Entries By eric frank
June 14, 2012
Posted by: Tyler Jones, Eric Frank
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 17,200'
This morning provided blue bird skies and little to no wind. Though the air was cold at around -5F, the team broke camp, dug a cache and loaded our packs for our summit push.
With Okita's team reaching the summit yesterday we once again shared the burden of equipment transportation by swapping some equipment to lighten the load. Okita's team saved some weight for their long descent to the bottom, and more importantly our load was lightened up to high camp. We are thankful for the established camp with wind walls and a ready to go kitchen. The stroke of luck rarely happens as teams do not often come up and down from high camp on the same day. As we have been saying throughout the entire trip "Patience pays" and today it most certainly did.
Water boils at a fairly low temperature at this elevation. In fact, you can drink a hot cup of your favorite flavor right out of the boiling pot - a wild first for many team members. A hot dinner and soup re-energized our spirits and warmed our souls.
The team is climbing strong and with a little more luck from the weather tomorrow we will make a push for the top of North America to
Denali/Mount McKinley's summit at 20,320'. Wish us well for our final push!
RMI Guide Tyler Jones
On The Map
June 12, 2012
Posted by: Tyler Jones, Eric Frank
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 14,200'
Last night dropped over a foot of new snow and the morning dumped close to six more inches. As we hide in the midday heat of the tents, the wind blows 50+mph in gusts. One minute it is calm, the next minute we brace against the walls of the tent as the wind tries to push them flat. After a few rounds of shoveling, we break for a toasted bagel breakfast, then more shoveling, building snow walls and hiding from the gusts. The sky has cleared as we watch enormous plumes blow off the
Buttress above us as well as enormous avalanches coming down from the upper slopes. Other climbers and our team our able to enjoy the show, knowing that we are a safe distance from the action. The snow currently continues to patter our tents. We are hopeful that better weather is coming on the horizon.
RMI Guide Tyler Jones
On The Map
June 11, 2012
Posted by: Tyler Jones, Eric Frank
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 14,200'
Today we awoke to 6 inches of new snow at 14k camp. We have continued to eat well. Today our breakfast consisted of egg, cheese and bacon burritos. Over the course of the morning the clouds dissipated and the wind calmed down a little. Eric and I decided to head up and move the cache we previously left at 16k, up to our
high camp. We also added an extra food bag and fuel can to our supplies up high.
With
Brent Okita and team up at high camp for the last several days, waiting for their window to summit, they offered a big helping hand. Thanks Brent, Leon, and Lindsay! Due to high winds in the morning, they volunteered to walk down from high camp and help
Eric and me carry our whole cache from 16k to 17k. We can not thank them enough for their help! Our efforts were somewhat tiering, but will allow the team to move more smoothly to 17k when weather allows. Rather than stopping at 16k and schlepping our cache and our full camp kit to 17k, now the team will be able to conserve energy by smoothly moving to 17k.
Upon our return to the team at 14k, we discovered that our third guide,
Logan, had rebuilt our snow kitchen and cooked up a nice dinner. What a pleasant surprise.
The crew is in high spirits and getting anxious to move to higher ground and make a summit attempt in the next few days. The ground work and logistics are in order. We just need a few nice days to execute our plan. We look forward to moving into more inhospitable environments and nearing the top of North America. Our careful planning has paid off and all our ducks are in a row. The team had a nice moral boost with an afternoon reading of all the positive vibes from the blog comments. Thank you all!
RMI Guide Tyler Jones
On The Map
June 11, 2012
Posted by: Eric Frank, Tyler Jones
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 14,200'
From 14k camp on
Denali's West Buttress, it is only a short walk to one of the best views in the entire range. The perch is called "The Edge of the World". The plateau on which camp sits falls away dramatically. Nearly 5,000 vertical feet below lies the infamous Valley of Death. This afternoon our team walked to the edge of the world and took turns getting belayed out to the edge to take in the view. This afternoon the valley floor was obstructed by clouds which would sporadically rise to engulf us, but several times we were able to glimpse parts of the wall thousands of feet below us.
The weather in camp has continued to be squirrelly. Last night we were buffeted by winds up to 50mph from various directions. Thankfully, we had already built a few snow walls to protect the tents, but the incessant flapping on nylon all night has convinced us to build more. The snow is falling fast now as we settle in for the night when we rise we will just see what the day brings.
RMI Guides
Tyler Jones,
Eric Frank and
Logan Randolph
On The Map
June 10, 2012
Posted by: Eric Frank, Tyler Jones
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 14,000'
This morning we were prepared for a day in camp as visibility was poor and the winds raged off the ridge of the
West Buttress. We enjoyed a long and delicious breakfast of eggs, bacon and three cheeses on a bagel accompanied by fresh coffee. Our meandering discussion spanned many topics and ended with a break in the snow and wind.
Ten minuets later we sprung into action, prepping our packs for a carry up onto the West Buttress proper to 16,200'. We dropped our food, fuel and other supplies for our summit push. We are now set for a move up to high camp in a few days or whenever we get a break in the winds and unstable weather.
With an evening arrival back at 14k camp, we plan to recover and rest in hopes of going upward soon.
RMI Guide Eric Frank
On The Map
June 1, 2012
Posted by: Tyler Jones, Eric Frank
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 7,800'
This morning we awoke to 6 to 8 inches of light fresh powder. We didn't allow this to stop our momentum. With calm winds and overcast skies we decided on a carry for today. We cached a portion of our gear at 10,000 feet with the intention of lightening our load when we move to 11,000 feet.
We are now back at our camp at 7,800 feet hiding from the sun, rehydrating and relaxing. For the past two days we have seen many climbing teams from all over the world. This trip of a lifetime is well underway and the team is climbing strong. As the winds pick up here at
Camp 1, we are headed out to tighten up our camp and build some wind walls. Cheers for the team.
RMI Guide Tyler Jones
On The Map
May 30, 2012
Posted by: Eric Frank, Tyler Jones
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 348'
Hello! It’s
Tyler,
Eric and
Logan checking in after a long day of work in Talkeetna.
Yesterday we had a sunny drive through the Alaskan scenery before arriving in Talkeetna in late evening. This completed a long day of travel from our various home bases to our soon to be new home on the “Great One”- Denali.
This morning the team met for breakfast at the Roadhouse Restaurant to officially start the program. After chatting about the day, we walked across the small town of Talkeetna to K2 Aviation. As planes took off and landed around us, the team spread out clothing and equipment in the airport hanger and consulted endless checklists. As we made our final gear selections, the hanger was buzzing with excitement.
After an afternoon break for pizza and salad, we all headed to the National Park Service headquarters for an orientation meeting. We chatted about the importance of keeping our impact low as we climb and live in the park for the next few weeks. After the orientation, we spent some time working on rigging sleds, setting up tents and building other skills.
At noon the hanger looked like a yard sale; clothing and gear scattered everywhere. By the time we left for dinner, all of our ducks were in a row. We now have duffels and packs neatly stacked in the front of the hanger. We are ready to go and eager to get on the glacier.
May 21, 2012
Posted by: Eric Frank
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 7,300'
The weather is forecasted to change around here in the following days but today was one of the hottest days we've had. Lenticular clouds continue to be impressive. We spent today playing inside crevasses and went ice climbing. Everyone had a blast.
The glaciers are an enormous amount of ice up here in
Alaska. Researchers currently on the glacier conducting some studies have found the depth of the Kahiltna Glacier to be about 500 meters deep. As we climbed on the walls of the crevasses peering down into the dark black hole beneath us, we felt small.
So long from the Kahiltna.
RMI Guide Jason Thompson
On The Map
May 21, 2012
Posted by: Eric Frank
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 9,500'
The objective for the day was Kahiltna Dome. We woke up early and quickly prepared. An hour's walk took us across the glacier to the first hill, and warm morning sun. Unfortunately several stretches into the climb we encountered challenging conditions and decided to head back to our camp at 9,500 ft. The team broke camp in an impressive hour and a half and then made the 9-mile trip back to
basecamp. Throughout the walk back, we saw lenticular clouds forming hanging over peaks in the area. Despite the sunny weather, they let us know that keeping our Gore-tex in the top of our packs was a good idea.
RMI Guide Jason Thompson
On The Map
May 19, 2012
Posted by: Eric Frank
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 9,600'
Hello all. We moved our camp up to about 9,600 ft. Temperatures were perfect for us during the walk. It just started to get hot as we pulled into camp. Everyone did great today. We built a fortress of a camp constructed with cohesive blocks of snow. We used them for walls around our camp to shield us from the wind.
Light snow began falling this afternoon but we are hoping to wake up to blue skies and stable weather for our climb on
Kahiltna Dome tomorrow.
That's all for now.
RMI Guide Jason Thompson
Keep it tight and enjoy the views!
We are proud of you! M&T
Posted by: sHARON on 6/15/2012 at 5:44 pm
Nice work Tyler, Larry and all - I hope by now you are savoring the summit experience!
The summit is for the ego - the journey is for the soul. I’m hoping your egos are at a high point - be safe and enjoy as you complete the journey!
Posted by: Tim Halls on 6/15/2012 at 12:50 pm
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