Entries By jack delaney

Monday, June 5, 2023 - 7:13 pm PT

Denali Team Assemble!

Everyone has made it to Alaska with our bags in tow. After brief introductions we loaded up the shuttle and took off for Talkeetna. The day was beautiful with clear skies and warm temps. After an hour we did a quick pit stop at the grocery store in Wasilla for last minute supplies, mostly beer and cookie dough. Another hour of driving and we arrived in the quaint town of Talkeetna. Unloading the dozens of duffels and supplies really put into perspective the sheer scale of preparing for an expedition of this size. We then relaxed for the evening, had a wonderful dinner and enjoyed the midnight sun. 

Cheerio,

RMI Guides Jack, Andy, Joey and the team

The Four-Day climbs led by Eric Frank and Jack Delaney reach the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Lead Guide Eric Frank reported a gorgeous day and some of the best weather he's had in recent years.

The teams were starting their descent this morning around 9:30AM PT and will be back at Rainier Basecamp this afternoon. Nice work!

Our first Kautz seminar called in from the top of Mt. Rainier this morning! RMI guide Joe Hoch reported a sunny day despite the cold, windy weather surrounding them.

The team is on their descent to camp tonight and will return to Basecamp tomorrow afternoon. 

Congrats climbers!

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

Alaska certainly had a theme for the team this year and it was snow. We did not awake to clear skies, but instead 4 inches of fresh snow and more coming down! Our hopes were dashed for a flight off the glacier first thing in the morning. The team spirits remained high as we spent the day talking about life and the fragility of horses all while devouring any and all bacon that was left. Eventually the skies got a little lighter, then a little blue even and before we knew it - it was a beautiful sunny afternoon in the Alaska Range. After another few hours of hurry up and wait, a big red Otter buzzed into our life to whisk us back to civilization. Out of mountain boots, into showers and one final meal at Denali Brewing and our trip is complete. It was a great trip, with far more fun and stories than fit in this blog, until next time...

RMI Guides Jack Delaney, Mike Bennett and The Team

Thursday, May 11, 2023 - 12:01 AM PT

Sorry for the delay of game blogoneers! Yesterday was so jammed packed and busy with doing nothing that I forgot to blog. We awoke at 6am with high hopes of starting our summit day but instead when we poked our heads outside it looked like we were inside of a marshmallow. The lighting was so flat that up was indistinguishable from down. Suffice it to say, those are not ideal conditions for going uphill and assessing unknown avalanche terrain from the bottom up. So we stayed put and waited, and waited, and waited… until around 1pm we got sunshine for a whole 20 minutes! Then back into the clouds.

The team had high spirits and we enjoyed our weather day as best we could with movies, podcasts, music and books. Today was a new day! The skies were clear and we had a long way to go ahead of us. We packed up camp and descended from 747 Pass in great time compared to what it took us to come up it. Clouds started to pour over from the next valley and soon we had an overcast sky above us. We made it back to our cache we had left behind two days prior and had a nice, leisurely lunch. Then we reshuffled all our gear to make use of the sleds again and started tromping up glacier. A vicious headwind and snow hampered our progress but only slightly as the team was strong and motived to make it back to the airstrip. After a grueling climb of the final glacial hill, we were back where we started. What seems like a life time was only a week ago. The team expertly and quickly assembled camp, downed a tasty meal of garlic siracha bacon Mac and cheese, and promptly fell asleep. A well deserved rest after a long and arduous day. Assuming the clouds clear by morning, we’ll be back in Talkeetna tomorrow!

Cheers,

RMI Guides Jack, Mike and the team

The team started the day with a simple, quick breakfast before disassembling camp and loading packs for our climb. We stripped all excess gear and built a cache that was buried and marked. We departed the empty camp around 10am and began our slow march toward 747 Pass. The snowpack remained thick and made for a slow progression as Jack and Mike swapped leads breaking trail. We crested the ridge around 5 pm under partly cloudy skies accompanied by a strong breeze coming through the gap. Camp was rapidly assembled and the team took refuge in their tents, relaxing and waiting for better weather. Dinner was simple and quick and the team relaxed the rest of the evening, preparing for our morning summit push.

Wish us luck!

RMI Guides Mike, Jack and the team.

Sunday, May 7, 2023, 10:01 pm PT

Be very quiet…we’re hunting for crevasses!

Today we took our skills out into the wild, to test ourselves against the Ruth Glacier. No we didn’t walk around until someone fell in, we instead wandered through the maze of crevasses looking for the perfect one to safely lower someone into and haul them out of. The intricacies and difficulties of crevasse rescue don’t fully translate practicing on flat ground. Our biggest challenge was finding a crevasse that wasn’t drifted full of snow from the last storm and subsequent winds. After a lot of weaving and winding through the broken edge of the Ruth we finally found one that was a little more open than the rest. We sent RMI guide Mike Bennet in as our guinea pig to see if the snow floor could be collapsed and our crevasse deepened. Surprisingly the snow floor was deep and solid, so we made due with the 25 feet of snow wall we had available. The team performed admirably and even dialed in a second crevasse rescue system known as the “Drop C”. By midafternoon the sky was blue and the sun was hot and the team had completed training. We spent the rest of the afternoon lounging and organizing 

for our move to high camp tomorrow!

Beunos noches,

RMI Guides Jack, Mike and the team

Saturday, May 6, 2023 - 10:07 pm PT

The team awoke to find a cloud formation had snuck into the valley during the night, leaving wet, overcast, and flurry like conditions. We gathered for coffee and some morning pancakes, then retreated to our tents to read and watch movies for the afternoon while we waited out the weather. The sky slowly broke and the precip let up enough for the team to work some skills training into the afternoon. We knocked out a quick refresher on arrest techniques and then a comprehensive crevasse rescue. The team took to it quick, running some drills around camp and dialing in their systems. We wrapped up the day with a nice dinner and some relaxing talk. Morale remains high and the team is stoked for the upcoming days of the expedition!

All the best,

RMI Guides Mike, Jack and the team.

Hello all –

The team awoke to find improving weather and a newfound hopefulness to escape the ever-shrinking Talkeetna. After a walk to the local coffee shop the team began their standby at K2 Aviation where they waited for the green light for clear enough cloud cover to depart. At around 3pm, the signal was given and in a mad flurry the plane was loaded, and the expedition was a go! The team enjoyed a scenic flight into the freshly snow coated Alaska range with nearly clear and sunny skies. Once on the glacier, the team was quickly left alone to divide gear, load sleds, and embark down the valley. Deep snow made for slow travel as the team broke the trail through a few feet of fresh Alaskan powder. After a few hours, the team broke down for camp, probing a safe spot on the glacier and settling in. Tents were quickly pitched, and dinner was thrown together. The team enjoyed a clear and scenic backdrop before heading to bed.

All the best,

RMI Guides Mike Bennett, Jack Delaney and the Ruth crew!