all the climbers who summitted La Malinche, Iztaccíhuatl and Pico de Orizaba! We now just spend the night at Dr. Reyes’ soap factory museum before most of us head home tomorrow.
WOOOO congrats Anne and crew!! 3/3 summits, that’s amazing!
Posted by: Corey on 2/20/2023 at 3:55 am
Congratulations Dustin, Lindsay, Steve and Team! That is So Cool!!!
Farmer Dave
Posted by: Dave Kestel on 2/20/2023 at 3:26 am
February 17, 2023
Posted by: Dustin Wittmier, Lauren Macklin
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mexico
Elevation: 7,000'
This morning we head towards Pico de Orizaba, one of our main climbing objectives of the trip, relaxed and rested after two nights and a full day in Puebla.
Rest day activities were varied, as usual. Some intrepid folks made their way to Cholula, where you can view and hike up ancient Aztec pyramids. Others explored art exhibits in Puebla and while others just fully relaxed. RMI Guide Lauren Macklin and I found our way to a brand-new bouldering gym before enjoying afternoon lattes at my favorite coffee roaster in town.
The evening was capped with a nice dinner at El Mural de los Poblanos where we sampled some local mezcals, ate delicious traditional foods and shared our rest day stories with the group.
Puebla feels to me like the world's biggest little city and is the place to stay when in this region. There is a ton of history, great outdoor activities and it’s more laidback than Mexico City. We could easily spend the duration of this trip having a spa day in Puebla and drinking fancy wines at rooftop bars. But alas, we have a mountain to climb. On to Pico de Orizaba!
RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier and team
All the Best on Orizaba Dustin and Team!!!
Posted by: Dave Kestel on 2/17/2023 at 10:00 am
“It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” Mark Twain says to go slay this mountain already!
Posted by: Tam on 6/15/2023 at 3:17 pm
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