Entries from Alaska
June 5, 2022
Posted by: Nikki Champion, Taylor Bickford, Emma Lyddan
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Denali
Elevation: 14,200'
Saturday June 4, 2022 6:22pm PT
Today we have our first birthday of the trip! Happy Birthday Cris! To celebrate we woke up early to a speedy breakfast of Honey Nut Cheerios. We planned to walk at 8:30 am, but with such cold temperatures this morning we pushed that back and hour and stayed warm in our tents. Once the sun finally hit 14,000’ camp around 9:30 am we began our journey towards the fixed lines. Running through all the gambit of temperatures we made it to the top of the fixed lines, at 16,200', where we decided to cache our personal and group food for the day. After taking a snack, and water break we made our way back downhill. We rolled back into 14,000’ camp, where it is now lightly snowing, and crawled into our tents.
Tonight, will be a mellow evening of Ramen, and prepping for a few much needed days of rest at 14 camp. The team did great, and we are set up well!
RMI Guides Nikki, Taylor, Emma, and Team!
June 4, 2022
Posted by: Nikki Champion, Taylor Bickford, Emma Lyddan
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Denali
Elevation: 14,200'
June 3, 2022 – 9:29pm PT
Quiet day over at 14 camp.
We woke up with the sun and had a long breakfast consisting of breakfast burritos and multiple rounds of hots. We spent the rest of the day resting and reviewing fixed line travel before our carry day tomorrow. We hope to wake up early and carry all the way to 17 if everything goes smoothly.
Another great day, with great weather. Check back in tomorrow!
What an inspiring journey! I look forward to being regaled by stories and taking in images of your mighty adventure. Thinking of you and hoping you are safe throughout each day.
So much love to you, Jeff-Rob!
Your sis, Lynn
Posted by: Lynn on 6/5/2022 at 8:23 pm
Keep
Climbing Rob!!
What a wonderful adventure!!
Can’t wait to have an evening with you and Patty having you walk us through this amazing experience!!
Posted by: John Shaw on 6/5/2022 at 5:04 pm
June 4, 2022
Posted by: Avery Parrinello, Jack Delaney, Liam Weed
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Denali
Elevation: 7,800'
Friday June 3, 2022 - 8:54pm PT
We are on the move! The team woke up at 2AM to break camp, rig sleds, and get walking early in order to finish this first push before the midday heat set in.
The heavy loads couldn’t suppress the bubbling smiles on the faces of the climbers, as the Denali came into view with a glimmering sun behind it.
At the base of ski hill, we made camp and enjoyed a power nap before eating a spicy jambalaya dinner.
The team is feeling strong and stoked to continue upwards!
RMI Guide Liam Weed and Team
Heia Joachim! Håper du har det bra og koser deg på tur. Gøy å følge med på oppdateringene herfra. Stå på - du er helt rå!!
Hope you’re all enjoying the mountain! Looks like a great team. Greetings from Norway!
Posted by: Madeleine on 6/5/2022 at 2:35 am
Nothing like a little spice to start things off- Go team go! Big shoutout to Michael Alexander, you a rockstar! Love you like crazy. Sending positive energy to all! Alicia
Posted by: Alicia Becker on 6/5/2022 at 1:11 am
June 2, 2022
Posted by: JT Schmitt, Matias Francis, Jackson Breen
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Denali
Elevation: 20,310'
Thursday, June 2, 2022 1:35 am PT
The last two weeks of working hard on Denali payed off today. At 5:30 pm today we stood on top of the highest point in North America!
It was a beautiful sunny day, with a bit of wind but not too much to turn us around. It was a relatively quiet day with only a few other teams trying for the summit. The team performed incredibly well and summited in style! Now we are back at 17 camp, enjoying clear views all the way down to the tundra, where you can see the Alaskan sun shimmering off lakes over 15,000 feet below us.
Tomorrow we start the process of retracing our steps back down the mountain.
RMI Guides JT, Matias, Jackson and the RMI team.
CONGRATS!! It’s absolutely incredible to follow your journey and to see this great news!
Posted by: Ramsay Bader on 6/5/2022 at 9:28 pm
Yay!!! Congratulations!!! I’ve had so much fun following you along your climb. Big congratulations to my brother, Scott - I am SO PROUD of you! Way to go, team!
Love, Julie
Posted by: Julie Joyce on 6/3/2022 at 3:19 am
June 1, 2022
Posted by: Avery Parrinello, Jack Delaney, Liam Weed
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Denali
According to the TV Show Lost - all good looking people sit on the right side of an airplane. Well, that's clearly what our team did because we have a great looking crew! After meeting up at the Anchorage airport we hopped in the shuttle and headed towards Talkeetna! There was no awkward silence as everyone quickly started chatting and getting to know one another. A quick grocery stop and 2 hours later we were in Talkeetna with amazing views of the Alaska Range! Our travel weary team rallied the last of their energy for a group dinner and then we wandered back to the bunkhouse for some well-deserved rest.
RMI Guides Avery, Jack, Liam and Team
Love you Michael!!! So proud of you… keep pushing, we are all rooting for you. Best of luck and love to you and everyone with you!
Posted by: Desiree on 6/5/2022 at 8:12 pm
The amazing Capt Coffey ( also known as the “Everest Gaston”),
Go get that summit! Wishing you and your team amazing weather and safe climbing. Look forward to celebrating 2022 successes, with margs, soon! See ya when I’m lookin’ at ya!
Be sure to put sunscreen up your nose,
Meghan
Posted by: Meghan Buchanan on 6/3/2022 at 11:53 pm
May 29, 2022
Posted by: Mike Walter, Abby Westling, Henry Coppolillo
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Denali
Elevation: 17,200'
May 28 11:42pm PT
After a hard day fighting the wind up high yesterday, we were able to get back to camp and rest and hydrate. Good thing, because this morning dawned perfect and we rallied for another attempt at pushing to high camp. The weather remained perfect all day and our well-acclimated crew made it to High Camp in five hours flat. We arrived at 2pm and spent a few hours building camp and the focused on resting, hydrating, and eating.
The weather forecast is very favorable and we're optimistic that we'll try for the top tomorrow. Fingers crossed, and if things go well, I'll hopefully be able to send a quick satellite message from the top. Now for some sleep before a big day. Either way, I'll check in and let you know what the weather throws at us.
Cheers,
RMI Guide Mike Walter and RMI Team
Go Nick, go!!!!!
Posted by: Rosie Read on 5/30/2022 at 7:50 am
Can’t wait to read tonight’s blog! To the Top, MAK!
Posted by: Jenn on 5/30/2022 at 4:22 am
May 29, 2022
Posted by: JT Schmitt, Matias Francis, Jackson Breen
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Denali
Elevation: 14,200'
May 29 12:04am PT
This morning we woke up with the goal of caching gear and food as close to 17 camp as possible. As we passed each of the normal places people cache below 17 camp, such as the top of the fixed lines, below Washburns thumb etc., we just couldn’t find a reason to not keep going.
The weather was perfect, not a whisper of wind, and the views endless. The team was performing extremely well at such high altitude for the first time this trip, not to mention how they floated through the most technical terrain we’ve encountered thus far, so we went all the way to 17,000 ft camp. After digging ourselves a hole to cache in, we retraced our steps back down the west buttress and the fixed lines until we rolled into camp just as the shadow of the mountain engulfed the tent city.
All in all, a successful day completed by a strong team!
Strong team makes big progress at high altitudes. We love it!
Posted by: Amy Houston on 5/30/2022 at 4:59 am
Way to go guys! Thinking of you all and hoping for fair weather the next few days. Just back from a week of sailing in gale force winds on the west coast of Scotland so am very glad you don’t have that!! Love, Charles and Jennifer.
Posted by: Charles Platt on 5/29/2022 at 12:53 pm
May 29, 2022
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Leif Bergstrom, Erika Birkeland
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Denali
Elevation: 14,200'
May 28 10:29pm PT
It was a perfect day to rest and regroup from our foray yesterday. The sun was out, temps were warm, and everything was calm. We also got a forecast that looks really promising for the next several days. We took another trip to the edge of the world - last time heat induced clouds were rising up from the glaciers below and it felt like the edge of the world, past which there was nothing, just a white void. Today we could see who down the Kahiltna and get a sense for the sheer scale of it all.
We are headed towards bed pretty hopeful that we are waking to similar weather tomorrow and good conditions to move up.
May 29, 2022
Posted by: Alex Halliday, Ben Luedtke, Lauren Macklin
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Alaska Seminar
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May 28 7:43pm PT
The wind died today which meant that with the sun it felt very hot on the glacier today. We moved our camp south, closer to base camp and closer to some areas that have terrain features that are good for training and climbing. We spent the afternoon hiding from the sun in our new camp, We just finished an early dinner and are going do some evening ice climbing now that the temperatures have quelled.
RMI Guide Alex Halliday and Team
May 28, 2022
Posted by: Nikki Champion, Taylor Bickford, Emma Lyddan
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska
Elevation: 7,600'
We woke up to nearly perfect weather. Cool temperatures, clear skies and close to no breeze.
After a quick breakfast of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, we loaded up our packs and sleds with group meals, personal food, and some technical gear we wouldn't need over the next few days and embarked on our first carry. Yesterday was a long hard slog, but luckily the only time we move all our food and gear uphill, from here on our we will be carrying food and gear uphill, caching it, climbing past it to our next camp, and then doing a back carry to go get it. So that's exactly what we did today. We carried our gear from the base of ski hill, up towards our next camp and cached it near 10,000'.
Tomorrow we will hopefully move to 11 camp and go get the cache the following day. For now, we are all back at camp, resting in the shade, eating snacks, and prepping for our move tomorrow!
RMI Guide Nikki Champion and Team
One safe step at a time, Rob. You are impressive. What a breathtaking experience. Keep at it!
Sending you sisterly love, and support to you and your team!
Lynn.
Posted by: Lynn on 5/29/2022 at 8:24 pm
Rob go Rob Go. My the force be with you. Cheering you on in spirit from Gina Rae.
Posted by: Gina Rae Hendrickson on 5/29/2022 at 3:06 pm
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Following your every move on this big mountain. We are with you all in spirit. Be safe. Stay strong…and try to stay warm. You’ve got this! Happy Birthday, Cris.
Posted by: The Wilhelms on 6/6/2022 at 5:34 am
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