Entries By robby young
May 26, 2014
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Robby Young
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 14,000'
May 25, 2014 - 11:56 pm PT
We took full advantage of our
rest day today, eating a big brunch of egg, bacon, and veggie quesadillas (there is a recurring theme here involving our meals). The storm that was forecast for last night and today didn't materialize, so it was a great day for chatting in the posh, catching some sun, and catching up on journals and reading. Everyone's legs appreciated the recovery from yesterday's big effort.
The forecasts going forward are pretty scattered, and aren't really painting a clear picture, so at this point we're in standby mode, waiting for our weather window to present itself. We'll see when that happens, but until then, we are living really comfortably at 14 camp. We'll be in touch with more news tomorrow.
RMI Guides Pete, Robby, and Josh
On The Map
May 25, 2014
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Robby Young
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 14,000'
May 25, 2014 - 1:57 am PT
After several days of winds up high, and cold conditions that turned several teams around, we hit the jackpot today. We walked out of camp just as the sun hit, turning a pretty chilly morning balmy. We stopped just below the fixed lines to get ready, then headed up for our first run at them. Despite pretty blue and icy conditions, the climber traffic over the last couple days left some nice buckets for our feet scratched into the surface of the ice. Once above the lines, we headed out the
West Buttress proper, which offers some of the best climbing and views of the whole route. At the base if Washburn's Thumb, we set our cache of food and fuel, then turned back the Buttress to descend. We rolled into camp just in time for dinner and to catch the weather report. It sounds like we're going to have a proper snow storm tonight and tomorrow, with 1 to 2 feet forecast. With that news we spent some more time fortifying camp, then crawled into sleeping bags just as the snow started. We'll give you an update tomorrow and let you know how we fared.
RMI Guides Pete, Robby, and Josh
On The Map
May 24, 2014
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Robby Young, Josh Maggard
Categories: Denali
Elevation: 14,000'
May 23, 2014 - 10:19pm PT
We took today to
acclimate and let our legs recover from a couple of good days and heavy packs. A late wake up once the sun hit the tents led into breakfast, then major architectural planning and construction of a new kitchen/dining area. Our new digs are 10 feet below the snow surface, giving us ample headroom. After an afternoon siesta, we rigged and practiced for the fixed lines, that we hope to ascend for the first time tomorrow.
The plan is to try to get our high cache of gear in tomorrow, and hopefully the weather will cooperate. We'll check back in tomorrow, but send us wishes for fair weather.
RMI Guides Pete, Robby, Josh and Team
May 22, 2014
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Robby Young
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 14,000'
May 22, 2014 - 6:51 pm PT
We've been in and out of the clouds all day here at our 14,000' camp on
Mt. McKinley. Despite the clouds and requisite light snow, the solar is pumping, and it feels like we're in a greenhouse. We woke on the later side, giving the sun time to make it to us, and ate another big breakfast of hash browns, eggs, and bacon. Anything to get calories in. After a bit of camp tending, we set out for a quick jaunt to our cache at 13,500'. We retrieved all of our food and personal gear, then turned and headed back for camp. The afternoon was for relaxing, drying sleeping bags and clothes, wet wipe bathes, and general self care and rest. More than likely we'll be resting tomorrow and training for the fixed lines.
Thanks for reading,
RMI Guides Pete, Robby, and Josh
On The Map
May 22, 2014
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Robby Young
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 14,200'
May 22, 2014 - 1:55 am
We are
tucked in tight at 14,200'!
It was a beautiful, clear morning, so we crashed our camp along with a few other groups, cached our sleds and snowshoes (no one was sorry to leave them behind), and once more pointed our feet towards Motorcycle Hill. The going was a lot easier today with the trail that we put in yesterday having had a fair amount of traffic. We passed through a once more windless Windy Corner, and headed for 14,000' with everyone moving well under heavy packs. Mike Walter and team were at 14,000' to greet us, and made our move in easy, helping with water, tent platforms, and a kitchen. We definitely owe them a big thanks. We lose the sun a bit earlier here, and the extra three thousand feet definitely makes itself evident in the temperature. No one needed coaxing to crawl into the sleeping bags and call it a day.
We are psyched to finally be here, in position to set ourselves up for a summit bid. It's nice to check off another milestone too. We'll let you know what adventures tomorrow brings.
RMI Guides Pete, Robby, and Josh
On The Map
May 21, 2014 - 12:28am PT
After yesterday's blustery winds, snow, and ground blizzards, we woke up to silence. No shaking tents, no rumble from the ridge above, just a clear blue sky. Excited to move, we were the first team out of camp, cramponing up perfect styrofoam snow on Motorcycle and Squirrel Hill, then breaking trail through 5 or 6 inches of fluff on the Polo Field. The sun grew strong and bouncing off the fresh white snow, we were soon stripping layers. We cached 10 days worth of food and several gallons of fuel at
13,5k that we'll retrieve in a couple days after we move to 14 camp. It was a perfect day in the Alaska range, and everyone was excited to keep pushing forward. We were back in camp with several hours of sunshine left to dry sleeping bags and clothes. Hopefully tomorrow we 'll be packing up camp and making our way to 14.
We'll let you know how it goes.
RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer, Josh Maggard, Robby Young & Team
May 19, 2014
Posted by: Robby Young, Pete Van Deventer
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 11,000'
May 19, 2014 5:34 pm
The winds started to blow last night, and the temps dropped. The winds weren't steady, but periods of calm were punctuated by gusts that slapped and rattled the tents. All morning we watched huge plumes of snow stream off the
West Buttress, indicating steadier strong winds up high. Needless to say, it wasn't a day to head around Windy Corner. We spent the morning moving and fortifying our walls, as the wind has conveniently switched directions by 180 degrees. A long siesta in the afternoon should have everyone well rested and ready to go for a carry tomorrow. We're hoping hard for the weather to improve, to continue our progress, but the day of acclimatization can only help us at this point. Until then we are well dug in and will tuck in for a cozy night here at 11,000'. We'll be in touch tomorrow!
Hasta mañana,
RMI Guides Pete, Robby, and Josh
On The Map
May 18, 2014 10:57 pm PT
Today was a glorious day for a rest day. The sun was shining, and the winds stayed calm though we could tell they were blowing elsewhere. We spent the day watching clouds pour over the ridge of
Kahiltna dome, rolling down the backside and dissipating. It was beautiful to watch, and we were glad to be protected from the gusts. After a big breakfast of quesadillas, we sorted some food and gear for our carry past windy corner tomorrow. A quick review of cramponing and self arrest was as much activity as we needed this afternoon. We finished up the day with a big pasta meal and called an early night. We'll be heading uphill tomorrow to put in our 13,500' cache, which will set us up to move to 14,000' camp! The rest day was a great opportunity to recover from the last few days, and we'll be ready to go tomorrow!
All for now,
RMI Guides Pete, Robby, and Josh
On The Map
May 17, 11:50 pm PT
Despite the forecasts that we have been getting the last few days, we woke to sunny skies and calm conditions. Everybody was excited to get the move to
11k done. Now that we are here, the first part of the challenge of McKinley is wrapped up. From here on out, we'll be done with the sleds and snowshoes until we head back for the airstrip.
The move only took a few hours, but we spent several more hours building snow walls and digging in. Right around dinner time the clouds moved in and it started to snow, about an inch in the last two hours. It looks like we'll wake to several more in the morning. The weather dovetails well with our overall plan however; we've had three hard days with big loads and tomorrow is the perfect time for our first full rest day. Our plan is to eat a fat breakfast, read some books, practice cramponing, prepare for a carry to 13k, and then eat a big dinner. Everybody is psyched with our progress even more so with the prospect of a mellow day. We'll let you know how it goes!
RMI Guides
Pete Van Deventer,
Robby Young, and
Josh Maggard
Another beautiful and successful day. We woke this morning to sunny skies and a cool, fresh breeze blowing. We put away breakfast and coffee, and then packed camp. The first stretch up ski hill is a steady, consistent grind, and in many ways we were happy for the breeze. Several other teams were moving around us as well, so we were trading leads with a handful of them. One of the great parts of climbing
McKinley is meeting other climbers from all over the world. The camaraderie of the mountains is pretty special.
Once we reached our camp, we spent several hours setting up tents and building some burly snow walls. We aren't sure if the winds will ramp up as forecast, but we'll be ready if they do. We are going to play tomorrow by ear, but for now everyone is settled into tents with full bellies.
RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer, Robby Young, Josh Maggard
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Thanks for all the updates! Singing ‘here comes the sun’ - hoping it brings you good weather :)
Enjoy!!
Posted by: Mo on 5/26/2014 at 7:12 pm
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