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Posts from 01/2013

Aconcagua Expedition: January 17th team meets in Mendoza

Posted by: Leon Davis, Mike King, Pete Van Deventer | January 19, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Aconcagua

Hello all!

The whole team is finally in Mendoza and assembled! Due to several flight delays, today has been a bit chaotic, as we raced around to get through the park permit registration process, and buy last minute lunch food. In the end, we decided to cool our heels in Mendoza for one more night, rather than push up to Los Penitentes. This will allow us to organize, let a few folks get their first good nights sleep in a few days, and finish up the permits for a few folks.  So it goes on a major international expedition.

Tomorrow, we get back on track, leaving in the late morning for Los Penitentes.  Once there, we will sort gear for the mules, and get ready to begin our trek the next day!

In the meantime, we’re going to enjoy another fantastic dinner in Mendoza.  Best wishes to everybody back home, and we’ll be in touch soon, this time from 9000 feet!

RMI Guides Pete, Leon, Mike, and team

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Mexico Volcanoes: Waterfall & Team Summit Pico de Orizaba!

Posted by: Seth Waterfall | January 19, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mexico
Elevation: 18,701'

Hey, this is Seth checking in from the summit of Pico de Orizaba, tallest mountain in Mexico, fourth tallest in North America. Got the whole team with me. We’ve got a beautiful day. No wind up here, sunny skies, everybody’s psyched. We’re going to take a bunch of photos. Do some high fivin’ then we’ll check in once we peel back.  Here’s the shouts from everybody. [Team shouts!]  They are very excited. It’s just hard to breathe up here. We’ll check in from high camp.

RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

On The Map

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Mexico Volcanoes: Waterfall & Team at Orizaba High Camp

Posted by: Seth Waterfall | January 18, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mexico
Elevation: 14,000'

Just a quick check in from Piedra Grande.  Today was smooth as silk for our move to the hut on Orizaba.  We left Puebla just after 8am and arrived at the Servimont compound at 10:15.  That gave us plenty of time to pack and have a nice lunch.  After that we loaded in the big 4x4 for the steep drive to the hut.  We had great views of the mountain all day and everything seems to be coming together for a good climb tonight.  We’ll check in tomorrow morning, hopefully from the summit!

RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

On The Map

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Aconcagua: Justman & Team Back at Base Camp

Posted by: J.J. Justman, Geoff Schellens, Garrett Stevens | January 18, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Aconcagua
Elevation: 13,800'

Hello everyone, It’s JJ with Team 3 on Aconcagua. We are all back safe and sound in Base Camp. This will be our last dispatch. Out plan is to walk out part way tomorrow, have an asado dinner with the cowboys, then wake up and head to Mendoza on the 20th.

I would like to take the opportunity to allow our climbers to write a little something on the blog:

Hey guys its Greg. Well it looks like I’ve got a new addiction with headaches nausea and exhaustion what’s not to like. Thanks so much for the messages of love and support it really means a lot out here. See you when I get home.

Hey Paula & Gang - We summited yesterday - it was awesome. We are back at base camp looking forward to the trek out and getting a shower in Mendoza. Love you all tons and thanks for all of the support - a big thanks to the RMI Team who helped with our success!!!

Hi Fam and Friends, its Mike! Thank you all for the love and support along the way, your comments helped gin up the brute doggedness it took to make the summit yesterday. I’ll send pictures from Mendoza, cheers!

Hey everyone in sunny Florida! Todd here. Love to you all, especially Sally and baby girl McClurem. We are hanging out back at Base Camp after descending 4600 feet today. Trying to stay hydrated and warm. Thanks for all the comments. It was so great to know that we have family and friends who are following this crazy adventure. See ya soon!

As the resident geezer on this trip, I would like to thank not only our guides but my fellow climbers as well -  a truly great bunch of men. And all my love to those at home for their support and patience. Hello FrontPoint!

Well folks, from all the guides we would like to thank all who followed us. Geoff, Garrett and myself would like to thank all of our family at the RMI Headquarters in Ashford, WA. Without all of you we would not be as successful as we are.

RMI Guides JJ, Geoff, Garrett and Team

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Mexico Volcanoes: Waterfall & Team Relaxing in Puebla

Posted by: Seth Waterfall | January 17, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mexico

Eat until you get sleepy, sleep until you get hungry… That’s been our program, pretty much, today.  Zach took the record for late sleeping (10am) and Dave took the record for most cafe americanos (4 by my count).  But Gerry, Brian and I were no slouches in the rest day department either.

We’ve just finished with dinner and while the rest day was great everyone is getting psyched for el Pico de Orizaba.  Tomorrow we’ll be headed up to high camp and with a bit if luck it’ll be a summit for us early Saturday.

RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

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Aconcagua: Justman & Team Back to Camp After Successful Summit

Posted by: J.J. Justman, Geoff Schellens, Garrett Stevens | January 17, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Aconcagua
Elevation: 19,600'

We’re back! Hi everyone, sorry, we have been back at high camp for an hour but we have been going gonzo on the snow melting. Needless to say, after a 12-hour day, our team is thirsty!

We all want to thank everyone who followed us during our expedition. It was really great to see and hear the support and I contribute that to everyone on the team reaching the Aconcagua summit.

We will post a couple of blogs on our way out but I wanted to send a quick note letting everyone know we are tired but doing great! Tomorrow we head down to Base Camp.

RMI Guide JJ Justman

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Ecuador Volcanoes: Team Summits Cotopaxi!

Posted by: Billy Nugent, Katie Bono | January 17, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Ecuador
Elevation: 19,348'

We enjoyed great weather on Cotopaxi this morning which enabled the team to go 2 for 2! To help describe the beauty of our surroundings today, I hope you enjoy the photos in our blog post… Our ascent took just under seven hours in nearly calm but frigid conditions. As the dawn began to break we were unfortunately climbing on the shaded side of the mountain and felt no relief from the cold until we were kissed by the sun on the summit. Despite the cold morning 6 of our 8 climbers persevered to enjoy the glorious sunrise from the top. A strong team on the way up doesn’t always mean a strong team on the way down. Lucky for us, everyone descended exceptionally well and we found ourselves back at the Refugio drinking coffee by 10 am after a 2:30 descent! Anyway, the gang is back in Quito safe and sound, resting up for a celebratory dinner this evening before we all hustle back to our real lives. It’s been tons of fun, thanks for following along!

Godspeed.

RMI Guide Billy Nugent

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Aconcagua: Justman & Team 100% Summit!

Posted by: J.J. Justman, Geoff Schellens, Garrett Stevens | January 17, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Aconcagua
Elevation: 22,841'

Hey everyone, this is JJ Justman, I have an incredible news story coming to you live on the summit of Aconcagua.  Hey everyone.  Everyone on Team 3 made the summit of Aconcagua at 1:30 (ART) this afternoon. 100%!  The team did just absolutely fantastic.  Team give a shout out to everyone back at home. [Cheers from the team!]  I’ll tell you its always a tough day getting up here, but the rewards are great.  Beautiful day climbing.  We are the only ones on the summit of Aconcagua right now.  There is a little bit of wind so hopefully I’m not yelling too loud, but definitely want to let you guys know that everyone did great, everyone’s safe and sound.  We’re gonna take a few hero shots and then we’re gonna start heading down hill.  Thanks for following a long.  We will touch base with you when we get back to high camp.  Everyone’s doing great.  Everyone says hello to family and friends.  Take care from the summit of Aconcagua.

Congratulations to Tom Shilson!  Your guess of 1:23 is the winning summit time.  An RMI t-shirt and hat is on its way to you!

RMI Guide JJ Justman

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Mexico’s Volcanoes: Team descends safely

Posted by: Seth Waterfall | January 16, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mexico

We’re all checked in at the Hotel Colonial in Puebla.  If you’re counting, that’s less than 10 hours after standing on the summit of Ixta!

We got up this morning at 2:30AM under clear skies and no moon.  The view of the city lights from Amecameca to Mexico City was really cool.  The guys made quick work of getting ready and we started just after 3:30.  The talus field leading up to the Ayaloco glacier was our first challenge but my guiding partner Alejandro stepped up with local knowledge on the ever-shifting route.  He plotted the course to the toe of the glacier without issue.  After a quick transition to crampons we dispatched with the climb up the Ayaloco.  Once we crested the ridge the wind whipped up and it was parka time for most of us.  Our only hold up of the day came after we had put the crampons back in the pack to walk the ‘Arista del Sol’.  We hit an unexpected section of ice a few hundred feet below the summit plateau and had to transition back to the spikes.  Other than that it was smooth sailing for us right to the summit.  The wind calmed to a light breeze for our pictures up top and we found a sheltered spot for a nice long break just below the summit.

The way down to high camp was completed in three stretches and to my surprise there was very little grumbling as we down climbed the talus.  Kudos boys.  Having made such good time on the climb we were able to enjoy some extra breaks on the walk down from high camp.  The icing on the cake was when we were met by our super-driver, Rogelio, with tortas, chips, sodas and cervesas back at the trail head.

He tortas were good but they’re just the tip of the iceberg for we are in Puebla, home of many delicious foods.  The team is waiting for me, it’s dinner time!

RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

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Aconcagua: Justman & Team at High Camp and Set for Summit Bid

Posted by: J.J. Justman, Geoff Schellens, Garrett Stevens | January 16, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Aconcagua
Elevation: 19,600'

Well, well, well! Here we are! High Camp at 19,600 feet. And let me tell ya, it is great to be here in the thin air. It’s like I tell my climbers, “The higher we go, the better we feel!”  And even though it goes against physiology at altitude, I believe the mental mantra is working. Everyone is feeling great!

Tomorrow is summit day. We have a great forecast and we are keeping our fingers crossed. Most likely we will have light winds and some clouds building late afternoon. It is looking like a beautiful day. With that said, I have a challenge for you RMI blog enthusiasts, and make sure you share this challenge with as many folks you know.

On this blog post click on the comment button and place your guess. What time (Argentina Time: ART) will our team summit Aconcagua tomorrow December 17th? Our team will be leaving high camp around 5 AM (ART).

Whoever gets the closest time will win an RMI t-shirt and baseball cap. Please include your email address along with your answer.

Again put your guess in the comment section of this blog posting only.

Wish us luck!!

RMI Guide JJ Justman

On The Map

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