Entries By lindsay mann

RMI Guide Lindsay Mann recently sat down with the crew at MTNmeister, a five day-a-week podcast that that explores the training, stamina, strength, and psychology of outdoor mountain athletes. Below is an excerpt from Lindsay’s interview where she discusses some perspectives on training for Mt. Rainier: MTNmeister: Talk a little bit about the types of preparation you should be doing with types of mountains like Mt. Rainier…obviously it can just get scaled up from there, there are a lot of people who do larger Himalayan peaks actually train on Mt. Rainier so that would be a good place to start. Where would that training start? Lindsay Mann: I definitely recognize as [a] guide that my lifestyle revolves around being in the mountains and that’s not the reality for all of the people that we climb with. Though, I think it’s important for people that do have a more typical lifestyle is getting in some endurance training. Obviously running is great, [really] any type of endurance [training]. Also, training with a pack. I climbed with my dad and he had to be in New York City a couple of weeks before coming out to Rainier so he climbed as many stairs as he could carrying a 40 pound pack. He just filled a bunch of water jugs and put them in his pack. I think that is an important part of that too, if that’s how you do end up training (doing some sort of stairs) is [remembering] to train for the way downhill. So, mentally think about getting to the top, but people forget that they also have to get off of the mountain. I think that for us as guides, the number one thing is getting back home safely. Remembering that training downhill, both mentally and physically, is an important part of the training. I think that switching it up too, endurance stuff, having a strong core, being creative about your training is very important. MM: The downhill part that you mentioned, how are you normally descending the mountains? LM: We go down the same route typically that we go and I think it’s just [remembering to use] a lot of the efficiency techniques that we teach on the way up, like the rest step which I’m sure many people have heard of… MM: Would you explain the rest step? LM: The rest step is a stance where you have your lower leg straight and your upper leg is bent so all of your body weight is resting on your skeletal system instead of on your muscles. And then just a quick step to that next rest stance so that once again all of your weight is on that lower leg resting more on your skeletal system. It’s a nice small step so that you are saving as much energy as you can on the way up and getting a little bit of a rest with each step. MM: So you are putting more pressure on your skeletal system and saving your muscles for the endurance basically? LM: Yeah, essentially saving your muscles for the way down. On the way down you don’t want to lock out your leg - you just can’t do it. It’s a lot harder just to walk down. MM: You mentioned that your father was training by climbing up and down stairs and he had his backpack full of water, how do climbers know that the training is going to be appropriate for the type of trip they are going to do because they probably have never been to that location, unless it’s you as a guide who has gone there fifty times so you know exactly what it’s like. Do you recommend a person that is going to go up a mountain like Rainier to work with a guiding company like you on the training aspect too? Or is it just looking on the internet, following some other sorts of guidelines? LM: We actually have a specific training and fitness page and there, there are a lot of good training tips. There are a variety of training tips, for people that have a more “regular” lifestyle, like a nine-to-five job. Also, interspersed in there is some of the training that we guides do. That’s one of the best tools that our climbers can use. My dad actually, after he was training, wrote a blog piece on there about the training that he did. He spent a lot of time training in New Hampshire, so he [describes] some hikes that he did that he felt prepared him adequately for Mt. Rainier in his progression. Listen to the entire podcast and see more of MTNMeister’s episodes at mtnmeister.com. ______ Lindsay Mann is a lead guide with RMI Expeditions and has guided and climbed around the world, including a recent all women's ski mountaineering trip to Alaska's Wrangell St. Elias. Learn more about the trip by listening to the full interview. Questions? Comments? Share your thoughts here on the RMI Blog!

The Four Day Summit Climb teams led by RMI Guides Brent Okita and Lindsay Mann reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. The teams reported clear skies and good climbing. They were able to enjoy some time on the summit before starting their descent around 7:30 am. The teams will return to Camp Muir for a short break before continuing down to Paradise. We look forward to seeing them at Rainier BaseCamp later this afternoon. Congratulations to today's summit climb teams!

Monday, July 7, 2014 - 12:05 PM PT Well, the team is currently experiencing deja vu here at 11,200' camp on Mt. McKinley. Before arriving here in deja vu land, the team did an AWESOME job packing up high camp and descending to 14,200' camp. At 14,200' we were met by Dave Hahn and his team who treated us to lots of hot water and quesadillas. Delicious and just what we needed! Descending to 11 camp required all of our attention as we re-acquainted ourselves with sleds, experienced some post-holing, and walked (as best we could) through less than exciting weather. Now to the deja vu part of the story...a snow storm at 11,200'. We thought the weather gods had released all of the snow on us already but we were wrong. We are doing a weather dance right now so we can continue our descent and make our dreams of warm showers, cold beers, and loved ones a reality. Until then, we will keep you posted. RMI Guide Adam Knoff

July 6, 2014 - 11:00 am PT Adam Knoff called the office with great news: The team reached the summit of Mount McKinley at 7:00pm last night! Everyone is doing great and very happy. They are packing up high camp and plan to head down to 14K camp to visit with Dave Hahn and team, then may continue on to 11,000’. Their plan is to be at Basecamp tomorrow. RMI Guide Adam Knoff

On The Map

July 5, 2014 - 5:05 pm PT Adam called and reported that they were on their way up to the summit, just below the Football Field with all climbers doing well. Yesterday was a great move day for them, and they continue to enjoy good weather, with blue skies and 20mph winds. RMI Guide Adam Knoff

On The Map

July 4, 2014 - 9:44 pm PT The move to Mt. McKinley's high camp is like stepping into the ring with a heavy weight larger than King Kong. Thing is, he really likes to throw things at you in one long grueling round. That round our team won. It could not have been a more perfect day to come to high camp. Now the question becomes how much strength does the team have for round two which comes in the form of Godzilla. Tomorrow we will attempt to climb to the summit, weather permitting. Wish us well. RMI Guide Adam Knoff and team signing off from high camp.

On The Map

Thursday, July 2, 2014 – 4:43 PM PT Yesterday our team experienced the unparalleled vistas of a clear sky at 16,200’ on Denali as we were finally handed a nearly perfect day. We loaded up three days of lunch and snack food plus a few personal items for our carry to the top of the fixed lines which crest Washburn’s Ridge—the most stimulating section of Denali’s West Buttress Route. The team did great learning how to jumar. All members of the St. Angelo family and Jay and Mary Lampas hit personal altitude records. Fatima did a great job breaking trail down the lines, literally paving the way for thirty other climbers on the same program as us. The population of 14k camp has increased dramatically. What once was a camp that resembled a wide cow pasture with wandering wildlife now resembles a city with distinct neighborhoods on main thoroughfares. Just like a city, this can create traffic jams when multiple teams, all roped together, try to move around at the same time. This sudden influx of guided teams means we will need to wake up at 4 am, while the temperature here sits around 5 below, just to beat the crowds and avoid a bottleneck. This afternoon we had a lengthy breakfast which leaned more along the lines of a leisurely brunch. We then took a beautiful stroll to an incredible precipice called the Edge of the World. Great weather allowed us more breathtaking views and inspired us for the hard days to come. Hopefully our next contact will be from high camp. RMI Guide Adam Knoff

On The Map

July 2, 2014 - 12:09 am PT Thank you for all of the blog comments. It is great to hear from everyone back home and it is always reinvigorating. Today we got to sleep in and then scurried down to our cache above Windy Corner. It was nice to be reunited with our food, clean underwear and base layers that we left buried in the snow for a few days. We then spent the afternoon doing some kitchen redesign, fixed line training and more sorting of food. Tomorrow is an exciting day! We will get to see some more challenging and exciting terrain-- carrying to the top of the fixed lines! RMI Guide Adam Knoff and Team

On The Map

June 30, 2014 - 11:19pm PT After an impromptu camp on the polo field we woke up to intermittent wind gusts rattling our tent flys. We crawled out of our shelters to crisp cold weather and blue skies. We ate a quick breakfast and began to break camp to complete our journey to 14,200' feet. Amidst the chaos of packing our bags we spotted Billy Nugent and his crew descending from a successful summit, we exchanged high fives and and hit the trail. This time equipped with snow shoes and skis to deal with the waist deep drifts. We were feeling very happy about floating on the snow surface vs crawling through it. We had pleasant weather and relatively calm winds working our way around Windy Corner. We pulled into camp and made ourselves at home, feeling the altitude a little we began to take care of ourselves and focus on the mountain ahead of us. We are all feeling good and hoping for the best weather possible. RMI Guide Adam Knoff & Team

On The Map

June 29, 2014 - 9:51 pm PT Hello to everyone out there in blog land. We all wish, in some selfish way I suppose, that there was a sure fire way to teleport any curious individuals straight to our location here on what is commonly called the Polo Field of the West Buttress. As I mentioned yesterday, a move to 14,000 foot Advanced Basecamp was on the ticket and we were gonna "make some hay" while the sun did shine. Oh how the "High One" can take any given plan and turn it into any thing she wishes. Like the oxymoron I spoke of about a "windless" Windy Corner. Can you say JINX! As it turns out, not only was the corner as windy as a Dave Hahn Everest story, the sun only shined for a few minutes before it started dumping snow again. Combine this with heinous trail breaking in the multiple feet of new snow and out pops a midway camp spot used only when the going gets tough. So tomorrow the tough will get going again and try for 14,000 feet once more. Wish for warm toes, a better trail and quite winds. Until Tomorrow. RMI Guide Adam Knoff