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Categories: Mountaineering Fitness & Training
Posted by: Andy Bond, Jack Delaney, Joey Manship
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 14,000'
June 16, 2023 11:38PM PT
On this glorious morning, we awoke to partly sunny skies and light snow showers (for those who don't know, this means mostly cloudy.) As temperatures warmed, we all gathered in the posh for another round of pancake Hibachi. Yours truly went for broke and landed a double pancake flip (that is one pancake flipping twice). Unfortunately, the blast wave of this extreme maneuver broke our big strong Andy's fork.
To make the most of our relatively mild weather and rest day, we headed out of camp and practiced fixed line travel and clipping pickets. The team did great and is ready for whatever gloves the mountain throws at them.
Famished, we made our way back to camp to gorge on snacks, mainly cheese. This helped quell our toilet paper crisis for the near future.
After dinner and a sweet treat of Jack's cheesecake the team retired to hopefully sleep deep and oxygen rich.
While not everybody reached the summit of Aconcagua today, we all soaked in the entire experience. It was a perfect day to simply be in the mountains. Stars illuminating the landscape this morning. A windless day with not a cloud in the sky. Shadows creeping across peaks far in the distance, helping gauge the time of day. It was very easy to be distracted from the strenuous climbing by the surrounding beauty.
Till next time,
RMI Guide Luke Wilhelm
Posted by: Billy Nugent, Kel Rossiter
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 20,320'
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Billy Nugent calls in from High Camp after successful summit.
On The Map
Finally, boss!! Would you go ahead and come home now?!? - there’s work to be done… Oh yeah, and congrats!
-Dr. Harms’ snarky resident with abandonment issues
Posted by: Emily on 5/31/2013 at 7:52 pm
Congratulations, Craig and team! Absolutely fantastic!
Aloha
Ted
Posted by: Ted on 5/31/2013 at 8:11 am
Posted by: Seth Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
Posted by:
Categories: Mountaineering Fitness & Training
First, I just want to say I am looking forward to meeting everyone on this climb! I hope we will be able to summit and the weather doesn’t stop us from achieving that goal.
Kevin M.-when do you and your brother fly in to Seattle? I live in Washington and might be willing to pick you both up at the airport if you arrive at a decent time. Let me know.
See you all in July. Safe travels to you all.
Steph
Posted by: Steph on 6/13/2014 at 2:53 pm
Hello all, My brother and I are coming from out of town for this climb but we are running into issues with getting out to Rainier. I’m curious, How are the rest of you reaching the park? and also, would any one be willing to carpool?
Posted by: Kevin M. on 6/9/2014 at 9:48 pm
Posted by: Ed Viesturs, Seth Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 14,200'
On The Map
Looks as though you are making great progress. Hoping and praying all goes well. Love to you, Mom
Posted by: Mom on 5/14/2011 at 1:16 pm
Just reaching out to my good buddy, Mark Duffy, hope all is well my friend and be safe. Have a great time and I’ll see you in a few weeks. Good Luck!
Posted by: Bob Petty on 5/14/2011 at 6:54 am
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Categories: Guide News
Kahiltna Base Camp sits in the heart of the Alaska Range, surrounded on all sides by peaks such as Denali, Mt. Foraker, and Mt. Hunter. With the plethora of climbing options the pair decided to climb the Kahiltna Queen (12,380’).
AM: Around Base Camp there are so many cool peaks to climb and one of those is the rarely climbed Kahiltna Queen. This peak is located at the end of the southeast fork of the Kahiltna glacier. It is the only peak in the range that divides three different glaciers: the Kahiltna, the Ruth and the Tokositna.
KB: Andres and I spent a day skiing up the Southeast fork of the Kahiltna Glacier, stopping along the way to look at different climbing options and to do some ice climbing. Kahiltna Queen looked like a gorgeous peak to climb and both of us were stoked about trying an unclimbed route.
The following night Katie and Andres began their climb up the West side of the Kahiltna Queen.
KB: The line we took followed a rib splitting the west face, starting from where the rib emerged from the glacier. The part of the climb was mostly steep snow climbing on some great and not-so-great neve (granular snow that accumulates near mountain tops from wind and precipitation). The route then transitions into ice climbing with some rock mixed in.
AM: The mixed climbing was great all the way to the summit. The day was incredible and the views were just amazing. At the top we stopped to melt water and high five. Then it was time for us to start descending the West Couloir Route. The descent ended up being longer and more difficult than I expected as we had to do over fourteen rappels.
Following the successful climb, Katie and Andres, skied two hours back to Base Camp. After 25 hours of climbing they returned safely to Base Camp.
KB: Seeing the moonrise while we were climbing was awesome! It came up for maybe an hour or so and just skimmed the edge of the horizon. For the whole way up we had splitter weather and were basking in the sun at the summit. After this trip I can definitely understand why my friends are excited about Alaska. It was great to be able to climb the Kahiltna Queen after guiding the Alaska Seminar since it enabled me to spend so much time in the Alaska Range. Andres has heaps of experience in the Alaska Range and I learned a lot from working and climbing with him.
AM: All and all it was a great climb with a great partner. I am already looking forward to next year’s seminar and more personal climbs in the Alaska Range.
Andres Marin is a senior guide at RMI leading programs in Washington, Alaska and Colorado. He is an off-width specialist and an accomplished ice and mixed climber. One of his recent achievements includes climbing the five hardest mixed lines in Ouray, Colorado, in a day. Andres is a fully certified alpine and rock guide sponsored by Millet, Blue Water Ropes, 5.10, Petzl, GU and Ice Holdz.
Katie Bono is an RMI Guide and accomplished climber with impressive ascents in North America and Canada. A retired Nordic ski racer and Millet athlete, she currently holds the women’s speed record on Mt. Rainier.
To see more of their climb check out Andres’ Kahiltna Queen video.
Do you think the Kahiltna Queen can be solo’d in January? There is a climber in Talkeetna, Alaska right now who may attempt the first solo of the KQ in January 2019. He was going to solo Denali, but due to the government shut-down, that was a no-go. Alaska just had a big earthquake (7.0) on November 30, 2018, and the aftershooks are still plentiful even in Big Lake and Talkeetna, which are not that far from KQ. I wish this climber the best and would value your opinion.
Posted by: Annie G on 1/12/2019 at 4:13 am
Anyone looking into Andres’ background as a guide or a teammate can have confidence that he is capable of more than most and still patient with those less skilled. (thanks again, Andres)
Posted by: Creighton Miller on 8/15/2013 at 8:15 pm
Posted by: Adam Knoff, Hannah Smith
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest BC Trek and Lobuche
Hello all,
Today we woke to perfect weather to hit the trail. A mellow walk past yak corrals took us to our first uphill. A little more breathing and some sweat brought us to a downhill trend to the river crossing. Before we crossed, the team enjoyed an ice cold foot soak. Shortly after the river it was tea time. The saying out here might go Dal Bhat power 24 hour but I think for us its hot tea power 24 hour. After filling our energy tanks with tea we madr our way up the last hill of the day. The top of the hill brings us to a special place, the climbers memorial. A sadness fills this place but also brings to reality the risks taken to climb mountains. After acknowledging those who have fallen we continued our journey to Lobuche. Not far from the town we pass by the Lobuche peak Basecamp. We gaze at our objective but first we must go to Everest Basecamp. A little training in the evening brought us to dinner. A birthday cake surprise wrapped up our day with smiles and chocolate covered mouths. Another good day in the books and more to follow.
Goodnight all,
RMI Guides Adam, Hannah, and team
Weather is your blessing!! Hoping it continues for you! Beautiful photos!
Posted by: Jane on 3/29/2022 at 9:50 am
Tim,
Don’t know if you summited or not, but it doesn’t matter. It’s all about the journey and you have been on quite a journey over the last few years! We love you and can’t wait to see you and hear about your adventures. Now, get down and back home safely!
Love,
Dick and Irene
Posted by: Richard & Irene Simpson on 2/7/2022 at 6:51 pm
Congratulations! We’re so proud of all you! What a gorgeous day you must have had… and no matter what the outcome, we know this was a whole team effort. Way to go. Now get back down safely!
Posted by: T and B on 2/7/2022 at 4:07 am
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