Entries from Expedition Dispatches

Cotopaxi Express: Walter & Team Visit the Equator and Colonial Quito

June 29, 2014

Posted by: Mike Walter

Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador

Elevation: 9,000'

Our Cotopaxi Express team enjoyed a tour of colonial Quito today, visiting various churches, museums, parks, and plazas, and learning about the history of Quito and of Ecuador. We then traveled to the equator, just north of Quito. There we visited an ethnographic museum, and straddled the equator with a foot in each hemisphere! It was a good, relaxing day in Ecuador as everyone is adjusting to the new altitude (9,000') and recovering from a long day of travel yesterday. Tomorrow we'll head out on our first acclimatization hike, climbing Rucu Pichincha, a volcano outside of Quito. RMI Guide Mike Walter

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Mt. Rainier: June 29th Summit!

June 29, 2014

Posted by: Brent Okita, Leon Davis

Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier

Elevation: 14,410'

The Mt. Rainier Summit Climbs led by Brent Okita and Leon Davis crested the crater rim at 7:35 a.m. Brent reported 25 mph winds and the cloud deck was at 9,500’. The teams spent some time on the summit before beginning their descent at 8:40 a.m. Congratulations to today's summit climbers!

Leave a Comment For the Team (2)

Good jobs guys! That is so cool. Glad to
hear you had good conditions. Can’t wait
to see some pictures.

Posted by: Harvey Kruckenberg on 6/29/2014 at 11:52 am

Way to go guys! Can’t wait to hear about it!

Posted by: Dawn Kruckenberg on 6/29/2014 at 11:31 am

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Mt. McKinley: Haugen & Team Back in Talkeetna

June 29, 2014

Posted by: Mike Haugen

Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley

Elevation: 348'

June 29, 2014 - 8:23 am PT We finally got off Mt. McKinley as the snow stopped and the clouds parted. We wrapped up a great adventure with a great meal that did not have to be rehydrated. I want to thank Bruce and Josh for being great partners in our adventure. Bruce is one of my heroes. Even though he is blind, he climbs with a natural ability and has a great mountain sense. He truly understands what mountaineering is all about. I look forward to our future adventures together! RMI Guide MIke Haugen and Team "The Ocho"

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I agree with all. Bruce and Josh are Mountaineers and heros in my book. Glad to know you are safe and now have memories of Denali that will keep with you.

Posted by: James on 6/30/2014 at 6:52 am

I’ve been watching you—but also NOAH’s weather reports—and I’m really, glad you made the decision that you did, even with all of that forward momentum that I KNOW you had. I’m sorry you-all didn’t summit but “he who climbs and then goes down, survives to claim Denali’s crown!”.

Posted by: Susan on 6/29/2014 at 7:22 pm

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Mt. McKinley: Knoff & Team Ready for Some Exercise

June 29, 2014

Posted by: Adam Knoff, Lindsay Mann

Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley

Elevation: 11,200'

June 29, 2014 - 12:16 am PT I believe the saying goes "when the sun shines, make some hay!" Well metaphors are going to have to do because Toto, we ain't in Kansas anymore and nothing grows up here except foot fungus and beards. So, with the sun finally shining brightly and the snow settled to what seems a safe consistency, the team is ready to make some hay and move to 14,000 camp tomorrow! This morning we didn't crawl out of tents until the sun warmed them up at 9 am. After that, massive coffee presses, eggs, bacon and hash browns followed. Yup, we do it right up here. It was Andy's birthday today so he got to be served all morning and surprised after breakfast to a tent full of balloons thanks to Lindsay's pre-trip preparations. After breakfast the team read, sun bathed, still sunk waist deep in snow when not on the trail and prepared gear to bring up the mountain. We are all excited to move our rested legs and make our way up hill. It will indeed be a doozy of a day, breaking trail, dealing with the sun and carrying heavy loads. I know we are all up to the task. Wish us luck. RMI Guide Adam Knoff signing off

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That’s great to hear that the team is again moving up! Go well and Push on, Peter

Posted by: Peter Williamson on 6/29/2014 at 8:41 pm

Good to know you are on the move and the weather has improved Best of luck to all of you. Get to that summit!

Posted by: Susan Lampas on 6/29/2014 at 9:39 am

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Mt. McKinley: Hahn & Team Moving in the Right Direction

June 29, 2014

Posted by: Dave Hahn, Ben Liken, Sean Collon

Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley

Elevation: 7,000'

June 28, 2014 - 10:07 pm PT So good to be on Denali. So good to be on the move again. With our late flight onto the mountain yesterday evening, there wasn't so much time to be ready for the late season tradition of walking out of basecamp at 4 AM this morning. We built our camp and put priority on getting good rest instead. Our thinking was that with so much snow (30 inches from the last storm) that we might get by just fine without the early start. We'd plainly seen the lower Kahiltna Glacier during our flight and it certainly didn't look like crevasse bridges were going to be a problem. So we got up at a civilized 7:30 AM and did our organizational work and set out for a daytime Denali departure. As we'd allowed ourselves to hope, crevasses were no problem. In fact the glacier was in better condition than it had been for late season in decades. We made three hour-long pulls with some fifteen-minute restbreaks in between. But in the end we decided not to push on to our normal first day camp goal of 8,000 feet. Despite our snowshoes, the walk was getting strenuous due to the great amount of unconsolidated new snow softening with the heat of the day. We camped at 7,000 ft where the East Fork meets the main glacier and we'll happily begin earlier tomorrow to get ideal surface conditions. Nice to see a few of the other late season guides on the move today as well, a bit of a reunion. Especially nice to hear from Adam Knoff at 11K on the radio and Billy Nugent on top. RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Mt. McKinley: Nugent & Team Summit!

June 29, 2014

Posted by: Billy Nugent, Chase Nelson

Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley

Elevation: 17,200'

June 29, 2014 - 4:07 am PT Hey it's Billy here with a late-night check in. I just finished up making dinner and filling water bottles for folks after a successful summit bid today. Everybody's pretty much racked out and exhausted, laying in their tents right now. But their spirits are definitely high. Everyone made it to the summit. We enjoyed an awesome day. Clear blue skies. It was very, very cold, but there was no wind and we were able to make it happen. So, that's all for now. We'll check in again on our way out. Ciao. RMI Guide Billy Nugent

RMI Guide Billy Nugent calls in after successful summit.

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Congratulations to Bruce and Michael. We are soooo happy for you! Rest, relax, and celebrate when you are ready! Cheers, Katherine and Reid

Posted by: Katherine Mitchell on 7/1/2014 at 7:55 pm

Congrats to Bruce and Michael Freedman and all the rest of the team. Great to see that you made it through all the weather. Cant wait to hear the stories.

Posted by: Ron Holt on 7/1/2014 at 7:07 pm

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Mt. Rainier: June 28th - UPDATE

June 28, 2014

Posted by: Tyler Jones, Christina Dale

Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier

Elevation: 11,200'

The Four Day Summit Climb Teams Led by RMI Guides Tyler Jones and Geoff Schellens reached Ingraham Flats on Mt. Rainier today, but due to poor visibility and bad weather they were forced to turn abort their summit attempt. The team returned to Camp Muir and have started their descent back to Paradise and will arrive at Ashford BaseCamp this afternoon. Congratulations to today's team.

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I can’t imagine the disappointment but am glad you are all safe. Can’t wait to see the pictures and hear the stories.

Posted by: Mary dearth on 6/28/2014 at 12:39 pm

Bummer! Know it was still a fabulous experience—Lots of love to Kirsten and Aaron (and Madison)

Posted by: Mary Simpson on 6/28/2014 at 12:19 pm

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Mt. McKinley: Knoff & Team Digging Out from “Epic” Storm

June 28, 2014

Posted by: Adam Knoff, Lindsay Mann

Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley

Elevation: 11,200'

June 27, 2014 - 11:11 pm PT At 8 PM this evening we were blessed with the first glimmer of sun in two and a half days. This isn't completely out of the ordinary for this neck of the woods but more surprising, even to me with eight Denali expeditions, was the amount of snow that fell during that sunless stretch. Four feet would about do this storm justice but when you are living in a nylon house that can collapse under a moderate burial of drifting snow it felt more like ten feet. This morning at breakfast while in the posh house, a one pole pyramid cook tent set up to fit the entire team, shook and sagged under the constant loading of falling flakes, Jay Lampas asked if this snow storm qualified as "epic" yet? I didn't want to sound too fragile and make him believe this was the "storm of the century" but I did have to concede that four feet in two days was a touch "epic". Of course the main worry of the team is how this massive blanketing will effect our upward progress. I didn't have an exact answer but I do know we will be sitting still on Saturday no matter how brilliant the weather because of the avalanche hazard that awaits above us. Safety is always the number one priority so we will move to 14,000 feet only when we know it is safe to do so. Hopefully our dwindling lunch food and Cosmo magazines can hold us out until we can get to the cache of food we left at Windy Corner. We are all looking forward to a night with no 2 am wake up calls for shoveling duty. Maybe full dreams will be of the upper mountain. All the best from McKinley Team Knoff.

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Yup! We are now swimming in Torch Lake after a “forever” winter in Northern Michigan! As we follow you up Denali we can see that the snows have not left all places to date! We hope you get a break in the weather and your journey will be able to move forward. Ken

Posted by: Ken and Kathy Masck on 6/29/2014 at 4:45 am

Happy birthday Wheeler! I hope the weather cooperates!

Posted by: Kenny on 6/28/2014 at 9:33 pm

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Mt. McKinley: Nugent & Team Spend Another Day at 17K Camp

June 28, 2014

Posted by: Billy Nugent, Chase Nelson

Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley

Elevation: 17,200'

June 27, 2014 - 5:17 pm Hey this is Billy. I'm calling in from 17,000 feet again. We're still here. And we're still pin down by the weather. But things are starting to look like they maybe improving so keep your fingers crossed for us. We will check in again tomorrow. Nothing new to report. RMI Guide Billy Nugent

Billy Nugent calls in from 17K Camp.

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Leave a Comment For the Team (2)

Bruce Michael and Team - we’re all crossing fingers and toes that your perseverance and weather join forces to push you to that summit soon! Tapi wants you back safe & sound too - she’s going through steak withdrawal!

Posted by: Jen on 6/29/2014 at 6:30 am

What an adventure! Hang in there and be safe - Mother Nature owes you a break soon!

Posted by: Chambos on 6/28/2014 at 6:32 pm

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Mt. McKinley: Hahn & Team Train in Talkeetna on a Rainy Day

June 27, 2014

Posted by: Dave Hahn, Ben Liken, Sean Collon

Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley

Elevation: 348'

June 27, 2014 - 12:00 am PT We were up and hustling to get ready this morning, anxious for the chance to get on Mount McKinley. But it turned out, after breakfast and a walk in the rain to the airstrip, that there wasn't too great a chance for flying today. The word was that several feet of new snow had fallen overnight at Basecamp. The snow, cloud and wind were predicted to continue up there for the day, but we were put on standby just in case things broke. We made good use of the day in the K2 Aviation hangar, reviewing rope techniques for glacier travel. The rain and low cloud persisted, but we stayed dry enough. We had one more "last" dinner in town and turned in to be ready for another day and another try. Best Regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn

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Entries from Expedition Dispatches

Cotopaxi Express: Walter & Team Visit the Equator and Colonial Quito

On The Map

Mt. Rainier: June 29th Summit!

Mt. McKinley: Haugen & Team Back in Talkeetna

Mt. McKinley: Knoff & Team Ready for Some Exercise

On The Map

Mt. McKinley: Hahn & Team Moving in the Right Direction

Mt. McKinley: Nugent & Team Summit!

On The Map

Mt. Rainier: June 28th - UPDATE

Mt. McKinley: Knoff & Team Digging Out from “Epic” Storm

On The Map

Mt. McKinley: Nugent & Team Spend Another Day at 17K Camp

On The Map

Mt. McKinley: Hahn & Team Train in Talkeetna on a Rainy Day

On The Map

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