Entries By robby young
We're hunkered down in camp today as a strong storm is producing snow and wind over
Denali. We can hear the winds howling a few thousand feet above us, sounding like waves crashing on a rocky shore. Here at camp it is windy but not nearly that extreme. Winds here are gusting in 20 mph range, which is not too bad at all. We have big walls built to protect our camp, so our tents are just barely shaking. We expect this storm to persist through tomorrow and hopefully we'll have better weather in its wake with which to make a summit push.
Our fingers are crossed!
RMI Guide Mike Walter & Team
Tuesday May 23, 2017 3:32pm
We got a little snow overnight, and it's relatively pleasant outside today. The summit is still wearing a lenticular cap today and major storm with snow and extreme wind is forecast to hit us tomorrow. We've fortified camp and we're ready for what it brings. Our hope is that in its wake we will have a shot at the
summit.
We'll let you know how it plays out.
RMI Guide Mike Walter & Team
May 22, 2017
We're just checking in from
14,000' Camp again. We're all doing well here, hopefully waiting for a decent weather window in order to try to go for the top. We had some snow last night and today, and winds were strong up above us. It looks like a very strong storm is set to move in here in a couple days, bringing a lot of snow and extreme winds. We're hoping for better weather in its wake.
In preparation of the next storm we spent more time today reinforcing our walls. We should be all set to weather the storm.
We'll keep you posted.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
May 21, 2017
We had another chilly day at
14 Camp as the the sun never poked out from the overcast sky. We spent a several of hours reinforcing the snow walls surround our tents in anticipation of a significant upcoming storm. We're planning to hunker down, weather the storm, and hope to have decent weather for a summit push on the flip side. Time will tell...
As we were reinforcing our camp, we were joined by the RMI Denali team led by Pete Van Deventer as they moved into 14 Camp. They're busy building camp and adjusting to the thin air up here as I write this.
We'll keep you in the loop with how the weather treats us.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
...Happy anniversary Kelly!
On The Map
May 20, 2017
We spent today building more snow walls for our camp, and trying to stay warm. Temps stayed cold today as our camp in
Genet Basin was in the clouds and snow most of the day. The morning dawned clear though, save for another lenticular cloud on Denali's summit, a not-so-subtle hint of the strong winds above.
Our team is hanging in there, but we sure would like to see a change in this weather. We'll keep you in the loop.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
May 19, 2017
Once again we fired up the stoves early in the bitter cold of morning in Genet Basin. Another large lenticular built over the summit and the
West Buttress, this time accompanied by snow. We decided to pump the breaks once again and kept watching the weather as the sun began to crest the West Rib. But despite our best hopes, the weather never improved enough for us to break camp and move higher. Instead, we spent the day building snow walls to protect our camp against the the strong winds that are forecast in a couple of days.
Right now our plan is to sit tight through this next weather system and hope for a window of good weather early next week. With strong winds forecasted over the next few days, an bitter cold temps (lows of -38F and highs of -25 to -30), we aren't even entertaining moving to high camp tomorrow. Hopefully our time to move up will come soon.
RMI Guide Mike Walter & Team
Well, we woke early once again with optimism that we would be moving up to our high camp today. As we bundled up and crawled out of the tent, we were greeted by big, nasty lenticular clouds (UFO-looking, disk-like clouds that are indicative of high winds aloft) over the big three peaks in the Alaska Range: Hunter, Foraker, and our objective,
Denali.
We continued with our plan and fired up the stoves and made breakfast. Then we returned to our tents to stay warm as we kept an eye on the winds above. In the end, they didn't dissipate and we weren't able to move camp today.
Although we are anxious to move up and have a shot at the summit, the flip side of taking another day at 14k is that we continue to acclimate and get stronger for our eventual summit push. Hopefully we will have that opportunity soon. We'll keep you up to date with our progress.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
We arose early this morning and fired up the stoves with the intention of packing up camp and moving up to 17,200'. At breakfast we kept an eye on the conditions on the upper mountain. The wind was blowing plumes of snow off of the upper mountain and the
Buttress and we decided to pump the breaks. With a good forecast ahead of us, and plenty of food and fuel, we decided not to push it by moving up into stormy weather. We decided to wait it out down here at 14k where we are comfortable and are getting stronger.
Our team will remain on standby and hopefully tomorrow's weather will allow us to move up to high camp. Currently it is snowing lightly here at camp and we are resting, hydrating, and eating. We'll be ready when the opportunity presents itself.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
May 16, 2017
We had another productive day yesterday, as we put in a cache of food and fuel all the way up to our high camp at 17,200'.
We crawled out of the sleeping bags early and braved a bitterly cold morning (-20F) to get a head start of the day. We climbed in the shade for our first hour and enjoyed the first rays of sunlight at our first break. Everyone climbed smoothly up the fixed ropes up to 16,200'. The next 1,000' was climbing the ridge top on the
West Buttress with thousands of feet of relief on either side of us. We spent about an hour at 17,200', digging a cache hole and breathing the rare air.
It was a long, hard day and everyone did well. Now, we are taking a much deserved rest day. We are now in position to move to high camp and take a shot at the summit. The weather will dictate the next move, but right now the forecast looks good for a summit bid in the next few days. We'll keep you posted.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
May 14, 2017
Happy Mother's Day!
We celebrated Mother's Day by taking a rest/acclimatization day at 14k. The weather was beautiful and we were able to get some much needed rest and dry out all of our gear. We took a leisurely stroll out to the
Edge of the World to take on the magnificent views of the Kahiltna Glacier nearly 7000' below us.
We also took time for continued training with fixed rope travel and running belays, which we will likely employ tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow, we plan to carry a load of supplies up high on the West Buttress so we will be ready to move to high camp soon. We'll keep you posted.
Again, happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there. Especially: Jeanne, Liz, Mimi, Kelly, Cynthia, Diane, Jarah, Victoria, Lea, Judy, Gale, Roberta, Pam, Joanne, Martina, Meme, Ann, Nancy, Debbie, & Renee.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
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Like the warmth of the sun
And the light of the day,
May the luck of the Irish
Shine bright on your way
Best wishes for Saturday’s push to the summit, Love Mom
Posted by: Cynthia Chitwood on 5/25/2017 at 7:34 pm
Well, the water heater has been replaced, the leaking toilet has been repaired, the weather has cooled off so no need for air conditioners or screens, the lawn is freshly mowed, and the sun is shining for the first time in days. Hope that portends good weather on Denali as well. Thinking of all of you hunkering down in your tents. Hope everyone has good reading material!
Nancy
Posted by: Nancy Hines on 5/25/2017 at 5:23 pm
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