Entries from Denali
July 7, 2021
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Dominic Cifelli, Matt McEttrick
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14, 200'
Tuesday, July 6, 2021 - 9:30 pm PT
The winds trailed off during the night -at our level, at least- but we got steady snow for most of the day. We sat in place at 14,200 ft. With the continued poor forecast, we are now just looking for a reasonable break in the storms to start moving downward. While it is a tough thing to give up our summit dreams for 2021, it is at least something of an easy call… the mountain simply has not given us an opening. We are still in an amazingly beautiful place, which we remember each time the clouds thin. And we have still got plenty of mountain climbing -albeit of the downward variety- to do before we’re done.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team
July 6, 2021
Posted by: Mike Walter, Nikki Champion, Ben Luedtke
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 14,000'
Tuesday, July 6, 2021 - 1:00 pm PT
There's not much new to report today. We're still at 14,000' Camp, waiting for an opportunity to head downhill to the airstrip. Unfortunately we're also still in a snow globe. Apparently it's totally socked in all the way to Talkeetna, with rain in town, so all of the planes are grounded a well. We've got plenty of food and fuel, and we're warm and dry in our camp. The forecast is grim, but we're not desperate, and we'll patiently await a change in the weather.
July 6, 2021
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Dominic Cifelli, Matt McEttrick
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 14,000'
Monday, July 5, 2021 - 9:50 pm PT
Score one for the weathermen. They weren’t kidding about this storm. It is real. Came in during the night and by morning it was snowing and blowing and we couldn’t see much. There wasn’t any question of moving camp up to 17,000 ft. In fact, we retreated somewhat. Just after breakfast, RMI Guides Dominic and Matt geared up for the toughest of missions. They trudged out into the teeth of the storm to climb up to retrieve our food cache on the West Buttress. Yes, we were proud to have just placed it there two days ago, but now we can’t afford to be separated from those supplies should avalanche conditions set up in the coming days… which seems likely. The guys had hard going, breaking trail in rapidly accumulating snow. At the 16,000 ft ridge crest they were dealing with winds easily in the 50 mph range, the kind that sound like jet engines even from way down here at 14k. We had plenty strong winds in camp, but of course we were in shelter and comfy, warm and dry. Dom and Matt grabbed the cache and bolted safely back to camp in a total of four very difficult hours. But their work significantly eased our ability to meet our new primary goal: riding out the storm.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On the edge of my seat awaiting your next update. Stay safe, all!
Posted by: Susie Lambert on 7/7/2021 at 3:59 am
Kudos to Dom and Matt for their sprint to recover the cache on the West Buttress!
Hope that the storm abates and progress continues toward 17K.
Joe McEttrick
Posted by: Joseph P McEttrick on 7/6/2021 at 9:44 am
July 5, 2021
Posted by: Mike Walter, Nikki Champion, Ben Luedtke
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 14,000'
Sunday, July 4, 2021 - 10:09 pm PT
The weather has not been cooperating with us lately, and the forecast doesn't look good either. Today was the best day in the forecast period and there were still strong winds up high and a huge lenticular cloud on the summit all day. We took advantage of the "best day" to climb up to 16,400' and retrieve our cache; there's a good chance that we would not be able to retrieve it over the next few days. Tomorrow is day 19 of our trip, and our time is running out. With no potential summit day in the foreseeable future we will likely start our descent tomorrow morning. The weather will determine our descent strategy and timing.
Hello to all and special one to Daryl, prayers to all for a one day out of there without any unstable stuff. Tomorrow maybe only 2 or 3 cm of snow, am following you all safely to the bottom. Stop the snow dance.
Posted by: Pat Everett on 7/7/2021 at 10:17 am
July 5, 2021
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Dominic Cifelli, Matt McEttrick
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 14,000'
Sunday, July 4, 2021 - 9:47 pm PT
Our team took a holiday today! We slept in and breakfasted slowly as the sun washed over camp at 9:30AM. As predicted, conditions at 14,000 were calm today while winds appeared to work over the summit. We enjoyed our rest but it was a bit of a tough day for morale. A number of the remaining teams on the mountain are in the process of quitting and going down without the summit. The forecasts are calling for a progression of storms to roll through in the coming week. We’re hoping the forecasts are wrong… but clouds are building up again this evening. It was already going to be tough to see the fireworks with twentyfour hour daylight.
Happy Independence Day from the highest mountain in the land.
Best Regards,
July 4, 2021
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Dominic Cifelli, Matt McEttrick
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 14,200'
Saturday, July 3, 2021 - 9:15 pm PT
There was still a big cloud cap on Denali this morning, but at 6AM the winds didn’t seem too bad. There were clouds in every other direction as well, but we were mostly looking up at the West Buttress as we ate breakfast and pondered a carry. It seemed worth a shot. We pulled the trigger and left camp just after 8 AM. It was colder this morning than it had been… not extremely cold, but colder than we’ve yet experienced on the trip. Our tracks -and anyone else’s- from yesterday were gone, so we had the added challenge of trail breaking in a few inches of new snow. Even so, we made steady progress upward. But the cloud cap made steady progress downward, so we were bound to come together. We were in murk and light but cold winds by the base of the fixed ropes. Which all made for a cold intro to climbing the steep, icy rope section. Thankfully, the winds were blowing from behind us and so we stepped into much needed calm at our destination, which was just perfectly in the lee and sheltered by the crest of the West Buttress. It was wonderful to hit our 16,200 ft target, but the clouds hid the grand views. We quickly cached supplies and geared up for a descent facing into the cool wind. A careful descent got us to 14,200 ft camp just as the sun came out there at 2:30 PM. The afternoon and evening were calm and easy with occasional snow showers. The storm is definitely easing, but of course they are predicting that another will follow. We’ll rest tomorrow in any case.
Happy Fourth of July, Hahn team!
Did you bring a few fireworks?
Marion & I hope your weather conditions cooperate.
Marion and Joe McEttrick
Posted by: Joseph P McEttrick on 7/4/2021 at 7:47 am
July 3, 2021
Posted by: Mike Walter, Nikki Champion, Ben Luedtke
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Denali
Elevation: 14,000'
Saturday, July 3, 2021 - 1:04 pm PT
We are stationary once again, waiting for any sign in the weather forecast that would indicate a potential good-weather window to move up to high camp and get in place for a summit bid. Today is overcast above us with light wind in camp, but we can still hear the wind up high. It's hard to complain about R & R time, but we're certainly ready for some weather that's more conducive for climbing.
We will check in again soon.
RMI Guide Mike Walter & Team
How are you d ? We miss you ❤️
You kin,
The Arnolds
Posted by: Richard Arnold on 7/4/2021 at 6:32 pm
July 2, 2021
Posted by: Mike Walter, Nikki Champion, Ben Luedtke
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Denali
Elevation: 14,200'
Friday, July 2, 2021 - 1:16 pm PT
Just as forecasted, a storm has settled in on Denali. At 14K Camp it is snowing with some moderate gusts of wind and very little visibility. Up above us on the mountain we can hear the winds crashing over the West Buttress like waves in the ocean.
We're protected and safe, though, with a well-built camp. After a hash brown, egg, and cheese scramble for breakfast, we're just relaxing in our tents or in the cook tent, reading, napping, and sharing conversations, a thin piece of nylon the difference between comfort and suffering.
This storm is forecasted to last into tomorrow, and we're in no hurry to stick our noses in it. Hopefully we'll get some nicer weather in its wake.
Go go Aaron!! Keep on goiiiiiiiing. Love, Em
Posted by: Emilee on 7/2/2021 at 2:33 pm
July 2, 2021
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Dominic Cifelli, Matt McEttrick
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Denali
Elevation: 14,200'
Thursday, July 1, 2021 - 10:06 pm PT
Today was a simple one. We got up at 6 AM, ate breakfast and put on our spikes for a short walk down to the cache at 13,500 ft. The team loved the views of Mts Foraker and Hunter. The Tordrillo Mountains were clearly visible to the South. Ravens hadn’t even attempted to break into our well-buried cache. We had it out and distributed for carrying in minutes. Then we walked slowly back uphill with full packs, reaching camp by 10:30 AM. Rest and rehydration was in order as we got out of the strong sun and into our tents. A storm was gradually forming, first with winds up high on Denali, then with a steadily lowering cloud cap. This didn’t prevent us from conducting a brief review of the climbing techniques we mean to employ on the fixed-rope section between 15,000 and 16,000 ft tomorrow when we carry high.
Best Regards,
July 1, 2021
Posted by: Mike Walter, Nikki Champion, Ben Luedtke
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Denali
Elevation: 14,000'
Thursday, July 1, 2021 - 3:07 pm PT
We enjoyed a long, restful night of sleep at 14,000' Camp, with (relatively) warm temperatures. The agenda for today includes drying out boots in the sun, charging batteries with solar panels, resting, reading, and eating.
It's sunny and warm here in camp, but there's a nasty lenticular cloud on the summit, indicating high winds aloft. The latest weather forecast is calling for a storm affecting the mountain an lasting into Saturday. We're all set to weather the weather. And our hope is to get a good, three day window in which to have a summit bid. We'll be in touch again tomorrow with the latest. Now back to reading...
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Get down safe, team! Tell Matt it’s 107 at home, so he won’t have to worry about being cold. First beer back is on me.
Posted by: Amanda Heidt on 7/8/2021 at 9:27 pm
Thinking of the team all the way from New Jersey. Have a safe and uneventful descent. Staying strong Dom!
Posted by: Art Cifelli on 7/8/2021 at 6:55 pm
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