Entries By tyler jones
June 14, 2014
Posted by: Tyler Jones
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali Mexico
Elevation: 14,200'
June 14, 2014 - 4:00 pm PT
It's another rest/weather day here at 14k camp, and we've decided to combat a few hours of down time with a fun dispatch game called add-on! We're going to pass the phone around and let folks contribute their own voice to the blog today...have fun guessing who wrote what!
So there I was tied up to
Denali....eating cheez its, looking for makin bacon. Wondering how long before I will be done piggin out.
Just like our bacon pieces we were fryin.
Hard days are made easier by good company, good food, great views and most of all encouraging blog comments...and Jerry.. Yes, the comments are great and looking forward to those promised margaritas at Amado's.. And the mountain diet will defo put magic into the armadillo hoppyum combo. The coffee could be better too bad there is no Berres brothers coffee.
I would prefer Jim Beam but whatever, I guess better coffee would work for now. I think Charlie Brown ran past my tent. I guess I will go back to the posh and listen to Jimmy Buffett and wait for my cheese burger in paradise.
And there you have it. Some of these may be references to very personal items - we decided it was probably better not to ask too many questions. Time keeps on slippin' by here in advanced base camp, but spirits are high and team No Troubles is ready when the mountain gives us a chance. Hasta pronto!
RMI Guides
Garrett Stevens,
Tyler Jones,
Bryan Hendrick and the crew
On The Map
June 13, 2014
Posted by: Tyler Jones
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 14,200'
June 13, 2014 3:21pm PT
Denali is a mountain of many moods. Yesterday, as we carried our cache to our highest point yet, she gave us a taste of moderate winds and blowing snow, showing a little irritation. Today, she seems more benign, with light winds, high clouds, and intermittent snow here in camp. The tents are warm and comforting, and we're all enjoying a well earned rest session.
To that end, we started the morning with plenty of hot coffee, endless strips of crispy, delicious bacon, and the
Tyler Jones specialty of blueberry pancakes that would give the best griddle cooks a serious run for their money. The perfectly browned hot cakes, the secrets of which TJ learned from his grandpa, just kept coming, and we all ate our fill until we couldn't stuff another one down.
The remainder of the day will be dedicated to recuperation, re-hydration, and maximum relaxation. In fact, the main goal is to move as little as possible and save our energy for the climbing to come. Until then, we'll be standing by, waiting for the best window for our summit push. Thanks for all the positive vibes and keep'em coming!
Cheers for now, check back tomorrow...
Team No Troubles
June 12, 2014
Posted by: Tyler Jones
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 14,200'
June 12, 2014 - 9:47 pm PT
Climbing in Alaska, so close to the Arctic circle is never an easy task. Formidable and imposing features surround the landscape we travel through. Climbing, especially on
"The High One" presents the added challenge of high winds, low temperatures, and high altitude.
Today, we awoke to one of these elements; low temperatures. It makes for a unique challenge when faced with the need to begin the days work. Forcing ones self to leave the warm cocoon you have been comfortably nestled in all night. We began our day with a warm dose of oatmeal and hot drinks, and soon took off towards the fixed lines that lay above our current camp at 14,000 feet, in Genet Basin. As an expedition this was our first time above our current camp.
As we struck out from camp we welcomed the warmth of the sun on our backs. After climbing to the base of the fixed lines, we began our steepest climbing of the day. Travel was smooth and the reality of the climbing set in. From the top of the fixed lines we ran the ridge of the
West Buttress and made efficient work to the base of "The Thumb," at 16,700'. We created a cache of food and some personal items needed for high camp and our summit attempt. From our cache we retraced our steps back to camp. The team made quick work of dinner and now are fast asleep.
For now we wait and rest, ready to launch. All we need is a window and bang! We're off. Keep it locked in...
RMI Guide Tyler Jones
On The Map
June 11, 2014
Posted by: Tyler Jones
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 14,200'
June 11, 2014 3:14pm PT
Greetings from Team No Troubles,
Sitting here for another rest day at 14,200'. Cold temperatures and steady wind have been the story of the day, and we made the right decision to stand by for the time being.
Last night saw the mercury plummet to an ambient temp of -17F, which is much more common up here in April than it is in June. Combine that temp with winds in camp of about 15mph and you have a recipe for immediate freezing of any exposed skin, as the wind chill hovers somewhere between -45 and -50F. Brrrrr shiver!
So instead of our planned carry to the top of the fixed lines, we'll stay in camp today, on a steady orbit around our posh and sleeping tents. The team is on guard against any uninvited trespassing into our bathroom, too, as we've had more than one inquiry from other folks about using our lovely on-mountain comfort station.
Keep sending warm thoughts, and hopefully warmer weather, our way! Keep the comments coming too, we love to hear from y'all. From a frosty
14K camp.
RMI Guides Bryan, Tyler, Garrett and the No Troubles Crew
June 10, 2014
Posted by: Tyler Jones
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 14,200'
Tuesday, June 10, 2014 - 4:10 PT
The first real
weather day for us this trip. The overnight temps dropped to -7F not including the wind chill. Our early morning plans to move a few items for caching up to our high camp were foiled by the high winds -- 35mph winds at 17,200' and negative temps! Not to mention the squalls of crystalline snow flakes flying in all directions.
The sun peered out from the flanks of the west rib shedding enough solar rays to warm the tents. With the brim of a ball cap we scraped the tent walls free of the frost of our night's breathing. Lighting the stoves in our kitchen tent soon brought the smells of coffee, bacon, and cream cheese with bagels.
This motivated our spirits to make our camp a fortress. We spent two hours building large block walls and remodeling the bathroom -- which, I might add, could be the best one currently on the mountain featuring a snow free enclosed taj ma-stall! Not to mention the fact that
RMI Guide Bryan Hendrick took on a project to expand and improve an igloo just outside camp...soon we'll have a monstrous underground lair for additional resting and wind protection. Sick!
We are now taking a rest, drying out and warming up after a great session. The wall building serves as great acclimatization through light exercise, team building, and making camp even better for this time we're spending in this harsh Arctic environment.
We will keep our hopes high for lighter winds, less snow, and a bit of warmth.
RMI Guides Tyler Jones, Garrett Stevens, Bryan Hendrick, and the crew!
June 10, 2014
Posted by: Tyler Jones
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 14,200'
Today was a pretty chill day for team No Troubles here at 14,200'. We took the concept of a rest day very seriously, and slept in until the sun hit the tents late this morning. Breakfast was a delicious combination of retort eggs/bacon/sausage/gravy meals and freshly fried hash browns with cheese. The hot coffee was the perfect complement to our leisurely meal, and we waddled out of the posh sufficiently stuffed for the morning.
After a couple of hours of relaxation, we took some time to refresh our skills with the ascenders for the fixed lines, as well as practice for the running belays we'll encounter up on the
West Buttress. The afternoon's weather turned a little more arctic, and we crawled into our tents after dinner to escape the frigid temps (-5F) and the blowing snow.
For now, we're hoping for a break tomorrow morning so we can get our cache up onto the buttress. But as we all know, the weather has the ultimate say up here, so we'll make a game time decision in the morning. Thinking warm thoughts from 14 camp, ta ta for now!
RMI Guides Garrett, Tyler, Bryan, and the team
On The Map
June 9, 2014
Posted by: Tyler Jones
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 14,200'
June 8, 2014 - 5:50 pm
This morning we woke to warmer and windless air. The team packed our camp, had quick coffee with oatmeal and a granola bar. We then packed tents away, and organized snowshoes along with most of the sleds, some trash and few extra things we could spare to leave behind in a cache for us to pick up on our decent.
The travel was as calm and nice as we could ask for with light clouds passing over head. If we could complain about our weather we would just say we were too hot at times. This was a welcome change to the chilly morning we climbed in for our carry yesterday. Our crew made great time, even adding a rest stop on a completely windless
Windy Corner.
Once we arrived at camp our days work was far from over as the snow began to fall. We dug tent platforms, built another priceless kitchen posh house and prepped camp for a storm that is expected over the next few days. We are now getting some rest and fluffing our feathers. Soon will have a deluxe meal of quesadillas with chicken, fresh veggies, beans and rice to fill our bellies and help us sleep warm in our new camp in the Genet Basin at 14,200 ft. Tomorrow we have earned a full rest day of eating, drinking and acclimating.
Will be in touch soon!
Cheers,
RMI Guides Tyler, Garrett, Bryan and the "No Troubles" crew!
On The Map
June 7, 2014
Posted by: Tyler Jones
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 11,200'
June 7, 2014 - 6:49 pm PT
...and the players are ready! Hello from our cloudy camp at 11,000. The team had a productive morning rising to a cold clear day! We started the day with a classic mountain breakfast of instant grits with a side of pop tarts. We know it's not likely many would approve but for us it hit the spot and was the fuel we needed on a breezy, cold morning lugging our cache loads all the way to our next
camp at 14,200 ft.
This was our first day of more technical climbing - we've been referring to the mountain behind us as the long heavy approach. The rope teams climbed with crampons and ice axes up Motorcycle Hill around to the famous Squirrel Hill. Lore has it that one early expedition had a furry stowaway on board that jumped from a member's pack at a break on this stretch of mountain, resulting in the long-standing name "Squirrel Hill."
After this section we made great time up to and around Windy Corner, which gave us a taste of some icy breezes as we crested over into the sun. The remaining stretch of glacier went quickly, and we were dropping our kit into yet another snow hole before noon. The group climbed flawlessly as we were back to our tents at 11,200' before we knew it. Now we're resting and preparing for tomorrow's move up to our fourth camp,the highest so far. Don't touch that dial, we'll be back with an update tomorrow!
RMI Guides Garrett, Tyler, Bryan, and the team
On The Map
June 6, 2014
Posted by: Tyler Jones
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 11,200'
June 6, 2014 - 8:37 pm PT
Today we woke to a grand flurry of climbers packing and moving up to the fourteen thousand camp. For us though, it was a day of rest and we crawled out of our sleeping bags after the sun warmed the air in the tents. We ate another great breakfast of bagels, cream cheese, and bacon, firing our spirits for a day of organizing our gear for tomorrow's carry up to the
14,200ft camp. We'll once again be separated from a few of our goodie bags and the gear we will use on the upper mountain.
We had a great review of advanced crampon technique, ice axe use, and general efficiency skills needed for our continued success at altitude as we move higher up. The real climbing starts from here, and we'll don our crampons and ice axe for climbing steeper, more technical terrain and entering the more challenging altitudes.
With this day of rest, light activity and acclimatization our carry should be no sweat for our crew. Send some more nice weather our way and we'll let you know when our cache has landed at its next destination!
Cheers,
RMI Guides Tyler, Garrett, Bryan, and the crew
On The Map
June 5, 2014
Posted by: Tyler Jones
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 11,200'
Thursday, June 5, 2014 5:23 PM PDT
It's always a little hard to leave the
food you love in a cold dark hole on the glacier...wondering when you can get back there, whether it's going to snow so much that you can't find it again, or if the industrious ravens will dig into it. Fortunately for us, none of the above were issues today, and we completed our cache retrieval without incident.
We started the day with snow showers and overcast skies, and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast of bacon, egg and cheese quesadillas with coffee and cocoa (clearly, we're not starving). The food was just the fuel we needed for our two hour mission - we fired downhill, dug up the group gear and food we cached two days ago, and packed up our sleds for the trek back to camp.
The snow continued to fall as we pulled into camp, within 15 minutes we had all the gear stowed and were tucked into our tents, as warm and dry as we can hope to be. Now it's time for a little lunch indulgence with the treats we brought, continued hydration, and resting from the output over the last few days.
Tomorrow's plan is a little up in the air - we'll see if the weather cooperates for a carry or if we take a rest day here. Keep it locked in for more updates from the team!
RMI Guides Garrett Stevens, Tyler Jones, and Bryan Hendrick
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I just wanted to say “Happy Father’s Day”. We woke to pouring rain this AM. (It rained all night last night too.) It cleared up about 1:00 and was beautiful here! We’re hoping that the mountain is “nice” to you guys so that you can complete your climb soon! Best wishes, and stay safe.
Love Ronda, Al, Meeka and Max (Did I mention one of your furry friends (no names mentioned) tried to eat your pillow? I think I saved it (Most of it). Haha (I think they miss you)
Posted by: Ronda Kinneberg on 6/15/2014 at 7:16 pm
Of course I knew what David wrote, all about his favorite things. I’m sure all of those places are missing Dave as we are too! The pictures are absolutely beautiful, it’s hard to imagine how breathtaking it is in person. Wishing you all a continued safe and enjoyable trip! We can’t wait to hear all about it when you get back, Dave! Let’s go have some Amado’s margaritas! Much love- Laura and Will
Posted by: Laura and Will Johnson on 6/15/2014 at 4:27 pm
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