The week of winter solstice was filled with sun, great attitudes and a wonderful time spent in the mountains. We started our Intro to Ski Mountaineering Seminar with a day of basic touring skills, equipment function and packing along with harness, rope, and avalanche transceiver drills. This was a great start to the trip with two young boys from New York and Ohio looking for adventure and building their mountaineering and ski touring skill sets. The mountain days were full of exciting new learning. Our first day on the hill we parked at Paradise and ski toured toward Edith Creek drainage and found a nice, secluded and well snow-covered area to camp for the evening, allowing us to make a run down a great slope in the basin. We covered kick turns and transitions along with many other key maneuvers while traveling the mountains with skis on, whether it be up or on the way down. Our camp experience was good practical winter camping… Cold…ish but clear and star filled nights.
The second day we awoke to fog filled air. We leisurely packed camp and dropped some extra overnight equipment in the van. Around 10 a.m. we stepped in to our skis and started our ski to Camp Muir, 4,500' above at 10,000'. On our way to Muir we encountered firm crust and rime ice requiring us to make use of the crampons a few times and used them a good amount on a section of the upper snow field when our skins would just not grip. In late afternoon we arrived at Muir feeling the days work. We brewed up some hot drinks, had dinner and settled in the bunkhouse for the evening. The third day we covered loads of skills in the region of Muir including ice axes, ropes, cramponing, rope rescue and then followed with many of my other teaching tangents. We had the best weather we could ask for on the true winter solstice day in the Northwest. In our evening lecture we went over frostbite, hypothermia, and altitude illnesses. Today, our fourth day, we made our decent from Muir . We traveled a section with crampons due to poor snow conditions but still managed to get 3,200' of descent. In my eyes, any skiing is good skiing. We closed the week's journey back in Ashford over a refreshing beverage and a burger. The week of ski touring has been one to remember and I look forward to teaching more ski-based mountaineering trips on one of the lower 48's best and biggest ski hills, Mount Rainier.
RMI Guide Tyler Jones
Our winds have been quite manageable today with occasional gusts, but overall very pleasant. We are resting here at Camp 1, getting used to the altitude before carrying up to Camp 2, the Guanacos Camp, to make a cache for our future move. The team took a short walk to stretch the legs and now are enjoying a siesta before dinner.
Buenas Tardes,
RMI Guide Jake Beren
Craig and Eric
Just found the blog today—-in time to wish you a Merry Xmas Sunny skies here in Palo Alto Will have a full house tomorrow with Jake Julia Anastasia Laurie Ryan and Katie
(no snow in Alta so CA is a nice alternative) We will be at Disneyland New Years Eve en route to the Fiesta Bowl on the 1-2nd Your expedition looks awesome and hope the weather and acclimatization allow you to summit! Tons of love and best wishes for an awesome remainder of your time on the mountain.
Posted by: Libby Heimark on 12/24/2011 at 9:00 am
Richard Fitz: opps! last comment was you!
Posted by: Linda Robertson on 12/24/2011 at 8:57 am
Hola from Camp 1 on Aconcagua!
We had a good stroll up to 16,500' under clear skies but with a fair bit of wind all day. The team handled the conditions very well and we made efficient work of the stretch. Once at camp we settled in, pitching tents in two big teams to make sure we didn't lose one of our precious homes. Since arriving, the winds have died down a little and our most recent forecast reflects our observations for the next few days!
Looking good from up here in the atmosphere.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
Spectacular pics of your Christmas vacation, brother Trev. I’ll eat turkey, you push to the top. Can’t wait to hear all about it. Stay safe. Love you, viv
Hello from Aconcagua Basecamp,
Today we are resting and recuperating at Plaza Argentina preparing to move to Camp 1 tomorrow. The winds look a touch rowdy up high, so staying here is a great call. This morning we had a leisurely breakfast and excellent conversation before a short stroll to stretch the legs. Hopefully the winds will cooperate and tomorrow we will be checking in from Camp 1!
RMI Guide Jake Beren
Rich F., Cannot wait to hear the details. Be safe!
N
Posted by: Neil D on 1/1/2012 at 8:02 pm
Congratulations!!!!! /What a wonderful achievement!
All your admirers need now is to see you at home.
It was exciting to follow the trek because it made it seem more real. Looking forward to your return.
Love Mom and the rest of the family
Today was a good day for our team carrying up to Camp 1. The team climbed strong with legit loads to make our future move a little easier. We enjoyed near perfect weather again on the way up to camp, ascending the moraine up to a snow patch of penitentes before gaining camp. As we made our cache weather rolled in from the west and we got our first taste of how quickly things can change up here. Our descent was beautiful in the sideways snow squall that cleared as we returned to basecamp.
Tomorrow will be a recovery day here at basecamp before we move onto the upper mountain. Now it's off to bed, buenas noches.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
DAD! This is awesome, I can’t imagine what your seeing and experiencing. Best wishes and Happy Xmas to you and the team.
One thing you always told me was “Lean into the spear.” Remember that when times get tough! love you so much and I am proud of you ...Love Bridy:)...
Posted by: Britany Fitzgerald on 12/21/2011 at 5:46 am
Richard: We are watching and reading every day…keep up the good work, sounds like you are all doing great. Hang on in those winds. mom
Posted by: Linda Robertson on 12/20/2011 at 9:01 am
Yesterday we had a lovely day resting at Plaza Argentina and catching up on some sleep, sorting gear and generally preparing to go higher on the mountain. Though "resting," we were doing the work of building a solid base of acclimatization for later in the expedition. Without giving our bodies a chance to recover, we would seriously hinder our shot at the upper mountain.
Today, well rested, we will carry a load up to Camp 1 at over 16,000 feet to prepare for our tenure higher up. Hasta la vista everyone.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
This is Dave Hahn calling from Antarctica our Vinson season ended today. About midday, around 11 AM, we flew from Vinson Basecamp back to Union Glacier. Today was a beautiful day out there, big blue sky all around, the clouds were gone and we had good flying conditions back to Union Glacier. The Illyusion came in this evening and my climbers should be getting to Punta Arenas right about now. I'm still in Antarctica; I am going to stay on for one more project down here to the South Pole. T.A, Mindy and Vlado should be enjoying Punta Arenas tonight. A successful trip all around.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
The clouds and fog took over Vinson basecamp again today. There was slight improvement by late afternoon, but not enough to get airplanes moving our way. Our team hasn't been particularly worked up or worried by the enforced downtime though. Naps are popular, reading and mathematical puzzles pass the time. We went for another glacier walk today. Meals together never fail to entertain. The forecast apparently calls for better weather tomorrow. Fingers Crossed.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Sterling..following your climb via the blog…its great to read the daily progress of the group….Dave Hahn is a terrific writer! Dan and I are thinking of you and cheering you on to the summit.
XO Nadine
Posted by: Nadine Douke on 12/11/2012 at 9:52 am
Enjoy the rest! Hope that you all have a great day. Thinking about you. Love, Suz
Posted by: Suzanne De Maio on 12/19/2011 at 5:52 am
Greetings from Plaza Argentina, our basecamp and new home for the next few days. Today we awoke at dawn, had a quick breakfast and crossed the ice cold Vacas River before heading up the Relinchos River Valley to Basecamp. Some of us waded the chilly waters and the more sensible among us opted for a short mule ride. Good walking weather again made our beautiful approach quite pleasant; not too hot or too cold, but just right. Here at Basecamp we are enjoying a nice siesta before dinner and tomorrow we plan to rest and adjust to this new altitude of just under 14000 feet.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
The clouds around Vinson basecamp lifted some today, but didn't go away. In particular they were stuck over the Nimitz Glacier and the approaches for an airplane trying to get into the Branscomb. There was some optimism this morning, what with blue sky over camp and Vinson's summit visible again, but it never quite got good enough to tempt the Twin Otters in from Union. Eventually they gave up on us and flew back to the South Pole to pick up more centenerary celebrants. That being a long round trip, our next window of opportunity to fly from Vinson would be tomorrow afternoon. We passed the day easily and quietly. TA, Vlado, Mindy and I went for a glacier walk in the afternoon to stretch legs. In the evening the ALE crew generously hosted a dinner for the three climbing teams. The food was superb... And we were all just plain happy to sit in real chairs for a time.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
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Craig and Eric
Just found the blog today—-in time to wish you a Merry Xmas Sunny skies here in Palo Alto Will have a full house tomorrow with Jake Julia Anastasia Laurie Ryan and Katie
(no snow in Alta so CA is a nice alternative) We will be at Disneyland New Years Eve en route to the Fiesta Bowl on the 1-2nd Your expedition looks awesome and hope the weather and acclimatization allow you to summit! Tons of love and best wishes for an awesome remainder of your time on the mountain.
Posted by: Libby Heimark on 12/24/2011 at 9:00 am
Richard Fitz: opps! last comment was you!
Posted by: Linda Robertson on 12/24/2011 at 8:57 am
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