Entries from Alaska

Tuesday, July 1, 2025 - 2:53 am PT

We are back on flat ground.  After descending 10,000 feet in just over 19 hours, with 2 hours of “sleep” in the middle, we arrived at basecamp at 8:30 am, and our hearts leapt to see the red K2 planes bank sharply left and land at the lower landing field about 9 am. Seemingly landing on the lower landing area never occurs this late on the season (it’s good to know Dom is wrong sometimes, and that damned 20” of snow brought us some good luck).

As we descended through the snow and the rain, I thought how little we knew about what we were undertaking, as we begun our journey just 20 days ago.  Did we understand the physical challenge, the might of this great mountain, the real beauty of the Alaska range and the wild vistas and beauty we were about to experience, the hardships, the dangers, the nerve tingling emotion and anxiety of traversing the West Buttress?   Did we know our true physical and mental strength, whilst knowing how effectively useless and powerless we were on this extreme place?  Did we know that none of what we achieved could have been achieved without our three amazing guides - Dominic, Ben and Mike?  They are the true heroes of this journey. 

They have received passing words of praise from my team mates in the recent blogs. However, no words can describe their role, their effort, their workload, their expertise.  

If we carried 70 lbs in our backpacks, they carried over 100. If we pulled 50 lbs in our sleds, they pulled 100.  When we bolted to our tents after caching gear at a higher altitude, they went immediately and prep’d dinner and hot water. They prep’d, served, clean up after every breakfast and dinner. Bagels and bacon, bagels and smoked salmon, burritos, quesadillas, cheesecake, tortellini and chicken (and Aardvark!), ramen, and never to forget Mac’n’cheese with bacon bits - I never knew how many dishes could have bacon bits- OR CINNAMON!!

They dealt with faulty gear, our mental and physical challenges - “Ben, I have a blister” which would be followed with Ben applying a gel pack to my pinky toe.  “Mike what layers should we wear on this next leg?”  They were positive and honest at all times, cheerleaders and coaches, story tellers, fun facters, and quiz masters.  Without them the last three weeks could not have happened.  I think it is fair to give special mention to Dominic. He gets to make the big calls, to say when to move, when to stay, and finally when not to proceed on safety grounds.  I have met and observed many leaders, -the good, the bad, and the ugly -, in my career. I can say without hesitation that Dominic’s leadership skills rank with the best I have seen.  

We are honored and fortunate to have spent the past 3 weeks with Dominic, Ben and Mike.  They make dreams come true. 

RMI Climber Myles O'Neill

Monday, June 30, 2025 - 11:04 pm PT

Perfect day for moving on up.  We took advantage and climbed to 17,200. The team was already roped and moving toward the headwall at 8:30 AM when the cold shadows still covered the entire basin. We got much needed sun at the first rest break. It was a pleasure as always to top out the ropes at 16,200.  We broke into our cache for a few essentials... just to make sure the guide packs were heavy enough for climbing the West Buttress. The spectacular walk up the crest went smoothly for us and we rolled into 17,000' Camp at 3:15. As usual, it was tough to build a solid and safe camp at such a high elevation just after arriving. But we got it done and sat down to a nice dinner inside our dining tent. Snow conditions on the route to Denali Pass are still unstable so there is no chance for us to go for the summit tomorrow.

We'll keep evaluating to see whether we get a chance on following days.

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Sunday June 29, 2025 - 10:49 pm PT

It was the ultimate luxury to lie in until the sun came around this morning. We ate our last bagel breakfast and lounged about in the sunshine. We rested, but we also schemed and plotted our ascent for the next few days, and that scheming got tougher as the day progressed. We became aware that the teams at 17K had turned around from their summit bids after finding avalanche conditions on the "autobahn". Of course we will need some improvement in that condition by the time we reach the same terrain, so the team will have the challenge of trying to remain optimistic and positive while acknowledging that a problem lies ahead. We said goodbye to Dom's RMI team as they descended through 14 camp, we ate our dinner and we prepared to climb. 

- RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Sunday, June 29, 2025 - 12:24 am PT

1 step, 1 breathe. 2 steps, 2 breaths. On and on, the rhythm continues as we leave 14,200 feet, move up the fixed lines, around Washburn's thumb, over the exposed yet beautiful West Buttress, and crest the hill to grandma's. Kidding about that last part, but we did finally arrive at 17,200 feet. Again, the tabloids misconstrue, do not listen to them, listen to us! :) it has been a long wait at Camp 3, but a huge shoutout to our entire team for sticking it out; Together! Its hard to wait for the right window while hanging with a bunch of strangers, but this Brady's bunch ain't no strangers no more. So, we're not done just yet. Tomorrow will test the reason we came here in the first place. Making it to the top of North America has already proven itself difficult. We're either gonna bring it home hot or bring it home cold. It's up to us. Cheers to everyone back home following along, we miss you, we're close, wish us luck, and we'll see you soon.

RMI Guide Ben Luedtke & Team 

Saturday, June 28, 2025 - 10:28 pm PT

Today was the day for us to get up on the West Buttress. But it was the day for everybody else to get up on the West Buttress too. We had no choice but to climb in a crowd. That said, it was a crowd of pretty nice folks all around. We didn’t try to be the first out of camp, there was no desire to race anybody. We had a leisurely breakfast and geared up in time to leave by around 10 AM. There were perhaps thirty climbers ahead of us and thirty behind. The storm and waiting for snow to stabilize had put everybody on the same schedule. The downside of that was that we couldn’t go at our own pace, the upside was that we didn’t have to break trail. Patience was the word of the day and that paid off for us. It was neither cold nor windy and we could afford to be patient. The entire team did just fine on the much anticipated “fixed rope” section and then we topped out on the ridge at 16,200 ft, shattering altitude records for Bailey, Calvin, Rahul and Frederick. We cached our food and fuel and got down to camp by 5 PM. Tomorrow will be a rest and recovery day and we’ll be keeping fingers crossed for Dom Cifelli’s RMI team to ring the summit bell. 

- RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Wednesday, June 25, 2025 - 10:19 pm PT

Today, life at 14,200 was pretty easy compared to yesterday.  We had a slow breakfast and then roped up to retrieve our cache down at 13,500 ft.  The day started with a cloud cap on the South Peak. As we went about our business that gradually morphed into cloud everywhere and a snowy day. But our timing was right and we got our work done before the snow.  It only took 20 minutes to walk down to the cache, perhaps another 20 to dig it up and a little more than an hour to climb back up to camp. We were home by a little after noon.  Then it was a tent afternoon while the snow fell.  It was light, but persistent. Still snowing now at 8:40PM but without any wind.  Certainly we’ll hope for some clearing in the night or tomorrow morning.

- RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Wednesday, June 25, 2025 - 8:51 pm PT

It’s been 8 days since my last dispatch. Eight days since those heady times at 11,000' Camp, when our pounds and pounds of food seemed excessive, when trading for extra toilet paper and coffee were moments of mirth; now we covet our remaining pounds of food, and those trades seem like masterstrokes of genius.

Our first week at 14,000' is coming to a close, our team has experienced wind, snow, and searing heat. Being simultaneously as hot and cold as we have ever been in our lives. While the recent weather has not been as amenable to a quick summit as we would have liked, this past week has still been an incredible and hard to describe experience. The views (when they are available) are breathtaking, reminding us of how lucky we are to be here at all, and how thankful we are for our family, friends, and coworkers supporting us back in the real world allowing us to stay focused on our goal.

The team’s morale remains high, supported by our amazing guiding team of Dom, Ben, and Mike, who keep us active, both physically and mentally, every day. Special shoutout to Dominic’s wife for providing the team a rousing trivia night via satellite messaging a few days back.

As we enter our second week at 14,000', the team is a coiled spring, ready to launch as our hopeful weather window approaches, but until then thank you for all the love and support as we wait out the weather (but god save us if the hot sauce runs out).

RMI Climber Tate Bishop 

Tuesday, June 24, 2025 - 10:24 pm PT

As soon as we poked our heads out of tents this morning at 6 AM we knew we were going to be able to make the big jump to 14,000'.  Still, it took until a little after nine to get on the trail… or, more correctly, onto where the trail should have been. The new snow was boot deep and there wasn’t a single track left on Motorcycle Hill so we had some good hard work to drag sleds up it.  Things got a little better on Squirrel Hill as there was less snow and a team coming down the mountain left tracks that we were able to make occasional use of.  There was only a 3 mph breeze at windy corner, so we were able to get around without too much trouble.   Then we pushed on up into sun drenched Genet Basin to find a wonderful and welcome surprise.

Dom Cifelli’s RMI team was in the process of flattening out an excellent camp sight for us.  They built us a deluxe latrine and even gave us water to get our kitchen started.  Before long we were set up and good to go.  They saved us a ton of work.  We had a nice dinner and crawled in to the tents while the sun was still high in the sky.  It is going behind the West Buttress now -at 9 PM- and we expect some of our first cold temps of the trip.  Just as it should be way up here in our new home. 

- RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Tuesday, June 24, 2025 - 9:03 pm PT

Top Ten Things Happening at 14,000' Camp right now:
10. Snow on the inside of the tent and blue skies outside the tent
9. Running out of snacks and entertainment (but we’re good on toilet paper)
8. Secret Aardvark
7. Buzz Lightyear sightings around camp
6. Walking laps and laps on the 14k Main Street
5. Walking out to the Edge of the World, which overlooks the Valley of Death, to take precarious photos*
4. Texas dice and Wizard
3. Welcoming the next RMI team coming up from 11,000' camp
2. New flavors of bowlines—on a bight, snap, etc.
1. SPAM

RMI Climber Nate Brunner
*While roped in

It was a snowy night at 11,000' Camp, followed by a snowy morning and snowy day. We stayed put.  The team ate a slow and leisurely breakfast in the dining tent, followed by a protracted debate and story telling session, followed by naps books, tv and podcasts.

By afternoon and evening we were getting a little sun and blue sky but it was still snowing lightly.   It was a storm day… which worked pretty well as a rest day too.  We hope to be back in action tomorrow.

RMI Guide Dave Hahn