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Posts from 05/2012

Mt. Rainier: Expedition Skills Seminar - Muir

Posted by: Seth Waterfall | May 29, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount Rainier
Elevation: 10,060'

Hi this is Seth and the Expedition Skills Seminar - Muir.  Today we climbed the Muir snowfield.  We began at 9:45 a.m. from Paradise (elev. 5,420’) and spent the day in the clouds with light snow flurries.  It made for nice walking temperatures throughout the day and the sun actually came out to welcome us into Camp Muir (elev. 10,000).

Everyone is enjoying their dinner now and getting ready for our first night at Muir!

RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

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Mt. McKinley: Okita & Team Carry Above 11 Camp

Posted by: Brent Okita, Leon Davis, Lindsay Mann | May 29, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 11,200'

Awakening early this morning we were surprised at just how warm and windless it was. At first our views were obscured by thick clouds, but moments later we could recognize the faint outlines of the ridges above us and realized that in fact we were at the top edge of a thick cloud bank enveloping the Kahiltna below us.
Everyone was excited, and perhaps just a bit anxious about the climbing ahead. After all, we were to face our steepest terrain yet.
Now, in our tent after a wonderful meal of pasta followed by blueberry cheese cake, all I can say is how proud I am of how this team climbed today! Everyone handled the loads and the climbing really well. About as well as I’ve seen. This sure bodes well for later.
We really appreciated the early start being over an hour ahead of any other team. It felt like we had the mountain to ourselves, and we did. That is, until we descended and saw the throngs of humanity ascending the slopes we had passed long before. At dinner many in the group reflected on what they saw and asked, “Did we look like that?” referring to the hunched over postures of people battling altitude, steep terrain and a notable lack of technique and training. We were delighted to say, “no, you guys are climbers!”

RMI Guides Brent Okita, Leon Davis & Lindsay Mann

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Mt. McKinley: Walter & Team Summit!

Posted by: Mike Walter, Pete Van Deventer | May 28, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 20,320'

This is Mike calling down from 17,200 on Denali. We reached the summit yesterday at about 7 p.m. on the most beautiful day I’ve ever seen up here – comfortably warm and no winds! We are cooking up a nice breakfast right now and plan on beginning our descent soon. Looking forward to seeing Billy and team at 14,000’ and Brent and team at 11,000’. We plan on making it to 11K today, and then heading for the Kahiltna airstrip on Tuesday morning. Weather allowing, we hope to fly off on Tuesday.

RMI Guide Mike Walter

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Mt. Rainier: May 28th Update

Posted by: Kel Rossiter, Tyler Reid | May 28, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'

The Four Day Summit Climb May 25 - 28, 2012, led by RMI Guides Tyler Reid and Kel Rossiter reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today.  The teams reported moderate westerly winds and cold temperatures.  The skies were clear above with a cloud deck below around 10,000’.  The teams began their descent at 9:31 a.m. from the crater rim en route to Camp Muir.  They will continue to Paradise this afternoon.

Congratulations to today’s Summit Climb teams!

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Mt. McKinley: Okita & Team Feeling Strong at 11,200

Posted by: | May 28, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 11,200'

Today was a good day. The sun peeked thru the clouds timidly at best, with snow spitting occasionally and clouds being more the norm. But that didn’t deter us from enjoying another easy day with a thirty minute walk back to the cache we left at 9,500’ leading to a pleasant romp back to camp in the early afternoon.
With the days work behind us we had only to review some climbing basics with our ice axes and crampons to get ready for tomorrow. It is beginning with the terrain above that the real climbing starts. And we’re ready for it. Lighter packs and steeper slopes will be a welcome respite from the slogging done thus far.
Our last fresh food meal of burritos revealed that everyone was feeling strong here at 11,200’ as the team left nothing uneaten.
We’d love just a bit more settled weather for our climb up Motorcycle Hill, Squirrel Hill and Windy Corner on our way to our cache site at 13,600’, but I suppose if we just have calm weather we’ll be happy. At eight hours round trip this will be our longest day, and our first day of higher altitude, but I know the team is ready for it.
We’ll leave you with a little poem Lindsay composed:

“With sleds in our pack
We take the downhill track.
Zipping to 9500’ for the cache
We grab the food stash.
Back to 11 we go
With light weight sleds in tow.
Tomorrow we will carry up the hill
And hope to continue our good weather fill”

Until tomorrow,

RMI Guides Brent Okita, Leon Davis and Lindsay Mann

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Mt. Rainier: May 27th Update

Posted by: Tyler Jones | May 27, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'

The Four Day Summit Climb led by Tyler Jones reached the summit this morning!  This was our first summit since May 20th.  The team began their descent from the crater rim at 9:15 a.m.

Congratulations to Tyler and his team!

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Mt. McKinley: Okita & Team Do Well on Move to 11,200’ Camp

Posted by: Brent Okita, Leon Davis, Lindsay Mann | May 27, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 11,200'

With packs lightened down after leaving a cache at 9500’, the team made easy work on the climb to 11,200’ camp today. Our three and a half hour jaunt was made all the nicer by bluebird skies and sunny warm temperatures. To top things off we moved into a nice campsite that required minimal work. Although its snowing lightly again, we are looking forward to another easier day tomorrow, where we will retrieve our cache from 9500’.

That’s all from 11,200 feet.

RMI Guides Lindsay Mann, Leon Davis and Brent Okita

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Mt. McKinley: Nugent & Team Enjoy a Rest Day

Posted by: Billy Nugent, Geoff Schellens, Anne Gilbert Chase | May 27, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 14,200'

A rest day! Yay! We did such amazing things as sleeping in, more turbo tanning, sport eating, walking out to the Edge of the World, more sport eating, fixed line practice, and packing for tomorrow’s carry up the fixed lines. Per the norm, the team is in good spirits but perhaps a bit anxious for tomorrow. The weather is supposed to be in and out for the extended forecast so we are planning to stick to our schedule until we are forced to wait.

Hoping for a great day tomorrow, once we get this cache in we will be on standby for good weather and hopefully pulling the trigger on our move to high camp and subsequent summit push…

RMI Guide Billy Nugent and friends

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Mt. Everest Expedition: Team Almost to Basecamp

Posted by: Dave Hahn, Melissa Arnot, Mark Tucker | May 27, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Everest
Elevation: 17,575'

Update 2:45 pm Nepali time:

Dave Hahn, Melissa Arnot and team are 20 minutes from camp, so they are safely through the Khumbu Icefall!

I will still keep track of the Sherpa team that is still higher up on the mountain. They need to go back up to Camp 1 either tomorrow or the next day for final loads off the mountain. Until everyone is clear of the upper mountain, I will be here in communication with the Sherpa team. What a Climb!

RMI Guide and Everest Basecamp Manager Mark Tucker

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Mt. McKinley: Walter & Team Postpone Summit Attempt

Posted by: Mike Walter, Pete Van Deventer | May 26, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 17,200'

Pete Van Deventer called and the team is at 17,200’ and are positioned for their summit attempt. The weather changed and the winds were high so they postponed their attempt one day.  The team will be going for it tomorrow and hope to give us a call from the summit.

RMI Guides Mike Walter & Pete Van Deventer

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