Entries By mike walter
May 13, 2015, 10:49 pm
The weather today was a bit squirrelly, but we were able to make it back down to our cached gear at 9,600' and haul it back up to our camp at 11,200'. We're all doing well out here and sitting pretty on the mountain. Our next mission will be to take a cache of food and fuel up around Windy Corner at around 13,600'. We plan on tackling that tomorrow if the weather allows us. Today would have been too windy for a foray to higher altitudes.
We're all excited for the next stages of the climb, where we exchange snowshoes for crampons, and trekking poles for ice axes. We're also psyched at climbing steeper terrain and enjoying the ever ever impressive views.
That's the news from this end. We'll keep you up to date with our progress.
RMI Guide Mike Walter and team.
On The Map
May 12, 2015 11:00 pm PT
Hello everyone!
We tackled our third day of
Mt. McKinley climbing today, which brought us to camp at 11,200'.
The team did exceptionally well and we made great time, rolling into camp before it became uncomfortably hot on the glacier.
Once here we had a big task ahead of us, constructing tent platforms and a kitchen and bathroom. Thankfully we were able to make use of some old walls and platforms that only required minor adjustment to make them workable for our tents, saving us at least an hour of hard labor. The bathroom and kitchen required the most effort, but the team rotated through the shoveling and we now have a luxurious Posh House dining area which we enjoyed over a filling dinner of mac and cheese with bacon and broccoli.
We are all tucked in now, enjoying the last few minutes of sunlight in camp in the comfort of our sleeping bags, looking forward to a nice rest and short day tomorrow. Our plan is to sleep in a bit later than the last few mornings, and then return to our last camp to retrieve our remaining food.
We'll check in again tomorrow!
RMI Guide Solveig Waterfall and the team!
On The Map
May 11, 2015 9:10 pm PT
Greetings from the
Kahiltna Glacier! Our team is making steady progress, and we're currently at our camp at 9,600'. The weather has been beautiful since we were able to land on the glacier on Sunday. The climbing is strenuous, as always, as we carry heavy backpacks and pull full sleds. This morning we tackled "Ski Hill", our first real significant incline, followed by rolling glacial terrain until we reached camp. Camp is all set up and we are busy cooking dinner. We'll try to rack out early tonight for some well-earned rest. Tomorrow we plan to make a cache of equipment here, at our current camp, in order to lighten our expedition loads. Then the plan is to then move up to the 11,200' camp; we'll come back for the cached gear the following day. That's the plan at least. Our plans are always at the mercy of the weather in the mountains.
That's it for now. Everyone is healthy and in good spirits. We'll touch base again tomorrow, hopefully from 11k camp.
RMI Guide Mike Walter and the team
On The Map
May 11, 2015 12:51 am PT
Hi everyone!
We finally had a break in the weather and were able to fly on to the glacier this morning. After days of waiting in
Talkeetna, we were all eagerly anticipating our flight this morning. We took off just after 9 am, and once on the glacier we packed and organized our gear quickly in order to make the most of the day.
We are now snug in our tents at the base of Ski Hill (7800') after a long but satisfying day covering the relatively flat lower glacier.
Our group climbed strong, and tomorrow we're looking forward to moving camp farther uphill.
It's nearly midnight and we've all had a big day, so we're going to get some rest and we'll check in again tomorrow!
RMI Guide Solveig Waterfall and the team
On The Map
Well the weather gods have not changed their disposition yet, and we're still in
Talkeetna waiting for the weather to improve so that we can fly in to Base Camp on the Kahiltna Glacier.
In the mean time, we took advantage of ample free time to review anchors and crevasse rescue systems in the K2 Aviation hangar.
We'll keep you up to date...
RMI Guide Mike Walter
RMI's 2015
Denali climbing season has started. Our team is assembled in Talkeetna and is preparing for our expedition. Yesterday we started with our National Park Service orientation, and then spent the bulk of the day packing...double and triple checking every last detail of equipment for our trip.
Now that we are packed and ready, we are hoping to fly in to Base Camp on the Kahiltna Glacier today. We are about to head down to K2 Aviation to load out gear onto the single propeller airplanes that will fly us into the Alaska Range. We will keep you updated on our expedition's status.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
September 7, 2014
Posted by: Mike Walter, Tyler Reid
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Four Day Summit Climb teams led by
RMI Guides Mike Walter and Tyler Reid reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today. The teams enjoyed some time on the summit on what Tyler Reid described as a "beautiful day". They began their descent from the crater rim just before 8 am and will return to Camp Muir for a short break and then continue down to Paradise this afternoon.
Congratulations to today's
Summit Climbers!
Well, we're all safely out of the mountains after a great week of climbing and training on
Mount Shuksan's Sulphide glacier. Our climbing team gained proficiency moving in diverse terrain in the mountains, including crevassed glaciers, steep snow and ice, and 4th & 5th class rock. We also practiced lots of knots and hitches and crevasse rescue systems.
We packed a lot into the past week, and the weather was perfect throughout. Our team was strong and cohesive and we all reached the summit Mount Shuksan in good style. It was a pleasure to climb with everyone. Nice work team!
RMI Guide
Mike Walter
August 27, 2014
Posted by: Mike Walter
Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades
Elevation: 9,127'
Another excellent day on
Mount Shuksan in the North Cascades...this time we woke up before dawn and cramponed up the Sulphide Glacier to the base of the summit pyramid, where we ditched the crampons and ice axes and climbed 4th and 5th class rock for 800 vertical feet to the summit!
Our entire team reached the summit in good style. The weather was perfect so we hung out on the summit for over an hour before descending. We were back in camp around 2 p.m. for a round trip of a little over eight hours. The training over the past week really paid off and nobody struggled with the technical terrain at all. Congrats team!
RMI Guide
Mike Walter
8/26/14 8:30 pm PST
We had another great day of training today here on
Shuksan's Sulphide Glacier. We spent the bulk of the day ice climbing in a crevasse and practicing crevasse rescue with mechanical advantage systems.
There was barely a cloud in the sky all day, and the forecast looks similar for tomorrow. That's good news for us, as we're planning to make our summit attempt tomorrow. We'll let you know how it goes!
RMI Guide
Mike Walter
For Daddy to Be of a Princess…doctors appointment went well and she is growing and perfect! The boys are taking care of Mom.
Thinking of all of you at Camp 11,200 this 48 degree morning from Washington DC…I’m so happy for your progress up the mountain~
Thank you for all the updates…and allowing us to be a small part of this adventure your on. Proud of you and wishing you good weather…Keep moving on up!
Posted by: Dave and Melissa Quantock on 5/14/2015 at 2:28 am
For Eric and all you hockey fans at Camp 11,200’: Rangers just won 2-1 in OT! Stepan nets winner. Tampa Bay series starts on Sat. Keep that Stanley Cup “beard” growing, and keep on chugging Ricky et al! Dad/Alex
Posted by: Alex Alimanestianu on 5/13/2015 at 8:10 pm
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