Entries By mike haugen
June 20, 2014
Posted by: Mike Haugen
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 14,200'
June 20, 2014 - 8:29 pm PT
We woke up to snowing and blowing again this morning. We pushed our wake up/ departure time back a couple of hours and the weather cleared up nicely for us. Although leaving early is a bit colder, it keeps us off the glacier when it heats up and it gets us into camp early. We arrived at
14,200' camp around 11:45 this morning and got the pick of the litter for already dug out camps. Since many of the other teams that were stacked up because of the weather headed up to 17k today, camps with big snow walls were in abundance. With a little bit of prep we got a great camp set up. We just finished some tortellini with salmon...roughing it. Thanks
RMI, the food has been great on this trip!
RMI Guide Mike Haugen and Team "The Ocho"
On The Map
June 18, 2014
Posted by: Mike Haugen
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 11,200'
June 18, 2014 - 8:20 pm PT
We woke up around three to clear skies and no wind. We couldn't resist this opening to cache gear up higher. We were traveling so well this morning that we decided to carry all the way up to
McKinley's 14,000' camp. It was such a nice day up there that we spent around an hour and a half catching up with the
Tyler Jones' and
Jake Beren's teams. It looks like there should be good weather for a couple of days?? Cross your fingers for all of us!
The plan for tomorrow is to move our camp up to 14,000'. We are hoping for more of the same weather we had today.
RMI Guide Mike Haugen and Team "The Ocho"
On The Map
June 17, 2014
Posted by: Mike Haugen
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 11,200'
June 17, 2014 - 7:14 pm PT
Once again the weather turned nasty overnight. We woke up to howling winds, snow, and low visibility. We waited until later in the morning and the weather began to get better. We decided to do our back carry since the weather was just good enough to travel. We made great time getting back down to our cache at 10,000'. We dug up our cache and were reunited with much of the food and gear that we will not be using until higher up on the mountain. As we were headed back up to camp, the skies cleared somewhat and the weather was downright pleasant the rest of the day.
Our plan for tomorrow is to cache much of the same food and gear up
towards 14,000'. This will take some of the weight off from our move day and help us acclimatize to higher altitudes.
Climb high and sleep low.
RMI Guide Mike Haugen and "The Ocho"
On The Map
June 16, 2014
Posted by: Mike Haugen
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 11,200'
June 16, 2014 - 8:03 pm PT
We arrived at our
11,000' camp in the late afternoon today. Our plan was to leave early this morning to head up here, but the weather was pretty terrible. White out conditions and strong winds kept us in the tent all morning. Just after noon, the weather started to get a bit better and we got word that the conditions were better higher up. We heard a couple of planes that take people on scenic tours overhead, so our suspicions of clear skies above were confirmed. We packed up our camp in record time and headed uphill. The conditions grew steadily better the higher we went and the traveling was actually pleasant.
We arrived in camp way earlier than we predicted as our team has been very steady and strong as we travel up the mountain. We built a storm fortified camp and are just finishing up a well earned meal.
Our plan for tomorrow is to do a back carry. This means that we will go back down to dig up our 10,000' cache and bring those supplies up to our new camp. We will hopefully have the weather to complete this task early so that we can rest up for our days at higher altitudes.
RMI Guide Mike Haugen and RMI Team "The Ocho"
On The Map
June 15, 2014
Posted by: Mike Haugen
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 7,300'
June 14, 2014 - 10:21 pm PT
Our intentions to get up early and head to 10,000' to cache some gear were thwarted by high winds and blowing snow. Every time we woke up to check the weather it seemed to be worse. By 10:30 this morning we were about to concede to Mother Nature and call it a weather day when the winds began to die and the sun started to peak through the clouds. We hopped into action and got our gear ready for a trip up higher.
We worked most of the rest of the day to haul our packs and sleds up
Ski Hill and beyond. We gained around 2,300' with heavy loads, dug a hole, threw in some gear, buried it, and headed down hill for our camp and quesadillas. Time for some sleep so we can get up early and head up to 9,600' to make a new camp.
RMI Guide Mike Haugen and Team "The Ocho"
On The Map
June 13, 2014
Posted by: Mike Haugen
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 7,800'
June 13, 2014 - 8:22 pm PT
With an early start, we headed out from Basecamp to
Camp 1 at 7,700ft. We left camp at six this morning and traveled down the southeast fork of the Kahiltna Glacier. The beginning portion is called Heartbreak Hill since it is downhill from Basecamp. This same hill is a heartbreaking uphill climb upon return to Basecamp after the climb. We made very good time as we joined the main Kahiltna Glacier and headed towards camp. Although it is not a big elevation gain day, it is a steady rise from the base of Heartbreak to Camp 1.
We arrived in camp around 10:30 this morning and got ourselves dug in since the weather has been pretty touchy this season. Our plan, if the weather allows, is to carry some of our gear up towards Kahiltna Pass around 10,000 ft. We carried our entire load today (100lb+ per person). Now it is time to start caching gear up higher to make our travels more efficient and to help us with our acclimatization process. Good night!
RMI Guide Billy Nugent and Team "The Ocho"
On The Map
June 12, 2014
Posted by: Mike Haugen
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 7,300'
June 12, 2014 - 9:02 pm PT
RMI Team Haugen is at Kahiltna Basecamp. We departed just before 9:00 am from Talkeetna as the weather was clearing and
Denali was looming in the distance.
We have taken the day to organize our gear and get a plan together to tackle the lower glacier. Basecamp is in good shape with all of the new snowfall and we are excited to head out towards Camp 1 at 7,800' on the Kahiltna Glacier. We plan on leaving basecamp very early since it did get pretty warm during midday today.
The adventure begins!
RMI Guide Mike Haugen
On The Map
June 12, 2014
Posted by: Mike Haugen
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 7,200'
June 12, 2014 9:20am PT
It looks like we got lucky with the weather and found ourselves a day to fly! The mountain is visible from
Talkeetna which seems like it is a rarity this season. All systems go!
RMI Guide
Mike Haugen & Team
RMI Guides
Mike Haugen and
Solveig Waterfall and their Four Day Summit Climb Team reached the top of Mt. Rainier early this morning. The team reported clear and beautiful weather with light winds of about 10 mph. The team has started their descent and will be back at
RMI Basecamp this Afternoon.
Congratulations to Today's Team!
August 4, 2013
Posted by: Mike Haugen
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
RMI Guide Mike Haugen led his team to the
Mt. Rainier summit this morning! The team topped out just after 7:00 a.m. in perfect weather conditions. After spending some time enjoying the breathtaking views, they began their descent back to Camp Muir. We look forward to seeing the team back in Ashford this afternoon.
Congratulations to today's summit climbers!
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Great progress!! Hope the weather continues to give you windows of opportunity.
Posted by: Ron on 6/21/2014 at 6:42 am
Getting close. Good luck guys!
Posted by: Brigitte on 6/21/2014 at 6:15 am
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