Entries By mike king
June 18, 2018
Posted by: Mike King, JT Schmitt, Ben Ammon
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 14,000'
Monday, June 18, 2018 - 1:27 PM PT
Listening to the wind run down the
West Buttress sounds like a never ending wave crashing against a rocky shore. The snow is drifting 3-4 feet in places thanks to the 30 mph wind gusts. This is an actual weather day, the previous four have just been a warm up. The forecast is for more of the same. We continue to hang out in our tents and later today there is going to be a food swap so the team can get some different snack food choices.
RMI Guide Mike King
On The Map
June 17, 2018
Posted by: Mike King, JT Schmitt, Ben Ammon
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 14,200'
Sunday, June 17th - 5:53 pm PT
Happy Father's Day to all the Dads following along. The storm broke by mid day with views of the wind blown
West Buttress. The Team spent some time walking around camp and getting to know some of the other groups at 14K Camp. We've been eating good, getting plenty of sleep and are all eagerly awaiting a window to climb to 17K Camp. The forecast is 5-6 mores days of high winds above and snow down here in Genet Basin. Books are being swapped and audio books Airdropped. That's all from 14 for now.
RMI Guide Mike King
On The Map
June 16, 2018
Posted by: Mike King, JT Schmitt, Ben Ammon
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 14,200'
Saturday, June 16, 2018 - 2:22 PM PT
We had a foot of snow with enough wind to drift upwards of 3 feet in most places. We spent the morning relocating our posh due to being buried and partially collapsed. The team is putting the finishing touches on a toilet cave so they can see a man about a horse without getting a spin drift bidet in the process. Other then maintaining camp we'll eat, nap, shovel and repeat until the storm passes. Moral is still good and we are hopeful that a clearing will arrive early next week. The wind loaded slopes will pose an avalanche hazard so we'll need a few days minimum to settle the slopes leading to the fixed lines. That's all from
14 Camp.
RMI Guide Mike King
On The Map
June 15, 2018
Posted by: Mike King, JT Schmitt, Ben Ammon
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 14,200'
Friday, June 15, 2018 - 5:50 PM PT
Today was a prime lesson in the Three Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf. We got some comments and stares yesterday while building 7 foot walls around our
Camp with such blue skies and warm temps. This morning we got even more remarks from people as we continued to build. By 4 pm the winds had picked up to 30+ mph gusts and the Pigs who had built their homes from straw were in full scramble mode while our Pigs rested in their tents surrounded by snow bricks. We practiced some skills for climbing the fixed lines, they gets us higher on the West Buttress and will hang out while Denali does what Denali wants to. Currently it's demanding that we, "respect it's authority".
RMI Guide Mike King
On The Map
June 14, 2018
Posted by: Mike King, JT Schmitt, Ben Ammon
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 14,000'
Thursday, June 14, 2018 - 7:42 PM PT
After yesterday's grueling day the team slept in until the sun hit our tents, 9ish. We had a slow start with salmon and cream cheese bagels and coffee. The goal for today was to build walls around our tents and get our kitchen/dining tent dug out and reinforced. The walls are built by digging through the loose snow into the firm layers below. Then we take snow saws and begin to quarry large blocks to be the foundational row. Each successive layer gets smaller so the wall isn't top heavy. The walls help keep wind from destroying our tents. The team rallied through their wall building then helped the guides finish reinforcing the kitchen tent or Posh as we call it. The Posh is a five sided tent without a floor. We dig a hole in the snow and have benches for people to sit and cooking counters for the guides. Out of the wind and sun we enjoy our meals, today's dinner is hand rolled chicken burritos. With the menacing forecast on the horizon we will put the finishing touches on camp and hunker down for the remnants of a tropical cyclone that is headed for Alaska. People are happy for the sunshine and tired from the 'light exercise' of camp craft. This helps us acclimate in preparation for heading to
17,000' Camp, High Camp, for our cache day and ultimately our summit day when the weather and mountain tell us it's time to go up. Until then we will be at 14,000' continuing to get comfortable being uncomfortable and focusing on the tasks that our in our control and leaving the conditions that our out of our control to Denali.
Thanks for following along.
RMI Guide Mike King
On The Map
June 14, 2018
Posted by: Mike King, JT Schmitt, Ben Ammon
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 14,000'
Wednesday, June 13, 2018 - 10:53 PM PT
With a forecast that hasn't been stellar, the guides woke at 2:30 AM only to see strong winds above. We continued to check for high winds until 6 am, needing to make a decision on whether to move camp or burn another weather day, we opted to pack up. Hoping for the sun to calm the wind we started out at 9 am through boot high snow, calf high snow, knee high snow and you guessed it thigh high snow. We made good time without any congestion on the route, but it was not an easy day. Once we picked up our cache at 12,500' we slogged up towards Windy Corner. Packs were heavy, sleds didn't help and the loose drifted in snow made for a tired team. We got chased around
Windy Corner by a storm then promptly walked into a basin where the wind had stopped and we were quickly to hot. Today's lesson was, "learn to be comfortable, being uncomfortable". Freeze or fry is all you can expect up here, ideal doesn't exist. We will take a well deserved rest day tomorrow and maybe for the next week if the projected Pineapple Express weather front dumps 9 feet of snow.
Thanks for following along.
RMI Guide Mike King
On The Map
June 12, 2018
Posted by: Mike King, JT Schmitt, Ben Ammon
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 11,000'
Tuesday, June 12, 2018 - 5:32 PM PT
We'd already sent in the dispatch yesterday and then skies cleared up and we enjoyed a sunny evening. Today however, we woke to grey skies up above and clouds pouring over
Kahiltna Pass. The teams in camp all got a slow roll to see who would break trail up Motorcycle Hill. This led to a bottleneck and a slow pace. After an hour the clouds had descended and snow was blowing. Our goal today was a cache around Windy Corner, but due to the volume of climbers, new snow and low visibility we opted for a 12,500' cache. We are back at Camp at 11,000' hoping to get a chance to move up to 14,000' Camp in the next few days.
RMI Guide Mike King
On The Map
June 11, 2018
Posted by: Mike King, JT Schmitt, Ben Ammon
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 11,000'
Monday, June 11, 2018 - 5:35 PM PT
Not much to report from
11,000' Camp. Today we woke to snow, after breakfast we were shoveling snow and about every two hours since there has been more snow to shovel. The one caveat is that the wind is light. The Team has been working on "out chilling the storm" as a long time RMI guide once put it. We are hopeful that the weather begins clearing tomorrow so we can put a cache in striking distance of 14 Camp. Everyone is healthy and warm.
RMI Guide Mike King
On The Map
June 10, 2018
Posted by: Mike King, JT Schmitt, Ben Ammon
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 11,200'
Sunday, June 10, 2018 - 3:08 pm PT
Clouds and snow moved in last night just prior to dinner. We had the chance to see our 2 RMI Teams who had been on the summit Friday and get some route info. The snow continued through out the night with minimal accumulation. When we woke, there were faint views of the surrounding peaks and ridges. After breakfast we roped up and walked down to our cache at 9700' and dug up our food and supplies. There has been a low pressure system moving in from the North and being near the demarcation line was quite stunning. As we turned the corner onto the
Kahiltna Glacier, we could see clouds rolling over Kahiltna Pass and Kahiltna Dome while the view South was blue skies and calm weather. Soon we were engulfed in the clouds and light snow for the walk back to 11,000' Camp. Now we are back in our tents listening to snow fall and enjoying the warmth of the sun trying to cook through the clouds. The Team is doing well, we are hopeful that the winds stay calm so we can carry around Windy Corner or even into Fourteen Camp tomorrow.
RMI Guide Mike King
On The Map
June 9, 2018
Posted by: Mike King, Ben Ammon
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 11,000'
Saturday, June 9, 2018 - 5:36 PM PT
Day 4 had us up early and breaking down camp. The surrounding area at 2:30 AM with no wind seems like it's perpetually 9:00 PM. We hauled our camp and personal gear to
11,000' Camp over 6.5 hours and the team did great. Some people have sore feet and some have sore hips, those real pressure points a constant reminder of what it's like to do hard work in the mountains.
Our new camp is nestled in a basin that is surrounded by large glacial features and the backdrop is Motorcycle Hill and the Father and Sons Wall. Tomorrow we will go back to 9,700' to retrieve our cached food and fuel and then rest the remainder of the day.
Weather continues to be great and the forecast inaccurate so when they forecast a clear day we'll probably be battening down the hatches. Until then I am hoping for a forecast of snow that never a arrives and winds that don't materialize. So much in life we can't control, this team is doing a great job of focusing on the things they can control.
That's all from 11,000' on Denali.
RMI Guide Mike King
On The Map
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Praying the weather eases up.. I can only try to imagine what its like… You guys are amazing! Hang in there! Sending special love to JT.
Posted by: Wendy Emmer on 6/20/2018 at 6:43 am
Doing our clear skies weather dance for y’all!
We are rooting for you and keeping tabs everyday!! A big thank you to Mike for the updates.
Lissy Yeager
Posted by: Elisabeth Yeager on 6/20/2018 at 4:51 am
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