The Four Day Climbs led by RMI Guides Steve Gately and Nick Scott reached the summit of Mt. Rainier shortly before 9:00 AM. Steve reported 100% of the climbers reached the summit! Steve also reported perfect weather and a great climbing route. The teams will spend a little time on the summit celebrating before beginning their descent.
We look forward to seeing both teams in Ashford this afternoon.
Congratulations climbers!
The Expedition Skills Seminar - Kautz reached the summit of Mt. Rainier via the Kautz route today. The seminar team has spent this last week on the mountain training on snow and ice climbing techniques as well as crevasse rescue. They have enjoyed lectures from their guides, and demonstrations and practice in the techniques of American mountaineering. They are heading back to their camp where they will spend the night on the glacier before returning to RMI Basecamp tomorrow.
Congratulations to today's team!
The June 10 - 13 Four Day Climb teams led by RMI Guides Andy Bond and Steve Gately reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Andy reported light winds, sunshine and clear skies. The teams began their descent from the crater rim around 7:30 AM. Once back at Camp Muir they will repack and continue down to Paradise. Their program concludes at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
Saw the groups departing the other day. Excited they were successful! Hoping I’ll be one of those folks making the trek next year. Congrats on an amazing achievement!!
Posted by: Michelle on 6/14/2019 at 7:22 am
Andrew & Kyle. You made it!!! Hope you had a beautiful view!
Congrats!!!
Posted by: Barbara Nahmias on 6/13/2019 at 11:52 am
Well folks, a lot has happened over the last 48 hours and I'm sorry to have been keeping you waiting. June 1, we woke up to somewhat clearing skies at 14,000' Camp and decided to pack up and get as far downhill as we could. Aside from an interesting GPS guided tour through an area known as the "Polo Field" the weather held out and we made it all the way back to the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier where we began our trip. We arrived just before midnight and quickly set up our tents, had a quick dinner and went to sleep with dreams of flying out the next morning. Well those dreams came true. This morning we woke to the sound of camp bustling with life when clear skies and the sound of basecamp manager Lisa's voice booming through the early morning with warnings that we should start getting ready to fly off. A few hours later we were in the sky heading towards Talkeetna. The trip has finally come to an end. It's been a fantastic three weeks here in the great Alaska Range and its bittersweet to see it end. We'll meet up for one last team dinner tonight before going our separate ways tomorrow. Thanks to everyone for following along. It's been a wild ride!
RMI Guide Steve Gately
Friday, May 31, 2019 4:36 PM PT
With the forecast still calling for heavy snow we have opted to stay in the confines of our camp here a 14K. The team enjoyed a late morning breakfast and is now napping away the afternoon. Sunday is still looking like our first possible day to fly off the glacier with the weather only improving into Monday and Tuesday. The plan as of now will still be to launch downhill around midday tomorrow and travel all the way to the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna hopefully chasing improving weather down glacier and ultimately a flight out of here early Sunday morning. We'll see what hand we are dealt with tomorrow. The hope here is to avoid having to travel and set up camp in bad weather but rather time it just right that we walk straight into a plane. For the time being however, we rest and wait for our opportunity.
RMI Guide Steve Gately
Thursday, May 31, 2019 12:11 AM PT
The team is know all safely back down at 14 camp and tucked in for the evening.
Summit day was a long hard fought battle but everyone did fantastic. The morning of our summit attempt we woke up in early in an attempt to beat the crowds up our first obstacle, the "auto bahn". This section often takes a couple hours to complete without a break and is steep and exposed. The exposure of this terrain requires us to use a form of running protection that protects the team against a fall but is quite time consuming. The end of this hurdle puts you at Denali Pass and our first rays of welcome sunshine. From here steep rolling glacier takes us up and around a swirled white and black rock feature known as "zebra rocks". At the top of this feature we were faced with a gentle but cold 15 mph wind. The terrain mellows out quite a bit as we meander through open glacier past a prominent rock point known "arch deacons tower" and into the football field, a flat depression just before our final slope to the summit ridge. Once on the summit ridge a short but dramatic climb brings us to the summit. The team took a few moments to take pictures and celebrate the ascent before our attention was turned toward getting back home. All in all the trip took us 13 hours round trip, all at elevations above 17,000 ft. With the summit behind us we turn our focus now to trying to truly get back home.
Cloudy and snowy weather are abundant in the extended forecast which means chances of flying off anytime soon are nil. Tomorrow we'll check the weather in the morning and make decision to further descend, or to keep the luxury of our fortified camp here at 14, or opt for better weather. That's all for now, it's late again as I'm writing this and I'm in need of some serious rest! Thanks for following along everyone!
RMI Guide Steve Gately & Team
Thursday, May 30, 2019 - 12:56 AM PT
The team is all safely back at High Camp now. It was a long day for everyone and it's past midnight now and were finally killing the stoves for the evening. I'll try and put together a better picture of summit day tomorrow for everyone. Stay tuned!
RMI Guide Steve Gately
Wednesday, May 29, 2019 - 5:00 PM PT
Hey all this is the Denali Expedition with RMI Steve Gately. The team and I are on the summit! 100% of the team made it so everybody's up. Everybody's doing well. We had a wonderful morning- blue skies, warm weather. We picked up a little bit of wind towards the summit. We had to work for it at the end there. We're all here safe and sound. We'll give a shout via email to the blog when we are back safe and sound at [17K] Camp. That's all.
RMI Guide Steve Gately
RMI Guide Steve Gately calls in from the Denali summit!
Steve! I’m so proud and happy for you for making the summit! I’ll give you a call when you’re on the bottom so I can tell you about the light indoor rock climbing I’ve been doing. Can’t wait to hear all about it.
Tuesday, May 28, 2019 - 6:09 PM PT
We woke up early this morning. 5am to be exact. 14K Camp is full of eager climbers waiting, likely everybody else, for their shot at the summit. The problem with extended bad weather is that climbers stack up in the queue. Like a dam during spring runoff, eventually you have to open the flood gates to release the back up to prevent the dam from over flowing. Well, our theoretical opening of the flood gates manifests as a decent weather window for climbing. We braved the cold, got packed up, ate a quick breakfast and were on the move by 7:15am. Over two hours before the sun normally hits camp. About halfway up the fixed lines we started to receive a little filtered sun and fingers and toes began to finally thaw out. A quick glance back down the terrain we had just climbed confirmed our need for an early departure. The flood gates had opened. 50-75 people streamed out of camp in a solid single-file line. We felt pretty good about being so far ahead of the human onslaught. The West Buttress itself is easily the most aesthetic portion of the entire ascent. The buttress offers steep climbing, wild exposure and views of the Alaska Range and it's expansive blanket of tundra that unfolds to the East. The weather stayed quite pleasant for us as we ascended the ridge that would eventually lead us to our high camp at 17,000ft. Soon enough steep terrain and exposure led to the gentle slopes of the Upper Peters Glacier. We sauntered our way into camp. There is already a small village of erected tents hunkered down in a scoop of snow sculpted by the wind. We opted to travel a bit further and build camp where no one has yet. We've gotten quite efficient at the process and within a short time were all hunkered in warm sleeping bags as out of the elements. The weather at the moment is a bit cloudy with light snow showers and light winds. Not completely unpleasant but not perfect either. Tomorrow we will try and climb to the summit of Denali assuming that weather and conditions allow. The team is poised and ready, all we need now is to be allowed safe passage. We will wake up early again tomorrow morning, stick our heads out of the tent and hope we like what we see! Thanks for following along!
RMI Guide Steve Gately
Monday, May 27, 2019 - 6:30 PM PT
Today the team awoke to slightly calmer weather, finally allowing everyone to venture out of their tents. Camp received a good bit of new snow, and the wind organized the snow into orderly piles, just not necessarily in the most convenient locations. After everyone soaked up some morning sun, the team returned to their tents to rest for our upcoming move. If the weather cooperates, we will be pushing to 17,000' Camp tomorrow hoping for good summit conditions the following day.
RMI Guide Steve Gately
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Meghan so cool! All that preparation pays off. We can’t wait to hear all about it.
Posted by: Mark Pighini on 6/29/2019 at 7:07 am
YAH!!!!! So proud of you Meghan And your entire team…
Been on pins & needles, so happy to hear that you summited!
In Awe
Posted by: Lori Pighini on 6/28/2019 at 8:58 pm
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