The Four and Five Day Summit Climbs reached Columbia Crest today. Beautiful day, light winds and cool temperatures. All teams are off the mountain and celebrating at Rainier Basecamp.
RMI, this is Dave Hahn calling from 9,500'. And myself and Zeb and Lindsay and Geoff and the team are camped here at 9,500' on the Kahiltna Glacier. We got up at 2:30 this morning. It was beautiful out. The surface was frozen up just perfect. And we got walking at about a little bit before 5 in the morning. We cruised up easy as anything on that nice surface. We didn't have to break trail through any new snow or anything. And the team did really well coming up hill. Three kind of steady hills to get here to 9,500'. But that all went very well and we were in pretty early in the morning. We were up here before 8 in the morning and had our camp in and were in, out of the hot sun by 11. And took it easy up here, great views today. We saw some massive avalanches off Mount Hunter. We could here them, we could feel them, you could see them. Really spectacular, and nice looking down the Kahiltna Glacier for a change. We haven't seen all the way down there. Today we were looking down there and the new snow extended pretty far down that looked like it went as low as about 6,000' above sea level. So that was good. It looked like it repaired some of the lower glacier a little bit. The part that we will have to travel on. But we won't be traveling on that for a while. We're still going up. And if everything goes well, we'll move up to 11,000' tomorrow morning, and expect that it will. There is some puffy clouds around stuck on the mountains, but for the most part, it's clear today and into this evening. It's cooling off just right. All for now.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Hi Dave. Good to hear that the weather has improved. Can you let Jurjen know that we really need good pictures for his ‘after-dinner’ engagements. We’ve got him fully booked up now through to November! Good luck to the whole team!
Posted by: Team Munting at London HQ on 7/7/2011 at 12:29 am
GREAT TO HEAR YOU GUYS HAVE MOVED UP, HEY SPENCER YOU OUT OF COFFEE YET? TONTO WEST AND I ARE SET TO BRING MORE. PRAYING FOR GOOD WEATHER FOR THE WHOLE TEAM LEAVE SOME MOUNTAIN FOR US!!!
Hey, this is Seth checking in from our Ecuadorian Hacienda Chilcabamba near Cotopaxi. We had a lovely day on the Illinizas acclimatizing. Today we reached an elevation of just over 15,000 feet. The group is doing great and today after having lunch at the Refugio de New Horizons we descended back to our van and drove over here to the hacienda. We are about to have dinner and as I look out the window of the hacienda dining room I can just see Cotopaxi breaking out of the clouds. We were in mix of rain and hail for a little bit today with cloudy skies throughout the day. Then just as we pulled up to our hacienda we got our first glimpse of the mountain. We are all psyched to get rolling tomorrow and we are going to head up to the Cotopaxi Refugio and we'll be there for two nights.
We will check in again soon.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
Good job guys you are doing great I would never be able to climb this moutain like you guys are and you are really brave to sleep out there in the camp with noises and animals! I hope so far you had a good time climbing the moutain I miss you daddy. Keep up the good work and be brave not scard. P.S i read the blog everyday. Enjoy your climbing. I will let you go.
Love, Alexa
Posted by: Alexa McClane on 7/7/2011 at 7:03 am
Looking forward to the details of the adventure. Be safe and enjoy every minute.
Well, we've had so much fun here at 14 Camp that we spent another day here, although hopefully our last. The weather cleared overnight and the temperatures dropped while we were in the tents since the clouds were no longer offering a bit of insulation. It was very cold around camp this morning as we waited for the sun to hit us. With things warming up we walked across the plateau of Genet Basin where 14 Camp sits to a rock outcropping on the southeastern side known as "The Edge of the World." There the mountain side falls away more than 6,000' to the Northeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier below. We peeked over the edge there, appreciating the first truly clear views below us that we've had yet. We stared out over the lower Kahiltna where we were traveling our first few days of the climb. Mt Hunter and Foraker rose proudly above the glacier below. It was a spectacular view.
The weather remained nice so the team took a little hike above 14 Camp, stretching the legs after a few sedentary days here before returning to camp to finish preparing our gear for tomorrow's move to high camp. We are rested and ready to head up to high camp to make our summit bid. The weather appears to be improving and we are all keeping our fingers crossed - we'll let you know how it goes tomorrow.
Thanks for all the blog comments and 4th of July wishes, we appreciate hearing from everyone, the team sends their best to everyone at home.
RMI Guide Linden Mallory
The weather sounds great. Hope you were able to move on up. It must be so exciting!!! We are excited for you. Good luck as you continue your adventure.
Posted by: Lorraine and John on 7/6/2011 at 1:56 pm
Great to hear the weather is improving! Onward to the summit! Go team!
The Four Day Summit Climb July 2 - 5 led by Chad Peele reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today. It's a beautiful day with light winds, warm temperatures and clear skies. The team began their descent from the crater rim at 8:30 a.m. en route to Camp Muir. They will return to Paradise later today.
RMI Guide Casey Grom led the Expedition Skills Seminar - Kautz July 1 - 6 to the summit today. The team reported great route conditions and a beautiful day on the mountain. This six day seminar will return to their high camp at approximately 10,000' for their final night on the mountain. The group will finish their training and descend to Paradise tomorrow afternoon.
Congratulations to today's summit teams!
After many weather days at 14k and 17k, our team finally made it to the summit of Denali! The weather was promising, but not perfect this morning. It was overcast but still. You could see the sun shining through the tops of the clouds. After our turned back attempt the other day, we were very cautious and waited to see what the day was going to bring. We finally left camp at 11:20 in the morning. As we climbed, the weather got better and better. We climbed through the clouds into the sunshine. We made it to the summit around 8:00 p.m. It was clear with no wind, which is VERY rare on the top of the highest mountain in North America. Our crew was strong so we had a safe, quick descent back to camp arriving a bit after 11:00 p.m. A great 12 hour day. We had a quick dinner, caught the midnight sunset, and are now comfortably in bed. Now we can let ourselves start thinking about cheeseburgers!
RMI Guide Mike Haugen
RMI Guide Mike Haugen checks in from the summit of Mt. McKinley.
This is Dave Hahn calling in from 7,800’ on the Kahiltna Glacier. Still at 7,800’! We really had high hopes this storm would break a little earlier today and then we would get to move. We did get up early again and kept checking the weather, but it was snowing good and steady through the night, through the morning and well into the afternoon. It was socked right in, like looking at the inside of a ping pong ball. Wet snow kept falling right until 3 this afternoon and then it started to clear. And now, at almost 8:30 in the evening, I am standing out here and we do have a blue sky above us. Most of the mountains are still kind of hiding in the clouds. But it is definitely breaking up and it's beautiful to see the mountains again. We haven't seen them for a few days, and looking down the Kahiltna Glacier and we're all kind of excited.
We just did a radio calls with Linden Mallory and Mike Haugen. The treat for everybody was that Mike was doing his radio call from the summit of Mt McKinley. So that's pretty far from us right now, but we were excited for those guys because we know that they have been up there waiting and trying. And we've been down here waiting. Tomorrow, I'm pretty confident, that we're going to get up early and we are going to climb on up to 9,500’. I think the weather is going to work out for us tonight. We'll see.
Everybody is in good spirits. We had a snow carving contest today. There was a bowling alley carved over here. There is a pony, a lion, and a cobra. There was a giraffe that broke his neck a little earlier. There were some pretty good snow sculptures out here. The team is keeping their spirits up, and eating well. That is all.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
RMI Guide Dave Hahn checks in with an update from 7,800' on Mt. McKinley.
So cool that Lindsey, one of our favorite ski coaches, and my brother, dial-a-vet Rich, are on the same climb. We are sending positive thoughts for a safe summit and return for you all. Happy trails to you both Taosenos. Carin, Nicole and clan
Posted by: Carin on 7/5/2011 at 9:29 pm
I bet that the injured giraffe was Lindsay Mann’s! Sending my best wishes for good weather. Stay safe. Go team Hahn!
With more snow falling throughout the night and a cloudy obscured morning here at 14 Camp, we spent our 4th of July parked here at 14 Camp. The snow let up by mid morning and we spent a few hours touching up camp after all of the snow. The big snow walls we have around our tents do a great job breaking the wind but make clearing the tents a challenge as all the snow needs to be thrown up and over them. Once the tent area is cleared of the new snow we set about snugging up the guy lines and tent anchors that secure the tent in place, crucial points in case the winds pick up to keep the tents from blowing away. Turning our attention to the kitchen, we spent some time reworking our benches and cooking counters out of the snow. The kitchen is a big circular pit dug into the snow with benches and flat counters dug into the edges with a round teepee like nylon tent that covers it. After a few days of use everything begins to melt out so it took a couple of hours of shoveling and chopping through the ice to reform everything in there.
With camp squared away we dove into a serious session of knot tying, spending the better part of the afternoon practicing the basic as well as more elaborate mountaineering and climbing knots.
The weather has slowly cleared throughout the day and looks to be improving, a great trend for us. We are looking at the possibility of moving to high camp either tomorrow or Wednesday, depending on the weather and a few logistics we need to coordinate with Mike Haugen's RMI team which will hopefully be descending tomorrow.
Happy 4th too everyone back home, we hope you're enjoying the barbecues and fireworks!
RMI Guide Linden Mallory
Hey dad its Nick, have been having computer issues so I haven’t been able to check up too much. Looks like you guys are doing well. I hope the trip continues to be somewhat smooth, and I hope you’re having a blast! Love you lots!!
Nick
Posted by: Nick Marini on 7/6/2011 at 12:25 pm
Linden, your descriptions of camp are wonderful! It is nice to start the day knowing you are all hanging in there.
Kitty and I are holding down the home fort…all is well.
Happy 4th of July from Ecuador! We hope that everyone back home is having a fun and safe Independence Day.
Today we took our first acclimatization hike. We started the day with breakfast in the hotel and were then joined by our two local mountain guides Esteban and Robinson. After a short drive to the base of the Quito Teleferico we took the gondola to 13,100 feet. From there we embarked on our hike on the slopes of the Pichincha volcano. The weather was mostly cloudy today but that was actually very nice as it kept us nice and cool for our hike. We hiked up for about 2.5 hours and topped out at almost 15,000 feet! We enjoyed our lunch there along with a great view of Quito. After descending back to the top of Teleferico we had a nice cup of tea and then rode back down to the city.
Everyone is now having a little down time before we meet up for our last dinner in the city. Tomorrow we are going to head up towards the Illiniza peaks and overnight at the Hacienda Chilcabamba.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
The Four Day Summit Climb July 1 - 4 led by Tyler Jones and the Five Day Summit Climb June 30 - 4 July reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. The teams reported light winds and clear skies. At 7:05 a.m. the teams were at 13,500' on their descent en route to Camp Muir.
Congratulations to today's climbers and Happy 4th of July!
Hi Dave. Good to hear that the weather has improved. Can you let Jurjen know that we really need good pictures for his ‘after-dinner’ engagements. We’ve got him fully booked up now through to November! Good luck to the whole team!
Posted by: Team Munting at London HQ on 7/7/2011 at 12:29 am
GREAT TO HEAR YOU GUYS HAVE MOVED UP, HEY SPENCER YOU OUT OF COFFEE YET? TONTO WEST AND I ARE SET TO BRING MORE. PRAYING FOR GOOD WEATHER FOR THE WHOLE TEAM LEAVE SOME MOUNTAIN FOR US!!!
Posted by: TOBY EMERSON on 7/6/2011 at 7:02 pm
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