Hello this is the Peru climbing team. Elias speaking, Robby next to me, and the climbers are taking a break at 5,000 meters. We were supposed to have called from the summit, but heavy winds and trying to get down delayed the phone call. But we have finished our last rappel. It was a pretty interesting one- a free-hanging rappel over bergschrund. We are taking a break just to anticipate the remaining ground, which is a pretty easy travel to Camp 1, from where we will be picking up our gear and heading out to base camp. We are pretty excited about that, but we still have a couple hours to go on the glacier. We just wanted to let you know everything went well with the last of our climbs, the most challenging one, Tocllaraju, 6,023 meters. We rocked it; we are pretty tired but psyched. The route has been as challenging as any of the two guys that are here who have climbed it, have ever seen it. We are happy with the work done. We will let you know more when we can post tomorrow when we arrive in Huaraz, where we can post some pictures. Thank you for all of the support to all of you who have been following our blog. The next post will be from Huaraz tomorrow. That's it for now, 2 pm on Thursday. Tocllaraju! The Peru Seminar will be over soon.
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos calling in after Tocllaraju summit.
In the North Cascades, RMI Guide Lindsay Fixmer and team reached the summit of Forbidden Peak via the West Ridge. Lindsay reported perfect weather during their summit bid and good route conditions.
Way to Climb!
Good morning, this is RMI Guide Eric Frank checking in from the summit of Alpamayo. It's just before noon here in Peru. We had a pretty amazing climb today. Woke up to gorgeous weather, clear skies. Everyone made it to the top. We are just about to start rappelling down. We will leave a message and let you know we got down safely. Thanks for following along. Bye.
Update: July 10, 2014 2:21 PM PT
The team is back at high camp safe and sound. They are packing up to head down to base camp and are looking forward to an amazing meal prepared by their base camp cook.
RMI Guide Eric Frank
RMI Guide Eric Frank calls in from the Alpamayo summit!
First and foremost, please tell me Argentina won. Please. This morning our team awoke to beautiful clear skies. The twin summits of Europe's highest peak were shining and in the faint distance several climbers could be seen on the upper slopes.
Lower down we prepared our packs and after a hearty breakfast we laced up our boots and pulled up our knickers for a good day of acclimatization. The entire team did fabulous as we made it above Pastukhova Rocks with an end altitude of 15,500 feet. I swear some of the team wanted to just keep climbing to the top!
Now, we are back at camp recovering from a great day in the Russian mountains.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
July 9, 2014 - 10:34 pm PT
It wasn't such a bad day to start. There was plenty of blue sky overhead at 6 AM and a little wind to contend with up high, but the day had potential to be just right for moving to 17,000 ft. The team was feeling good and ready. But we held off, talked some on the radio to friends at 17K (teams up there were staying put, not going for the top) and we watched the weather deteriorate. The winds increased, a cloud cap formed on the mountain and the rest of the sky began to cloud up. Before it clogged up completely, we roped up and took a short walk to "The Edge of the World" to look down on the Northeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier. We belayed each other out onto the overhanging prow of rock for hero shots. Then we headed back to camp and hunkered down in the tents for an afternoon of light snow and heavy cloud. We'll hope for better weather tomorrow.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
The RMI Four Day Summit Climbs led by RMI Guides Jake Beren and Zeb Blais reached the top of Mt. Rainier early this morning. At 7:15 the teams were descending Disappointment Cleaver en route back to Camp Muir. The teams are doing well and enjoying the blue skies and calm weather.
The Expedition Skills Seminar - Emmons led by RMI Guide Walter Hailes reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning via the Emmons Glacier route. The team has descended to Camp Schurman where they will spend the night before returning to Ashford tomorrow.
Congratulations to Today's Teams!
Good afternoon, this is the climbing team in Peru. Elias calling here. We have made it to high camp on Tocllaraju and we are perched at 5,100m right on the edge of the glacier. A sense of accomplishment that everybody has right now. It's indescribable as we are in one of the most beautiful places that we have seen so far on this trip. We are surrounded by a huge cirque of 5,000 and 6,000-meter peaks. Tonight we are going to get ready to climb Tocllaraju, the last and most challenging objective of our seminar. Everybody is doing really well and we are having right now really good weather. Everything is on schedule and we will keep you posted tomorrow hopefully from the summit, sometime in the early morning. Right now it's 4 o'clock in the afternoon local time in Peru. We are brewing some water and cooking some dinner. That's pretty much it for now. We will hope to, like I said, call tomorrow from the summit and wrap up this amazing expedition. That's all for now. Good evening.
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
Elias de Andres Martos calling from Tocllaraju's High Camp.
Hello everyone! Well, we are still at high camp on Alpamayo. The weather during the evening last night was a variable mix of snow and wind with periods of calm in-between. Sometime shortly after 2am, we decided to take advantage of one of the calm times and see how the route would treat us. After several hours of difficult, waist deep, trail breaking the team managed to access the main couloir on the southwest face. Unfortunately it was a six-inch deep torrent of falling spindrift and finding ice to stick our tools into was impossible. We retreated and made it back to camp shortly after 6am.
We have decided to wait one more day and hope to see an improvement in the weather. Keep your fingers crossed that tomorrow morning we will find good climbing conditions.
RMI Guide Eric Frank
Today we had an early morning as we finished packing all our gear in preparation for heading to the upper mountain. We rode two trams up to the Mir station and then we jumped on the final chairlift to Garabashi Hut at 12,000 feet.
We used to stay at the Barrels but we were in for a real treat. We are staying in a brand new facility exclusive to our in-country outfitter. They have brand new huts which really resemble shipping containers with windows. The hickory flooring and coat racks are a nice touch.
Our head chef is Albina and let me tell you, I almost forgot how incredible her home-cooked food is. Fresh cucumber and tomato salad is my favorite!
The team just returned from a good acclimatization hike that took us to 13,200 feet. A blanket has covered the upper mountain giving us zero views other than a tipsy feeling of being surrounded in a constant shield of white. It didn't stop us from having fun and doing our bodies some good.
We are back in our huts relaxing and getting settled in. Stay tuned for some more adventure!
RMI Guide JJ Justman
Our Four and Five Day Summit Climbs led by RMI Guides Mike Haugen and Garret Stevens were just leaving the crater rim at 7:19 am. The teams have had a blue bird morning with clear skies, great views and light winds. We expect the teams back at Rainier Base Camp this afternoon.
Congratulations to Today's Teams!
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WOW!! Must have been a glorious feeling…
both at the top and coming down.
Stay safe, MOM(B)
Posted by: MOM-B on 7/11/2014 at 7:19 pm
Way to go, Underbiktor!
Posted by: The Franktown Blochers on 7/11/2014 at 6:29 pm
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