Hello again from Russia!
We woke to clear skies and cool temps which made for nearly perfect hiking conditions on Mt. Elbrus. After a wonderful breakfast of porridge and mini pancakes prepared by our friendly Russian cook, we set out on another acclimatization hike. The team did great and reached an altitude of just over 15,000' in a little under 4 hours. On our descent the clouds came in and almost like clockwork began sprinkling on us right as we pulled back into camp. Lucky us!
We had another delicious lunch and some of us played a little cribbage, while others retired for a nice siesta.
Everyone is in good spirits and looking forward to having a rest day before our upcoming climb.
RMI Guide Casey and crew
Casey, I’d recognize that jacket anywhere. Larry, the beard is looking great. Hope you are having a blast. Missing you and all the gang. Looks chilly there. It’s 98 degrees in the shade in Houston. Enjoy.
Posted by: Cindy Calder on 7/12/2013 at 7:43 am
Hey Casey and Larry!!!! You guys look great!!! We will be following y’all all the way to the top.
Posted by: Holley Harris and Cindy Calder on 7/11/2013 at 8:47 pm
RMI Guide Brent Okita led the Four Day Summit Climb teams to the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Brent radioed from the summit shortly after 7 am as the teams were crossing the crater. They reported cold temperatures with moderate winds and clear skies. The teams began their descent from the crater rim around 7:40 am. They will return to Camp Muir for a short break and then continue down to Paradise later this afternoon.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
Tom & Molly, you take my breath away! What an adventure! What an accomplishment!
Can’t wait to hear all about it! I am so proud of you & love you more than you will ever know! Your sister Colleen—in Portland
Posted by: Colleen Keenan D'Arcy on 7/11/2013 at 10:25 am
Hello everyone from Team Texas in Russia! St Petersburg to be exact. Look... I'm going to be honest with you, we don't want to make you jealous. However, ending the trip in St Pete's is indescribable. So! To give you a tiny idea of how spectacular it is here, take a look at our slide show of today's events.
And don't go to far. I will have another slideshow of our canal tour later tonight. Stop dreaming and come to Russia!
RMI Guide JJ Justman
With all that snow you’re getting, I bet you’d be happy to see a little sunshine. It’s nice and warm down here in the Chicago area. Wish we could send some sunshine & warmth your way.
Hope you’re able to get some good photos of the climb between the snowfalls. Can’t wait to see them.
As far as the home front goes, Summit’s doing good although Mom’s a wreck, but what do you expect! As you know, I’m the one that has to suffer through all this, so I hope you appeciate what I’m going through.
Anyways, take care and look forward to your return. Best wishes also to your fellow climbers.
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Last night's snow shower turned into the "heavy fall of snow" that we've been promised on a daily basis by our forecasts these last ten days. It snowed, it snowed and then it snowed some more here at 14,200 ft. We estimated that it was coming down at a rate of 3 inches per hour. Zeb got out at three to rally a shovel brigade in retaking the camp from the tent-bending powder deluge. We could hear great avalanches roaring repeatedly down the steep and icy flanks of the West Buttress. It didn't ease until around nine in the morning, by which point we figured about 24 inches had fallen overnight. Needless to say, today was not a climbing day for us. The wind was still pulling huge streamers of snow off the route we'd hoped to trace along the crest of the Buttress. And the slopes leading to the ridge were now all suspect in terms of snow stability. So much snow falling so quickly doesn't give the stuff a chance to settle. One of the ways it settles on a mountainside is to avalanche. There was plenty of visual evidence (when the clouds parted for a minute here and there) that a number of avalanches had already occurred on the route to the fixed ropes, but there were also still vast stretches of undisturbed deep new snow. We needed a hot and sunny day to glue things in place and to make it all safe again. But you can't always get what you need. Our day was mostly cloudy with light snow showers. Zebulon gave a great lesson in basic snow science, demonstrating how to identify weak layers in the snow pack, how to compare the hardness of those layers, and in how to conduct a "compression test" on an isolated column of snow in a study pit. Our climbers then dug their own pits and made their own observations as a way of understanding our challenge in these next few days. We need to figure out the level of hazard that exists on the slopes above us without exposing ourselves to that very hazard. And we don't have much time to do it in. We only have a couple more days of food available. Our greater cache of food is now the one sitting above the suspect slopes... In perfect position for our summit bid, but out of our reach until we determine that the avalanche hazard has diminished. Lots to figure out on Denali. We aren't alone though. The other teams, mostly at 17 camp have similar dilemmas What we all need, first and foremost, is a break from continued bad weather. As is normal, we need a little good luck. Despite the challenges, the team is still in good spirits. Today, we went over the blog comments together. We can't surf the web with our setup, but the RMI office was kind enough to cut and paste the comments into an email for us. Thanks, from the entire team, for keeping us in your thoughts.
Best Regards
Dave Hahn
Hello RMI family! It is Team Texas from Russia. Today we flew to St. Petersburg and we are enjoying this amazing city! We are celebrating our safe and successful trip on Elbrus. And believe me, everyone deserves to rest, relax and enjoy the good life that only sea level altitude provides!
Stay tuned for tomorrow's video dispatch of St. Pete's!!!
RMI Guide JJ Justman
The team checked in from the Baksan Valley today. They are taking a well-deserved rest day after their successful summit climb of Mt. Elbrus yesterday. We hope they enjoy their time in Cheget shopping and site-seeing.
They will spend their final night in Cheget this evening. Tomorrow they will transfer to Mineralnye Vody and take a flight to St. Petersburg, the final stop on their tour of Russia and one of the highlights of the trip.
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Not too much to report on our scheduled rest day at 14,200' on Mt. McKinley. It was calm and sunny, despite the persistent storm forecasts, but it did seem to be getting progressively more cloudy as the day went on and it started snowing at a good clip while we ate dinner in our cozy POSH tent. The team did an excellent job of taking it easy today. We caught up on hydration and sleep, rested sore muscles and dried out boots and socks. We pared down the personal gadgetry and entertainment systems for the hard move up to 17,200' and tried to figure out any clothing or gear that would not be useful up above.
The number of teams around or above us has been steadily diminishing and as is normal for this point in July, the National Park Service climbing rangers have been packing up their seasonal station at 14 and getting loads ready for helicoptering. It has been fun visiting with the other teams, but it is also quite enjoyable to have the mountain in its natural state -quiet and uncrowded.
If it doesn't snow too much tonight and we get a decent shot tomorrow, we'll move to high camp.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
The team had a leisurely start to the day with breakfast at 8 as everyone is still getting their internal clocks set. After getting packed up last night and checking out of the hotel today we made our way over to the big gondola. We rode two gondolas and one small chairlift up the mountain to our new home here at 12,000', where there are several huts including one for dining. The Garabashi Hut is also call the "barrels" because of the round shape of the huts. They are a little worn, but warm and dry nonetheless.
It was a pretty easy transition for the team and once everyone was settled we headed out the door on another acclimatization hike. We hiked for about 2 hours which took us up to about 13,500'. We then descended back to camp and had a great lunch of Bortch, a variety of fruits, salami, and cheese.
Everyone is doing great and are enjoying the beautiful weather and amazing views of the Caucasus mountain range.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
The team is making great progress. You’ll be at the top before you know it!! Praying for continued safe travels. From James’Madre
Posted by: Dolores Graham on 7/10/2013 at 4:24 pm
you all look great! ask Chris to point out where I would have stopped, Im sure u will all make it to the top. its great to be able to read these updates!
We've been enjoying the natural hot spring pools in Papallacta, even if it is a bit rainy. Yesterday we took an acclimatization hike up to around 14,500', but only stayed out for about an hour and a half, as rain, snow, and wind drove us back to Papallacta. We've been sleeping at 11,000' in Papallacta, so we're definitely acclimating to the high altitude.
Today we're off to base camp on Antisana, where we'll set up tents and establish camp for two nights prior to our summit bid. We're all looking forward to getting deeper into the mountains...
RMI Guide Mike Walter
So incredibly proud of the entire team, and our guys, John and Ryan! Your commitment to this expedition is so inspiring. Stay safe!
Love
Mom and Alessia
Posted by: Alessia Satterfield on 7/12/2013 at 11:30 am
so sad for you guys. darn winds that just wouldn’t ease up enough to let you make this summit. Glad you all are fine and made it back down safely. squeezes!
The Four Day Summit Climbs led by RMI Guides Seth Waterfall and Jason Thompson reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning shortly after 5:30 a.m. They reported clear skies and warm temperatures with winds around 20 mph.
As of 7:00 am the teams were descending from High Break (13,300'). They will continue to Camp Muir and make a short break there before continuing to Paradise this afternoon.
Congratulations to today's Summit Climb teams!
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Casey, I’d recognize that jacket anywhere. Larry, the beard is looking great. Hope you are having a blast. Missing you and all the gang. Looks chilly there. It’s 98 degrees in the shade in Houston. Enjoy.
Posted by: Cindy Calder on 7/12/2013 at 7:43 am
Hey Casey and Larry!!!! You guys look great!!! We will be following y’all all the way to the top.
Posted by: Holley Harris and Cindy Calder on 7/11/2013 at 8:47 pm
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