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Mt. McKinley: Okita & Team Move Into 11K Camp

Posted by: Brent Okita, Leah Fisher, Logan Randolph | May 25, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 11,200'

The sun doesn’t set at 11,200’ camp until after 9:30 sometime.  Then it just passes behind a mountain to cast shadows on this place that we’re now calling home.  And we’re soaking it all up after another nice day of climbing.

Today we made it to camp in under four hours, and for the first time had pretty reasonable sized packs. A cool down-glacier breeze offered us a change of pace from the sweat fest of the lower glacier, and I think most of the team welcomed the drop in temperature.

Pulling into camp in the early afternoon allowed us to walk into a vacated camp spot and relieved us of the tough work of building walls and excavating tent platforms. Most of us relaxed and enjoyed a well deserved break from our toils.

Another first for the trip: we enjoyed a fine meal from the comfort of our Posh House. This is a tent like thing that allows us all to sit, cook and eat, protected from the elements like the wind, cold, snow or even sun. It’s cozy and makes it fun to just linger over a couple of hot drinks and enjoy each others company.

Tomorrow we’ll be doing a back carry to pick up the cache we left there this morning. We’re looking forward to a fairly easy day, and hopefully another great day of weather.
Before we sign off, Ayla wants to give a big shout out to her sister. Happy Birthday Eva! (By the way, your sister Ayla is a rock star - she’s doing great.)

Until tomorrow ...

RMI Guide Brent Okita

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Mt. McKinley: Nugent & Team Bring Cache From 13,600’

Posted by: Billy Nugent, Kel Rossiter, Levi Kepsel | May 25, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 14,200'

First and foremost, the biggest event of the day was Pete’s birthday—14K on a sunny day is not a bad place for a party.

Today was a bit a work and a bit of play, or rest anyway.  We started by moving the 13,600’ cache.  We moved the cache and carried the cache to 14K.  Resting at the cache spot before our carry, we could hear the water flowing underground, deep under the glacier.  The trip back to camp was smooth and everyone arrived back far from flippy-floppy.  We enjoyed a relaxing afternoon in the peaceful oasis of our surroundings.  Though we all could certainly get used to that lifestyle, we’re also eager to make the most of this weather and the team’s strength, so we’re heading off to bed soon to get ready for tomorrow’s carry up the fixed lines.

RMI Guide Kel Rossiter

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Mt. Everest: Sherpas Bring Last Loads through the Icefall, Safe at Basecamp

Posted by: Dave Hahn, Seth Waterfall, Mark Tucker | May 25, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Everest
Elevation: 17,575'

Our Sherpa climbing team went up through the Khumbu Icefall a final time early this morning.  The rest of us sat out in the warm sunshine and continued the packing process as we watched the glacier and listened to our radios.  It was great to relax, and to be safe, but of course that relaxation wasn’t complete until Lam Babu brought the entire team down from Camp One with the final loads.  Then the day passed slowly and easily, listening to avalanches and rocks falling off the surrounding peaks.  Helicopters buzzed the camp incessantly, either capturing the last film footage of “Basecamp 2013” or looking for riders with VISA cards.  Summer is coming to the Himalaya and the forecasts tell us the monsoon is only a few days off.  There are still climbing teams on the mountain, but the vast majority have finished and gone home.  Tents and puja flags were coming down in every direction today and strings of yaks and porters were taking everything down-valley.  Trekkers quit coming around about a week ago as weather down low shifted to cloudy mode.  We’ll leave base tomorrow and the remaining team will collapse the camp in our wake.  It seems hard to believe that we’ve lived in this place for seven weeks now… That will have to be enough for this year.  We’ll just hope to hang on to the spectacular imagery and the sense of camaraderie we’ve built up through the experience.  Thank you for following the expedition.

Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn

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Mt. McKinley: Nugent & Team’s Hard Work Pays Off with a Reward

Posted by: Billy Nugent, Kel Rossiter, Levi Kepsel | May 25, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 14,200'

Billy here checking in from Camp IV at 14,200’ after a strong showing from our team on a big move up. We enjoyed mostly clear skies and incredibly strong sun on the way up from our previous camp at 11,000’. In fact, the sun was a little too strong; while the ambient temperature hovered in the teens we felt like we were boiling for the majority of our climb. It’s amazing what a little radiation can do. After all our hard work we were rewarded with an easy move-in to Mike Walter’s recently vacated camp. Sometimes you just get lucky. The high pressure is supposed to stick around through the extended forecast so we aim to keep on chipping away…

Wulpseeya!

RMI Guide Billy Nugent

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Mt. McKinley: Walter & Team in Position for Summit Bid

Posted by: Mike Walter, Solveig Waterfall, Ben Liken | May 25, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 17,200'

We woke early this morning, hours before the sun came up and warmed up our camp. After packing up camp in the shade, we made our way up to the head wall towards high camp. The sun finally warmed us up as we started ascending the fixed ropes up to the the top of the West Buttress. Then we ascended the beautiful and exposed snow covered granite ridge into high camp. The weather was amazing, as were the views: 3000’ feet down to our last camp in Genet Basin to our south and the same relief down to the Peters Glacier to our north.

We arrived at high camp (17,200’) shortly after 3pm. We’re all well rested and we’re hoping for good weather tomorrow for a shot at the summit. We’ll let you know how it shakes out.

RMI Guide Mike Walter

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Mt. Rainier: May 25, 2013 - Update

Posted by: J.J. Justman, Eric Frank, Alex Barber, Nick Hunt | May 25, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount Rainier
Elevation: 10,200'

Hi everyone!

The team today awoke to conditions that are not ideal to climb in. With all the new snow it just has not settled enough to allow safe climbing. So to enjoy and have a full mountain experience the team went up to Muir Peak to watch the sun rise. It’s my favorite part of climbing. The photos simply do not do it justice.

We are safe and we are happy and we are still laughing and having fun!

RMI Guide JJ Justman & Team

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Mt. McKinley: Okita & Team Establish Camp at 9,500’

Posted by: Brent Okita, Leah Fisher, Logan Randolph | May 24, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 9,500'

Weary though we were last night, everyone bounced back after a good nights sleep. Looking up at Ski Hill and knowing we needed to haul these loads up it had us a little anxious in the morning, but we all found the strength and spirit and we made it up to camp at 9,500’ by 3:00 p.m.. We were pretty happy and relieved to get here, and it was wonderful to have another perfect day for it.
We’ve been enjoying the warmth of the afternoon to make camp, and perhaps more importantly, to relax a bit and even get out of our boots.

Tomorrow we start ferrying loads up the mountain, moving only half our gear at a time. This means that we’ll be spending at least two days at a time at each camp. Tomorrows plan is to pack up camp and bring just a few days of food and fuel with us, caching the rest here in a deep hole and away from the ravens who have developed a taste for candy and ramen. We’ll make camp at 11,200’, then come back the next day with empty packs to bring up what we left. What does all this mean? Light packs! Ok, perhaps I should be realistic and call them ‘lighter pack.’
Anyways, we’re firing on all cylinders here and things couldn’t be much better. What a treat it is to climb with a fun, strong team.
We’ll talk again tomorrow.

RMI Guides Brent Okita, Logan Randolph and Leah Fisher

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Mt. Everest: Team Returns to Base Camp

Posted by: Dave Hahn, Mark Tucker, Seth Waterfall | May 24, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Everest
Elevation: 17,575'

Dave and I are safely back at Everest Basecamp.  The Sherpa team has one more load to carry down from Camp 1 in the morning and then the expedition will officially be done with the Everest climb.

RMI Guide Seth Waterfall

[Audio posted from Dave Hahn after returning to Basecamp]

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Mt. Rainier: Muir Seminar Finishes Their Week on the Mountain

Posted by: Casey Grom, Adam Knoff | May 24, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount Rainier

RMI Guides Casey Grom, Adam Knoff and the Expedition Skills Seminar team descended from Camp Muir and arrived at Rainier Basecamp this afternoon.  They learned many mountaineering skills at 10,000’ during their five days on the mountain and weathered a winter snow storm that dropped three feet of new snow at Camp Muir.

Great job to all!

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Mt. McKinley: Walter & Team Rest at 14,200’ Camp

Posted by: Ben Liken, Mike Walter, Solveig Waterfall | May 24, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 14,200'

Our team slept in this morning and got some much needed rest for our upcoming summit bid. Tomorrow we plan to wake early, pack up camp, and move to our high camp at 17,200’. The weather is perfect, and so is the forecast. We hope the meteorologists in Fairbanks are correct, as they are predicting good weather for the next few days. But, as always, we’re focusing on one day at a time. And if the weather is good tomorrow, that focus will be climbing efficiently from our current camp at 14,200’ up to high camp at 17,200’, and establishing ourselves up high for a summit bid. Stay tuned and wish us luck…

RMI Guide Mike Walter

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