Entries from Expedition Dispatches
June 30, 2014 - 11:19pm PT
After an impromptu camp on the polo field we woke up to intermittent wind gusts rattling our tent flys. We crawled out of our shelters to crisp cold weather and blue skies. We ate a quick breakfast and began to break camp to complete our journey to 14,200' feet. Amidst the chaos of packing our bags we spotted Billy Nugent and his crew descending from a successful summit, we exchanged high fives and and hit the trail. This time equipped with snow shoes and skis to deal with the waist deep drifts. We were feeling very happy about floating on the snow surface vs crawling through it. We had pleasant weather and relatively calm winds working our way around
Windy Corner. We pulled into camp and made ourselves at home, feeling the altitude a little we began to take care of ourselves and focus on the mountain ahead of us.
We are all feeling good and hoping for the best weather possible.
RMI Guide
Adam Knoff & Team
On The Map
June 30, 2014 - 9:44pm PT
Hey Everybody!
Last night we got our first taste of Denali weather as a wet snow fell, dusting our camp with six fresh inches. The little storm began to lift after a leisurely breakfast of bacon, eggs, and hash browns and we were soon able to pack our bags for a carry to 10,000' feet. Along the hike we witness spectacular views down the
Kahiltna Glacier and up to the start of the West Buttress. We are now back in camp resting and awaiting a tasty dinner of tortellini prepared by Zach. All is well here in the great north as the sun splashes some light into our dinning tent.
Thanks for following along!
RMI Guide
Ben Liken
Greetings from South America!
This is the RMI Expeditions
Alpamayo team making our inaugural check-in from the Peruvian city of Huarez. After spending most of yesterday on planes, the team had a brief layover in Lima last night before catching a shuttle up into the mountains today. With a dinner of Alpaca steaks, we are currently nestling into bed and getting excited about the days to come.
RMI Guide
Eric Frank & Team
Hola desde Huaraz!
Greetings from the
Peruvian Switzerland, where the team has just arrived!!! After everyone's flights made it timely around midnight yesterday in Lima, we all met for breakfast this morning. Shortly after a formal meeting and introductions of team members and the program, we all, filled with excitement, loaded the bus with climbing duffle bags and got on the road.
We made it to our hotel "Club Andino" right on time for dinner and to meet our outfiter Peter and local guide Carlos, who will accompany us in our Ishinca Valley adventure. We're moving to a well deserved night of sleep as we speak... lots of miles in the last 48h for everyone!
Tomorrow we have a short hike planned to "Laguna Churup" in the morning to start acclimatization and some logistic arrangements in the afternoon. We will be checking in again at the end of the day.
Best regards from Peru,
RMI Guides
Elias de Andres Martos,
Robby Young & Team
The Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guide
Casey Grom and the Five Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guide
Linden Mallory reached the summit of Mt. Rainier earlier this morning. The teams got an early start this morning in order to take advantage of the cooler overnight temperatures and
beat the heat today. While on the summit, the teams found it to be incredibly warm with calm winds. They are also enjoying a clear sky with views in all directions.
The teams will descend to Camp Muir where they will refuel before continuing their descent to Paradise. We look forward to seeing them in Ashford later today.
Congratulations!
Our team had a great day today, tackling our first
acclimatization climb in good style. We climbed to the summit of Rucu Pichincha, a 15,400' volcano outside of Quito. The views were grand as we ascended in the rare air of high altitude.
Everyone did great (we were all breathing hard up there!), and we look forward to moving out of the comfort of the city life tomorrow, heading south, and getting another acclimatization hike under our belts.
We'll touch base again tomorrow. Thanks for checking in!
RMI Guide
Mike Walter
On The Map
Hey, it's Billy here checking in from 14,000'. Our team had a lazy morning today and packed up and moved down from the 17 Camp to the
14 Camp on Mt. McKinley. We had some pretty slow going due to some wind and some kind of funky weather but especially due to very deep snow conditions, lots and lots of snow from the previous storm cycle that kept us at 17.
We are going to walk out of here early tomorrow morning, very early and head for the air strip. So hopefully the next check in will come from the Kahiltna landing strip.
That's all for now.
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
On The Map
We lit our stoves at 3 AM today and had breakfast a short time later while enjoying the beauty of the Alaska Range in shadow. It took until 6 AM to get moving out of camp at 7,000 ft, but when we did, we were pleased to find that the snow surface was a hundred times more user friendly than it had been the previous afternoon. Our sleds slid easily along and we didn't have the problem of "post holing" that we'd experienced in the warm part of the day. We got to the
base of Ski Hill and began the hard work of the day, pulling heavy loads uphill for several hours. Clouds came over, giving some relief from the sun, but also bringing a new storm. Just as we picked and prepared a campsite at 9,000 feet, it began to snow. We spent a good chunk of the afternoon warm and dry in our tents as the snow intensified. Dinner was in our POSH dining tent, skillfully constructed by the guide team who battled to serve up a hearty supper in less than comfortable culinary conditions. Now as we are all in for the night, the snow continues to pile up outside. We'll wait and see what the morning brings.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
The Four Day Summit Climb led by
RMI Guide JJ Justman reached the crater rim of
Mt. Rainier at 6:30 am. The team spent an hour on the summit enjoying clear skies and light winds. They began their descent at 7:30 en route to Camp Muir. They will take a short rest at Camp Muir before continuing down to Paradise.
Congratulations to today's Summit Climb Team!
June 29, 2014 - 9:51 pm PT
Hello to everyone out there in blog land. We all wish, in some selfish way I suppose, that there was a sure fire way to teleport any curious individuals straight to our location here on what is commonly called the Polo Field of the
West Buttress. As I mentioned yesterday, a move to 14,000 foot Advanced Basecamp was on the ticket and we were gonna "make some hay" while the sun did shine. Oh how the "High One" can take any given plan and turn it into any thing she wishes. Like the oxymoron I spoke of about a "windless" Windy Corner. Can you say JINX! As it turns out, not only was the corner as windy as a Dave Hahn Everest story, the sun only shined for a few minutes before it started dumping snow again. Combine this with heinous trail breaking in the multiple feet of new snow and out pops a midway camp spot used only when the going gets tough. So tomorrow the tough will get going again and try for 14,000 feet once more.
Wish for warm toes, a better trail and quite winds.
Until Tomorrow.
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
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Go Andy! Exciting to see a guy from PA on such an awesome adventure.
Posted by: Matthew Nebzydoski on 7/2/2014 at 5:14 pm
You almost have this mountain conquered. Keep on and up and take care of yourselves!
Posted by: susanlampas on 7/2/2014 at 3:49 am
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