Entries from Expedition Dispatches
The Four Day Summit Climb July 8 - 11and the Five Day Summit Climb July 7 - 11 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today. The teams reported clear skies with cold temperatures and 20 mph winds. The summit teams started their descent from the crater rim at 7:30 a.m. PT.
Congratulations to today's summit teams!
Our weather changed a bit for the worse today, but not before we were able to get our work (and play) accomplished up on the West Buttress. As we started stoves a little before 8 AM, there was already an upper cloud layer above the mountain and a fairly thick blanket below. But there was no sign of wind on the upper ridges so we felt pretty comfortable in gearing up to climb after breakfast. Two hours of steady uphill trudging got us to the slightly more interesting terrain of the bergschrund and the headwall above. We latched onto the fixed ropes and made our way up the 45 degree slopes. Conditions were excellent as there were staircase-quality footsteps in the steep snow. We topped the ropes in good time and it was obvious that everyone was game for going higher, but as we rested at 16,200' it began to snow and so we buried the supplies we were carrying (to protect the food from greedy ravens) and we beat feet back down to 14,200'. We weren't away more than six hours for the round trip but even so it was a significant effort and we were proud of our accomplishments. Three or four of the team broke personal altitude records. We rested away the remainder of the day as snow showers came and went. Tomorrow is a rest day for our team anyway, so we don't mind if a little unsettled weather plays through... but just a little. We are already getting excited for a move up to high camp.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Hey RMI this is Linden Mallory calling from the Kahiltna Glacier. It’s about 3pm on the 10th of July. Those clouds that were building last night covered the Glacier and it never quite got cold enough last night for us to travel. So we are holed up here at 8,700’.
We had a pretty relaxed little day, hanging out, chatting and eating as much food as we can. Right now we are in a cloud bank, no snow at the moment but obscured skies. Things are definitely warm. We are keeping our fingers crossed that the clouds burn off by the end of the day and we are able to get a good freeze tonight and make it to Basecamp tomorrow.
We will check in and let you know how it goes. Take Care.
RMI Guide LInden Mallory
The Four Day Summit Climb July 7 - 10 led by Chad Peele reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today. The team reported clear skies and light winds this morning. They began their descent from the crater rim at 7:30 a.m. PT.
Congratulations to today's summit team!
Hi RMI this is Linden Mallory calling from 8,500’ on the Kahiltna Glacier on Denali. We woke up this morning to a pretty gorgeous day up at 14 Camp. We packed up camp and headed downhill. Definitely big loads leaving 14 Camp but we managed to fit everything into our packs and our sleds and motor back down the route reaching 11 Camp mid day. We dug up a small cache that we had left there with excess gear, trash and supplies that we didn’t need higher on the mountain earlier in the trip. We packed that up and moved it into the back of our sleds and kept moving down the glacier.
We got to about 8,500’ here on the Kahiltna Glacier just above Ski Hill which is just about 700’ above what is actually considered the true Lower Glacier. It was quite warm by that time of the afternoon and it was just getting a little too exciting to cross all those crevasses. We decided to set up shop here just above Ski Hill and cooked up a big dinner. Now we are waiting for the temperatures to drop and we’re watching some clouds blowing from the south of the Kahiltna Glacier. These clouds basically insulate the glacier so they keep the warm temperatures down here and don’t allow things to freeze. So we're not really sure how it's going to shake out for us tonight. If the clouds recede and it clears up we're going to pack up in the middle of the night and try to make it to Base camp by tomorrow morning. If these clouds stick around and it stays warm and the snow bridges across the crevasses don't freeze, we will just be hanging out here until conditions improve. So we will check in tomorrow and let you know how it goes.
Take care.
RMI Guide Linden Mallory
RMI Guide Linden Mallory Checks in from 8500 on Denali
The light is at the end of the tunnel! Can’t wait to hear all about our adventure and see all the pictures! Love you daddy!
Posted by: Samantha on 7/11/2011 at 7:05 am
Sounds like everyone is still enjoying their trek. Keep up the good work and contiue on a safe trip back to base camp and home.
Posted by: Lorraine on 7/10/2011 at 5:09 pm
Stunningly perfect weather today at 14,200'. We got the stoves going at a leisurely 8:30 AM since we knew we'd be deep in the cold shadows until 9:30. One of the gang measured the overnight temperature at -10 F which was quite a departure from the tropical conditions of the lower mountain. While it was something of a novelty for us to share a camp with so many other folks last night, they'd snuck away for the most part by morning. We did get to wish Linden Mallory's team luck as they departed. Around midday we roped up and strolled down a half hour to where we'd cached food and fuel two days back. Bringing this back up in about an hour and a half completed our ten day "approach" to the mountain. We spent the remainder of the day resting and preparing for the climb. If the good conditions continue we'll climb to 16 or 17,000' tomorrow carrying supplies and acclimating, but then we'll duck back down here to our comfortable camp in Genet Basin.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Spencer Guinn are you on this team. If you are God be with you. We need you back.. Hope all is well.
I understand your calling to this peak. I’ve had many crazy adventures in my life that I needed to forfill. BE SAFE Hope to see you soon, Hugh
Posted by: Hugh Sales on 7/10/2011 at 7:45 pm
Hi Stewart,
Have been following the blogs and glad to see everything seems to be going well! Its nice and hot here needing some rain!
Love , Mom
Posted by: Ruby Fleming on 7/10/2011 at 11:04 am
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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Hi this is Seth, Darryl, Will, Michael, Mike, Imi, Dan, Jim and Marc checking in from the Cotopaxi Express trip. We're back in Quito! After a great night at the Hosteria La Cienega we made the final leg of our journey back to Quito. The Saturday markets are in full swing and everyone has had the opportunity to do some shopping this afternoon. A few of us have evening flights and the rest of us will be heading out tomorrow. We just have time for one last dinner together before our trip is officially over.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
Michael, Dan and crew - glad all is well. Sorry about the end result, but i expect the journey was still awesome See you soon - Best, Mango
Posted by: Ed Manigault on 7/9/2011 at 8:55 pm
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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
The Cotopaxi Team is safely off the mountain and checked into the historic La Cienega Hosteria in Lasso, Ecuador. Today has been a mix of excitement and frustration as we finally took our shot at the summit of Cotopaxi, only to be thwarted by the high winds that characterized our stay on the mountain. We awoke at midnight to a slight lull in the wind and began our climb just after one o'clock AM. The snow conditions proved to be tough with a thin ice-skin over unconsolidated 'corn' snow. After reaching just over 18,000 feet I had to make the tough decision to turn the teams around. The wind had increased dramatically, blowing climbers out of the trail and covering all of us in a layer of rime ice. It was maddening to get so close to our goal but in the end the importance of returning safely to our family and friends is, of course, the most important thing. Now we're set to celebrate the end of our trip with a great dinner at La Cienega before making the final leg of our journey tomorrow. We'll check in again when we arrive back in Quito.
RMI Guide - Seth Waterfall
Win Whittaker, Andres Marin, Walter Hailes and their RMI teams reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. The temperature on top was about 18 degrees with winds of 20mph from the northwest. The teams had clear views all the way down the valley and were starting their descent back to Camp Muir at 7:44am.
Congratulations to today's teams.
This is Dave Hahn calling down from 14,200 feet on Mt. McKinley. It's 8:11 in the evening. It is a beautiful day, absolutely spectacular. We are way up above the clouds. The sun is still out, it hasn't gone behind the West Buttress yet. We did a great job getting up today if I don't say so myself. We started out this morning from 11,000 at about 9:15 a.m.. We weren’t really sure what the weather was going to do, but it did hold long enough for us and we made good progress coming up to 14. We came around Windy Corner and we were up here in six hours, which is always good. From having camp at 11 all to ourselves last night and being relatively alone on the mountain, so far, we're definitely in the community of guides and climbers up here at 14. A number of teams came down the mountain from up above including our friend Linden Mallory and his team. And it's great to be with those guys here at 14. They're spending the night as well, so we've got company.
Again, it's just perfect this evening there is not a puff of wind. We very are happy to be finishing up the approach to the mountain, and excited to begin the climb. Although, tomorrow we're actually going to finish up the approach. We're going to go back down and get the cache we left of food and fuel about 500 feet below camp. After we retrieve our cache then will be here for real. Bye for now.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
RMI Guide Dave Hahn checks in from 14,000 on Mt. McKinley
WOW!!!!! I am so excited for all of you. Enjoy, Enjoy, Enjoy. Love thru the wind to you Wayne, Dinah
Posted by: dinah rogers on 7/9/2011 at 9:00 am
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Hi Geoff, Jeff and I have been e-mailing back and forth on how your trip is going. It`s been a tough go for your team but Mike Walters#1-RMI team from May 2nd is Following you and good luck as you seek your peak. Can`t wait to hear the stories. Good luck Ken Young
PS GO BRUINS
Posted by: Ken Young on 7/11/2011 at 4:36 pm
Frank,
What an accomplishment! Truly awesome and inspiring. See you soon!
Posted by: Michael Duran on 7/11/2011 at 9:04 am
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