Entries By jack delaney
Posted by: Andy Bond, Jack Delaney, Jess Wedel, Kiira Antenucci, Evan Sather
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 10,080'
There we were, finished up with our day of training, enjoying the amenities of the Gombu Hut. A screeching howl ripped across Camp Muir - the wind was here. We spent the rest of the evening discussing altitude illness and taking bets on the high score for strongest gust. Ends up we were all wrong, so so wrong. The darkness fell and our winds averaged 70mph with gusts in the 90mph. Things were knocking, shelters were rocking, and we hunkered down. This morning we awoke to thick solid ice rime covering the surface of our world. We affixed Everest style hand lines to the bathroom. Full battle gear mandatory. Today we will practice the most important mountain skill, entertaining ourselves while the storm rages.
RMI Guide Jack Delaney and the Muir Seminar signing off, till tomorrow...
Posted by: Avery Parrinello, Jack Delaney
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Seminar
Elevation: 4,500'
Sunday, May 15, 2022 - 10:19 pm PT
We waited for the sun to rise this morning before packing up camp and heading back to our cache. We cooked burgers for lunch while repacking our sleds for the long haul back out of the Ruth Gorge. After some difficult hours of travel we arrived at the Mountain House airstrip. We made a quick camp and enjoyed our last evening in the gorge. All is looking well to fly out tomorrow morning.
Posted by: Avery Parrinello, Jack Delaney
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Seminar
Saturday, May 14, 2022 - 10:21 pm PT
Today was full of highs and lows, ups and downs, success and failures, proud moments and embarrassing ones. It started with warm sunshine hitting our camp by 7am, and we soon after headed up towards 747 Pass. After some glacial navigation and steep climbs we crested the saddle. We quickly gained the west ridge of Mt. Dickey and began ascending upwards. After a couple hundred feet it became apparent that the snow pack had changed dramatically. After seeing some red flags and investigating further, it was concluded that we shouldn’t continue. Considering the terrain and remoteness of the climb meant we had little margin for error and the unstable conditions pushed us past our safety margin. The entire team was disappointed but only momentarily as we all decided the summit was not worth it and the view from up high was down right spectacular. We had a safe and enjoyable descent back to camp where we ate snacks, told stories and laughed a great deal. Tomorrow we shall start migrating back to the airstrip for our departure on Monday.
Posted by: Avery Parrinello, Jack Delaney
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Alaska Seminar
We awoke to a chilly morning and more clear skies. After enjoying blueberry pancakes we geared up in camp for a dry run through of crevasse rescue. After nailing the flat ground rescue we roped up and headed towards the saddle between Mt. Dickey and Barrill. We headed into the maze of lateral crevasses looking for one that would be ideal for practicing our new skills and trying out some ice climbing. We ended up finding a bottomless abyss surrounded by a beautiful cathedral of ice formations. We finished up climbing just as clouds rolled in a snow began to drift down.
A hearty meal of andouille sausages was had, some stories were swapped and then it was off to bed.
Tomorrow we plan to move camp to 747 pass to begin our summit cycle up Mt. Dickey!
Posted by: Avery Parrinello, Jack Delaney
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Seminar
Wednesday, May 11, 2022 - 9:56 pm PT
We awoke to another blue bird day in the amazing Ruth Gorge. The morning was spent enjoying a leisurely breakfast while waiting for the sun to hit camp. Once the sun had warmed us up from the evenings cold, we geared up and set out to do some exploring and training. We headed off across the glacier until we reached the eastern edge of the Ruth Glacier. After picking our way through the jumbled labyrinth of the broken edge of the glacier, we ascended a moraine and refreshed our mountaineering skills and learned a few new ones. Lunch was had with beautiful views of the 5,000 foot granite east face of Mt. Dickey. Then we meandered back to camp, practiced anchors, devoured some bacon cheese burgers and relaxed for the evening. Tomorrow we will combine all our technical skills acquired so far and learn crevasse rescue using a real live crevasse!
Posted by: Avery Parrinello, Jack Delaney
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Seminar
Elevation: 4,500'
Tuesday, May 10, 2022 - 9:00 pm PT
Greetings from the Ruth Gorge!
This morning we woke to beautiful weather and knew our time had come to fly into the Alaska range. After we landed on the glacier at the Sheldon mountain house we packed, roped up and headed down into the Ruth gorge. We walked down the valley glacier towards camp with endless granite walls on either side. We set our base camp for the trip and enjoyed splendid views with dinner. Getting some well earned rest tonight!
Posted by: Avery Parrinello, Jack Delaney
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Seminar
Elevation: 348'
We spent the day on the airstrip with high hopes of flying out in the afternoon. While waiting we took advantage of the free time to start practicing technical skills. After brushing up on knots and anchors we learned how to ascend a rope with the anticipation of ascending out of a crevasse on the Ruth Glacier. Unfortunately the weather never broke today. However, with the pilots optimistic about tomorrow morning, we loaded up all our gear on a plane hoping to fly out first thing tomorrow!
RMI Guide Avery Parrinello
Posted by: Avery Parrinello, Jack Delaney
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Seminar
Hello everyone and welcome to the first blog post from the best trip RMI offers, the Ruth Glacier Seminar!
Yesterday the team flew into Anchorage accompanied by beautiful skies and amazing views of five different mountain ranges! After gathering up at the airport we hopped in the shuttle and drove to Talkeetna, got some food and called it an early night since we were all travel weary.
Today was spent organizing and double checking all our gear so that the next nine days in the Great Gorge would go as smoothly as possible. What didn't go smoothly was the weather, we were informed midday that there was a persistent cloud layer down low on the Ruth Glacier. Our chance of flying in was unlikely and as late afternoon turned to evening, we sadly had to postpone our flying in. We are hoping to wake up tomorrow with better weather and fly on to the glacier early in the morning!
Cheers,
RMI Guides Jack Delaney, Avery Parinello and the team.
Posted by: Eric Frank, Mike King, Jack Delaney, James Bealer, Abby Westling
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
After a week of unexpected park closures and a wonderful spring storm, our first Muir seminar of the season has concluded. Despite the less than stellar weather conditions, the team was able to shift gears and make the most of their time on the mountain. Climbers learned important skills like route planning, glaciology, snow sciences and spent several days practicing and honing their crevasse rescue skills.
Congratulations team – we hope you enjoyed your time on the mountain!
Posted by: Eric Frank, Mike King, James Bealer, Jack Delaney, Abby Westling
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
On Monday, the Expedition Skills Seminar - Muir was foiled from getting into the National Park by a large Spring snow storm. We spent the day learning and practicing technical skills like rope ascension and ice climbing. The team then learned about route planning, glaciology, and snow science. Hopes are high that the team can reach Paradise today.
Hi, did this group reach the summit??
Posted by: John Swartz on 4/16/2022 at 10:50 am
Thank you for this blog. I look forward to peeking in on the training. Michelle—Mikayla’s Mom
Posted by: Michelle DeMers on 5/13/2022 at 6:12 pm
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