Entries By ben thorneycroft

Monday, May 19, 2025 - 6:37 pm PT

We took a full and proper rest day today. It has been snowing more or less all day in camp, and the winds started to pick up a bit this afternoon. That made it easy to take a long breakfast, rest and read in tents, and take naps throughout the day. We spent a bit of time building some snow walls, which everyone got quite excited about, and some more time reviewing fixed line techniques for when we go higher. We are working on a reindeer sausage jambalaya for dinner, and we'll see if the snow and wind let up over night.

RMI Guides Pete, Nick, Ben and team

Sunday, May 18, 2025 - 11:35 pm PT

Cache retrieval complete! It was an in and out snowy day, at time hot, at times cold, but winds stayed light so we bopped back to 13,500ft and retrieved our goodies. The rest of the day we rested and took stock. Most realized they have some work ahead to catch up on lunch food eating. Tomorrow looks snowy so we’ll take a full rest day, probably build some walls, and Ben has a short seminar called “get your fix” to get everyone ready for the fixed lines above. And though this will post tomorrow morning, Brian wants to wish Lacey a very happy anniversary (and we wish the same to them both!). 

Best from 14,000' Camp to everyone at home,
RMI Guides Pete, Ben, Nick, and team

Sunday, May 18, 2025 - 1:41 pm PT

We woke up yesterday and though there were thick clouds above that moved in and out, it was clear that the air was incredibly calm. We packed up camp shouldered some heavy loads, and said goodbye to our camp at 11,000'. We were in those clouds nearly all the way to 14,000', but they were holding in the solar gain and it was one of the hottest days of the trip. Overall, it was quite smooth and we made it to 14,000' Camp yesterday evening, set up camp, and crashed for a night of well deserved rest. It’s great to finally be at 14,000'. This is our home away from home, where we’ll rest, acclimate, get strong, and wait for our shot at the summit. The views out over the rest of the range are stunning. We’re prepping right now for a quick trip back to 13,500' to grab our cache, and then we’ll rest the remainder of the day. It’s starting to snow lightly and the next couple of days do look snowy.

RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer

Friday May 16, 2025 11:10 pm PDT

We had the perfect rest day. It was in turns quite snowy, whiteout and incredibly hot, and blue and calm. We crushed a breakfast hash scramble, then some cinnamon buns, then lingered in the cook tent swapping stories and stretching. That gave way to midday siesta/saunas. Eventually Nick and Ben got motivated and dug a pit to hang skis over and make a passable pull-up bar (#lookatmenowpaul). Video evidence was collected of numbers 100 and 101 from both Ben and Nick. No wasting away and getting weak on Denali for those two. A good dinner, and we’re hoping to wake to weather that lets us make the next move.

RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer & Team

Thursday, May 15, 2025 9:49 pm PDT

In the words of Thornjamin “when we awoke the weather was like nahhh, but then it was like jahhh”, and we carried to 13,500’.

It was windy when we woke but it quieted enough to convince us to go walking and turned out to be a quite smooth day. Tomorrow looks snowy and we intend to chill hard. These are times that lead us to say thanks to those in our life providing a multitude of remote weather advice, especially to Henry, whose whiteboard of weather models, maps, sharpies, and seemingly random red lines have yielded incredibly accurate results. Ask him how he does it?

But in all seriousness, we are psyched to have a cache up high and be looking at a rest day tomorrow. Things are going smoothly, the snow makes climbing quite forgiving for this time of year, and temps have been balmy (relatively) as well.

Best from 11,000’,

RMI Guides Thornjamin Bennycroft, Nick, Pete, and Team

Wednesday, May 14, 2025 - 7:34 pm PT

It’s been a quiet, calm day here at 11,000 ft Camp. We slept in as sun doesn’t reach camp until 9:20 AM, though it never gets dark either, and then cooked up some blueberry pancakes. That started the conversation of Canadian or Vermont maple syrup of which there is only one correct answer. But all agreed New York maple syrup loses to both. We set out just after noon for a quick and light mission to retrieve our cache from below. The rest of the day has been spent relaxing and resting after a big couple of days on the lower Kahiltna. We are now done for the time being with sleds and snowshoes - and there was much rejoicing. It’s snowing lightly in camp and there are snow showers in the forecast for the next several days, so we’ll look for the right moment to get our cache put in at 13,500'.

RMI Guides Pete, Ben, Nick, and team.

Tuesday, May 13, 2025  - 10:27 pm PT

11,200’ is our new home! We weren’t entirely psyched when we woke this morning as there was a thick cloud bank and ripping winds where we needed to go. We did a partial pack and stalled and waited. As the sun climbed and warmed our camp, the clouds began to rise, and the wind began to die. That was enough for us - we pulled the rest of the camp down, loaded up sleds (all have names, goose and Tinkerbell are a few) and started uphill.

We had as smooth and steady of a climb as we could wish for and rolled into 11k this evening after a 7-hour walk. We are happily dug in and working towards dinner. Tomorrow we’ll go back to retrieve our cache which is a short day, and then be set to keep looking uphill.

RMI Guides Pete, Ben, Nick, and Team

Monday, May 12, 2025 - 7:45 pm PT

Snow has been pattering on the tent walls most of last night and all day today. It was an easy decision to sit tight, in the white world that we woke up in. We lingered over breakfast burritos, then spent the day reading, watching movies, stretching, and chatting. Camp was calm and quiet as everyone else did the same. The forecast looks like snow tails off and things get clear tomorrow so we are hoping to make our move to 11,00' Camp in the morning. All in all, everyone appreciated the rest day.

RMI Guides Pete, Nick, Ben, and team

Monday, May 12, 2025 - 12:17 AM PDT

Today showed us the dichotomy of weather in Alaska. After a cold windy walk yesterday, today’s carry to 10,200' was calm and HOT. We had a pretty leisurely start this morning after getting to bed late last night. Folks enjoyed the sleep, and woke up surprisingly (to them) recovered and feeling well. We left around noon and made good time up to the cache site, dug a hole to hide some things in, and then turned back to our home, enjoying the lighter-weight, downhill walk as the light got long. We got back to camp a bit before it went into the shade and plowed through some burritos as a reward. Sounds like we may see snow tomorrow, so what we do tomorrow will be a gametime decision in the morning. We would like to say Happy Mother’s Day and so many thanks to all the incredible mothers in our lives who give us so much support as well and who let us be in this incredible place! 

RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer, Nick Sinapius, Ben Thorneycroft, and Team

Sunday, May 11, 2025 - 1:19 AM PT

The starting horn sounded! It was a beautiful morning in Talkeetna and the pilots at K2 were psyched to get going. We loaded the planes and were in the air a bit before 10 am. The flight in was one of the best I’ve ever had. As clear as could be, calm, and the pilots made a couple turns and loops to bring the big three (McKinley, Foraker, and Hunter) into profile. Once on the ground, we unloaded everything and watched as the planes climbed back into the sky. That turned out to be a small hiccup, as our cooktent hadn’t made it off the plane. We stalled for a bit as a result and it came back to us via a scenic flight. Reunited, we tossed on packs and left base camp, as heavy as we will ever be on this trip. As we got to the base of heartbreak hill, a decently strong wind greeted us head on   We ended up walking into that the whole way, a bit unpleasant but nothing more. It was a small taste of what Alaska can brew up for weather. Now we are tucked into camp at the base of Ski Hill, glad to finally be on the move.

RMI Guides Pete, Nick, Ben, and team