The weather was splitter today at Camp 4; cloudless skies, warm temps, and no wind. We took a rest day today and prepared for our carry of food and fuel for high camp, which will hopefully happen tomorrow. The weather forecast looks promising.
In addition to resting, we took a fifteen minute walk over to The Edge of the World, a spectacular veiwpoint that is situated at the far south side of Genet Basin. From here we could see nearly straight down 6,000' to our first camp of the trip, some nine days ago. The team is acclimating well to the altitude, and everyone's spirits are high.
Thanks for checking in on our trip; we'll keep you up to date with our progress.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
This is the RMI seminar, the Alaska seminar checking in. We awoke to another cloudless morning in Talkeetna. After eating breakfast at the Road House, we flew into base camp and were quickly boot packing a trail to our camp. After two hours of setting up camp, several helicopters passed through the southeast fork in the valley of the Kahiltna Glacier. As we continue to set up our camp and move in, the weather could not have been better. We spent a lot of time outside of our tents taking in the beautiful scenery. Everyone's doing great and excited to be here up on the Kahiltna Glacier up in Alaska. We'll check in tomorrow and hopefully have some good weather, more training. Take care.
RMI Guide Jason Thompson
Everyone did well on our first night sleeping above 14,000'. We spent the bulk of the day working around camp, building snow walls for protection from the wind, and digging out our kitchen. We also hiked back down to retrieve our cache at 13,600'.
Tomorrow we will rest and prepare for taking a cache of food and fuel to high camp. The weather forecast is calling for warmer temperatures, and we're all looking forward to that.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
Greetings from beautiful Kahiltna Base Camp! Despite breezy conditions this morning the guys at K2 Aviation were able to get us on the glacier later this morning. We spent the rest of the afternoon setting up a simple camp and getting everything ready to head out on the route early tomorrow morning. The views on the flight in were spectacular as always but this time especially so because there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The team has been hanging out and soaking in the immensity of our new environs. We'll check in tomorrow from our next camp around 7,800' or so.
Ciao for now,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
The weather at Everest Base Camp is cloudy but the temperatures are nice. We have heard that more climbers have successfully reached the top of Mt. Everest.
Kaji and Dawa after going to the South Col yesterday have comeback to Base camp. Lam Babu has also returned to Base Camp from Camp 2.
Tsering and Yubarj plan on carrying loads to the South Col tomorrow early morning early if the weather allows.
Speaking of weather, the forecast for lighter winds has been adjusted to more moderate speeds, we have heard of a number of teams adjusting their summit schedule to a later date. Everyone is looking for that perfect weather window. Some teams are in position for summit attempts tonight and tomorrow night.
Our team at Base Camp continues with the resting and eating routine. We are working hard to fatten up Dave, Linden, Sara and Bill. We had a few friends over today to throw some horseshoes. The focus now is keeping track of the forecasts and monitoring resting patterns. How much simpler could life get.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Guys…. my two favorite things resting and eating… but I do know you both can not wait for some your mom’s/wife’s home cooked meals ... Stay strong and we are all thinking and praying for you! love. Stacey
Posted by: Stacey on 5/13/2011 at 5:38 pm
Sara and Bill,
WOW, I absolutely love seeing these pictures. Funny how it does make me think “Anything” I am doing here is so trivial compared to what you all are doing. Stay Strong like you are… fatten up, (ha)and we will pray for low winds and good weather. lots of love and prayers. Kathy
Hello everyone!
Billy here checking in for the rest of the crew after the first official day of our Denali expedition. Today's theme: attention to detail. Lots of packing- group gear, food, hardware, clothing systems, etc. etc. After a great orientation with the park service this afternoon the team tied up all the loose ends and we are officially ready to rock and roll. Tomorrow morning we are hoping to fly in to Kahiltna Base earlier rather later but that is contingent upon the winds. The weather should be clear but possibly a bit breezy. Regardless, the pilots at K2 seem optimistic about getting onto the mountain tomorrow.
Wish us luck!
Mike would also like to make a shout out to his grandfather. He's thinking of you.
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
This is Ed and Seth checking in from 14,200 feet on Denali. Today we dropped 750 vertical feet back down the route to pick up our cache of food and fuel. It took us an hour and a half round trip. The weather has been great all day. We are now well positioned to begin climbing on the upper mountain.
RMI Guides Ed Viesturs and Seth Waterfall
We woke this morning to very cold temperatures and gusty winds, but clear skies at Camp 3. After breakfast we packed up the tents and headed out; the wind had quit and the weather was beautiful as we headed up Motorcycle Hill and then Squirrel Hill. It even got hot as we climbed toward Windy Corner.
We are now in our new home, Camp 4 (14,200'). We will go back to Windy Corner tomorrow to retrieve the cache of gear we left there 2 days ago. Everyone climbed well and we're cozy in our sleeping bags trying to get used to this new altitude.
My fingers are cold as I type this, so that's it for now. I'll be in touch again tomorrow.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
Now it gets interesting in Everest-ville. Chherring, Dawa Jamba and Kaji made a significant contribution to our team's potential success today. They got up around 2 AM, put on big packs at ABC and climbed all the way to the South Col, establishing what will be our High Camp at 26,000 feet. All three were safely back down the Lhotse Face and into ABC by noon. They'll hope to repeat that extremely big morning of work in the next few days... boosting enough tents, fuel, oxygen and miscellaneous heavy stuff up to the Col so that the door will be open for our summit bid.
Just when that summit bid will take place is uncertain at this point. To be sure, when Linden, Sara and myself came down from ABC yesterday we were bucking the local trend. There were dozens of our friends, fellow guides and Sherpas pushing up the lower mountain with summit stars in their eyes already. This season is turning out to be different from those in recent memory in that the weather window is open early and people are taking advantage. This has long been a hope for those of us who habitually attempt Everest..."If only the weather could be good enough, early enough so that everybody wasn't going for the summit on the same four crowded days in late May" Climbers are getting to the top now... we heard that Apa Sherpa got his record 21st summit of the mountain today... British climber Kenton Cool is already back home after a head-spinning and nearly unheard of three-week round-trip to the summit (we are on our seventh or eighth week). In the next couple of days it should get quite busy at the top of the world as the bulk of the assembled expeditions look to get it all done while the jet-stream seems to be otherwise occupied.
If it seems like I'm jealous then perhaps I am... but only mildly. A good shot at the top for others is not necessarily a good shot for us. Having just come down the mountain from our last round of acclimatization yesterday, I'm satisfied enough with our exertions and not yet restless and bored enough to be jealous of anyone else's. Although the three of us are each feeling strong and healthy now, we need a good chunk of rest and we cling to the belief that a viable weather window later in the month will be warmer and quieter than a viable weather window in the middle of the month... we want every single advantage.
That is why we were trying to get up to sleep at Camp 3 a few days ago. Without question it would have been a big plus for our small team to have the experience and confidence that results from an admittedly dreadful night in a tent at 24,000 ft. But it was clear to each of us that Sara was getting worn out in the most-recent effort to reach that camp... who knows why? Perhaps the last rest period in Base Camp wasn't long enough... perhaps the windy-night at Camp 1 deprived her of the sleep she needed... perhaps the hot sun in the Western Cwm or the cold morning at ABC drained her reserves... perhaps, perhaps, perhaps... it doesn't really matter. It is a huge disadvantage that younger climbers suffer from -that they don't always know their bodies well enough to know just why and when they'll be tired instead of burly. But in any case, Sara was getting worked by the climb to Camp 3... she knew it, I knew it, and Linden knew it. We all were completely clear that despite this, she could make it up to the camp under her own power and spend the night if necessary. But the day's goal no longer seemed to be a smart one of it meant getting our most important climber exhausted on the doorstep to the "death zone". It became crystal clear that we needed to focus on a bigger picture than a counter-productive practice night at Camp 3... we needed to get down, to get in a good rest and to get focused on a summit bid that fit our needs.
And so here we are... listening to other teams high up on the hill, cheering on our own Sherpa team of heroes, eating everything in sight, beginning to talk just a bit of things we might do in June, keeping Tuck occupied with horseshoes, card games and dice, enduring daily snow showers, making one another laugh and trying to stay focused on a big picture that involves going to 29,035 ft soon... and coming down safely.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Thanks for the posts, Dave. I will be keeping track. Hopefully that weather window that normally occurs later in May still happens and isn’t going on now. Dave, did you ever meet my buddy Brett in Taos this year? Climb safe. Looking forward to the next post. Hans
Posted by: Hans Reigle on 5/12/2011 at 2:58 pm
Thank you, Dave, for this insightful description of a very complex venture. Our gratitude to all those who make this happen and our thoughts and prayers are with everyone. Sara, to get so far up to now is an incredible accomplishment all by itself. Rest well. Bill, is putt-putt available at Base Camp? Thinking of you all with much love.
Ed Viesturs and I, along with the team, pulled into the 14,000 foot camp today! We spent 5.5 hours climbing. It was a great show of strength for our group. We started out in questionable weather but after two hours of climbing the clouds lifted and we were able to round Windy Corner in sunshine. We then spent a few hours building camp. Its necessary to build snow walls at the upper camps here to prevent the tents from being crushed by the wind. We're all settled in now for the evening.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
You guys deserve the rest. Can’t wait to see the pictures.
Posted by: Thomas Jorda on 5/14/2011 at 2:47 pm
We are rooting for you Jeff! Good luck and think of your MA at the summit! Love, M & D
Posted by: Amb.Fay Hartog Levin on 5/14/2011 at 12:38 pm
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