We're all in our sleeping bags after a good day of climbing. We carried a cache of supplies to 16,800', just below Washburn's Thumb. Everyone did well on their first foray up the fixed lines, and then further climbing up the ridge of the West Buttress. We will be taking a rest day tomorrow, and hopefully be heading up to high camp soon thereafter.
A weak weather system looks to be approaching for the next few days, which is fine with us; we'll be resting, acclimating, and getting strong for the (hopefully) good weather to follow. We are in position now, and ready to head up to higher ground whenever the weather allows.
We will be in touch again tomorrow.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
Lee - So excited to hear news of your trek. Keep your socks dry. Looking forward to hearing about it all when you return. Cant wait to see the pictures. You are remembering to take pictures right? Mary Lee & C
Posted by: Mary Lee on 6/25/2012 at 8:21 pm
Lee, In support of your efforts I will go climb Dike East this week.
It is apparent the two previous days of hauling full loads weighing more than a small horse has already made our team stronger. Yesterday we all felt a bit nackered but ten solid hours of sleep was most revitalizing.
This morning the alarm went off at 6:00 am and we woke to clear skies and cold temps. The ever constant roar of our stoves means coffee is close providing the needed impetus to crawl out of warm bags and into cold boots.
We then made a smooth carry to 11,000 feet, the sight of our next camp. With a full afternoon to rest, the team is now learning the invaluable skill of killing time.
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
The Four Day Summit Climbs led by RMI Guides Paul Maier and Geoff Schellens were forced to turn around this morning due to deteriorating weather conditions.
The teams reached the top of Disappointment Cleaver at 12,500' before making the decision to turn back.
We look forward to seeing them back at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.
Hello again from 14,200' on Denali! The weather was beautiful today, and we enjoyed it by taking a nice short hike out to the Edge of The World, a spectacular viewpoint near our camp. Then we reviewed and practiced fixed line travel with our ascenders. The rest of the day was spent lounging around, eating, napping, listening to music, and telling lies. We enjoyed a hearty dinner of black bean and chicken quesadillas, and now we're all getting horizontal and settling in for the night. We are planning to carry some supplies up high tomorrow, in preparation for moving up to high camp later in the week for our summit bid. Everyone is doing quite well adjusting to the 14,200' altitude of our camp, and I expect that we will all do well climbing higher tomorrow. Of course we have the luxury of returning to our comfortable camp at 14k tomorrow night for a good night's sleep.
That's all for now. We'll be in touch again tomorrow night after our carry. Thanks for all the great comments on the blog. Keep them coming!
RMI Guide Mike Walter
Hey everyone, hope your still killing it up there and telling some good jokes (hopefully not canadian related). You guys are the best and I can’t wait to hear about the trip, I miss you all alot!
O, before I forget… lee here is an intro to the north-dakota jokes i’ve come across.. many more to come.
Q: Why did North Dakota raise the minimum drinking age to 25?
A: They wanted to keep alcohol out of the high schools!
Q: How do you know the toothbrush was invented in North Dakota?
A: If it was invented anywhere else, it would have been called a teethbrush.
Take tons of pictures for me on the summit!
Lots of love from Calgary,
Sasha
Posted by: sasha selby on 6/23/2012 at 11:57 pm
Great post and update! Good job everyone….Guides included. We would not get very far without our awesome mountain guides! I am not paid to say that by the way. :)
Another casual morning... We ate some breakfast, checked out of the Mercure (our hotel) around 8 am or so, loaded up the van and Jaime's truck, then hit the road. Heading north on the PanAmerican Highway, we left Quito and passed through the town of Otavalo, famous for it's large open air market. Eventually we turned off the highway and headed up into the countryside on our approach to Cerro Fuya Fuya. After many kilometers of driving on a cobblestone road up into the mountains we reached Laguna Mojanda and the base of Fuya Fuya. The lake is actually a giant caldera filled with water (think Crater Lake in OR) and made for a great backdrop to our second training hike. A couple hours of hiking and scrambling brought us to the summit at well over 14,000'. We enjoyed clear and sweeping views from la cumbre of the two valleys below in addition to the big Laguna. After a quick break on top we beat feet for the cars to try and out pace some menacing clouds. Everyone was feeling great.
After another short trip in the van we arrived at the beautiful Hosteria San Luis. Talk about traveling in style, there are beautiful gardens, stables, classic colonial architecture, a pool, and a pond. The gang is settling in and enjoying the last bit of luxury before heading up to the climber's refugio on Cayambe.
I'll call and check in tomorrow night from the refugio,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
Hello to all from the June 19 Denali expedition. If the saying "make hay while the sun shines" applies to mountaineering, this team could feed a lot of cows.
I am thrilled with our team dynamic and progress. Yesterday we ate breakfast, got ready and were blessed with clear conditions at base camp. K2 Aviation worked hard to get us all on the glacier which allowed us to pack up and move out. We arrived at the base of Ski Hill by dinner.
Today we woke to perfect weather and the team again showed great enthusiasm to get moving. By 6:45 a.m. we were marching up Ski Hill with full loads. We arrived at 9,800 feet by 11:30 and are now enjoying a steamy afternoon sun bathing. Stay tuned for tomorrow's next episode. This is Adam Knoff signing off.
RMI Guides Brent Okita, Tyler Reid and our Four Day Summit Climb team reached the top of Mt. Rainier today. The teams climbed in the clouds and have started there descent back to Camp Muir.
Congratulations!
Sally…congratulations on an incredible achievement! We love you! (Still waiting for the Skype call from the summit…next time, right? Haha!)
Posted by: The Schroeders on 6/24/2012 at 7:50 am
Sally, you made it! God has blessed you so much, He had to bless you this time too. You and your team are an inspiration to us all. Love, your Brother Dan
Hello everybody this is Jake and crew at the start of the Kahiltna Glacier at 11,000’. Today we descended from 17,000’ down to 11,000’ where we are making a camp for a few hours before trying to walk on the lower Kahiltna while it’s still frozen in the early morning. With any luck we will be at the runway in time to catch a flight back to Talkeetna.
We hope everyone is doing very well there and trust that we are doing well here. With what may be our last night on the mountain. Hopefully, I didn’t jinx us and that we will be heading home soon.
So see you all then.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
RMI Guide Jake Beren checks in from 11,000 ft on their descent.
Happy summer solstice from the land of the Midnight Sun!
Our team had a pretty relaxing day today; it started with a leisurely breakfast, then we went back to Windy Corner to retrieve our cache, and then we relaxed all afternoon. The two hour round trip to Windy Corner was a good leg stretcher. And the relaxing afternoon sure felt good also.
This afternoon we welcomed Jake Beren's team back to 14k after their successful summit bid. It was good to see the whole team in good shape after their climb. And it was a pleasure to have water waiting for them and to make them bacon quesadillas as they repacked their backpacks and rested here. They continued their descent to 11k, and are planning to be at the airstrip tomorrow.
We are planning on taking a rest day here at 14k tomorrow, in order to be strong for our carry up high above 16k.
We'll be in touch again tomorrow...
RMI Guide Mike Walter
So glad the trip is going well. It is amazing to see all the snow and think of the cold while we hit 89 today and it is dry, dry , dry. Enjoy your rest day and thanks for the updates.
Missy
Posted by: missy prudden on 6/22/2012 at 8:46 pm
For someone that lives in snow country, you guys have a lot of snow
It sure seems incredible, hope every one is well and all continues to go well.
Matt, This has to be the high light of your life. All Take care, climb safely
Thanks so much for the updates. Don Pennington
Woke up today to blue skies and a bunch of climbers eager to get the adventure started. We had a quick breakfast in the hotel cafe and then the team met up with Jaime, one of our local guides, before we set out in taxis for a ride up the teleferiqo (gondola) to a perch high above the city. The skies were clear, affording us an awesome view of Cayambe, Cotopaxi, Chimborazo, and the Illinizas. After taking in our surroundings we started our training hike that eventually took us up to the summit of Rucu Pichincha at nearly 15,500'. The team felt great and was moving incredibly well considering that most of us had come from very close to sea level in the U.S. just a couple days prior. Unfortunately, we were socked in the clouds on the summit but shortly after beginning our descent we emerged from a higher cloud layer and again had the opportunity to enjoy sweeping views of the mountains and the sprawl of Quito.
We hopped in a colectivo van for a ride back to the hotel and most of us took a quick siesta before heading out on the town for another team dinner, this time at La Boca del Lobo. We even enjoyed some pretty awesome views of the urban wildlife on our walk back from the restaurant. The crew hit the sack pretty early tonight tired from today but also in preparation for another early start tomorrow as we head out of Quito and begin our journey towards our first big objective, Cayambe.
Will check in again tomorrow,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
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Lee - So excited to hear news of your trek. Keep your socks dry. Looking forward to hearing about it all when you return. Cant wait to see the pictures. You are remembering to take pictures right? Mary Lee & C
Posted by: Mary Lee on 6/25/2012 at 8:21 pm
Lee, In support of your efforts I will go climb Dike East this week.
Posted by: Kelly on 6/25/2012 at 10:41 am
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