Entries from Expedition Dispatches
On a cold and windy morning, the climbing teams persevered and made it to the summit of Mt. Rainier. The teams started their descent back to Camp Muir at 8:00 a.m. PST.
Congratulations!
Another successful push up the hill brought us to our 14,000' Camp. The team performed wonderfully even with the big loads we were carrying. 14,000' Camp is a huge flat area that has a view up towards the summit looking one way and a view out towards Mt. Foraker and Mt. Hunter the other way. What an incredible place! The sun reflecting off of the snow that surrounds us causes it to be quite hot during the day. When the sun tucks behind the mountain around 9:00 PM, it gets COLD. Like Alaska cold! Go figure. Although our team is a bunch of animals, we are taking a rest day tomorrow.
RMI Guide Mike Haugen
On The Map
Posted by:
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Today we enjoyed our first acclimatization hike, climbing the ~15,500’ Rucu Pichincha, a volcano whose flanks form part of the western perimeter of Quito. In order to access the hike, we rode a gondola from Quito to ~13,500’. The hike begins at the top of the gondola and heads west, gradually climbing up a broad ridge. Dramatic views of Quito were afforded, a few thousand feet below us. The weather was great for hiking, with only a light breeze and comfortable temperatures. As we neared the top of Rucu, the trail steepened, climbing up to a col; from here a quick rock scramble led to the top. Views from the top were limited, as we were in the clouds at this point. But as we descended, the clouds dissipated a bit. Everyone did great on this high-altitude climb, especially considering that most of us were at sea-level a day or two before this!
Once we got back to Quito, we had a couple of hours of free time to rest before we headed out for a well-deserved meal where we sampled typical Ecuadorian cuisine, including shrimp ceviche, chicken, pork, and even baked cuy, or guinea pig—a classic dish from the Andes.
Tomorrow we’re headed north for our second acclimatization hike to Fuya Fuya, a small mountain near the town of Otovalo. We’ll touch base again tomorrow.
Hasta luego!
RMI Guide Mike Walter
RMI's Four Day Summit Climb Teams led by Seth Waterfall and Jason Thompson reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today at 7:20 a.m. PT. It was a cold and clear day on the mountain with very high winds. The team took photos and a quick break on top before starting their descent.
The Expedition Skills Seminar - Kautz led by Nate Disser also reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning via the Kautz Glacier. The team will return to high camp for their final night on the mountain.
Congratulations to today's team on their successful ascent of Mt. Rainier!
The sky never quite darkened outside the drawn shades of the hotel rooms up here in Talkeetna last night and before long the sun was rising in the sky again. We met up at the Roadhouse Cafe this morning where Matt, the final member of our team and a local Alaskan resident, joined us. Over heaping portions of scrambled eggs, bacon, thick slices of toast, and steaming cups of coffee, we toasted the merging of the team and the beginning of the adventures. After spending some time talking through the details of the climb ahead we went over to the National Park Service offices here and checked in with the climbing rangers, collecting our climbing permits and discussing the most recent route conditions with the climbing rangers.
With permits in hand we walked back through the streets of Talkeetna, just starting to bustle with the midday influx of tourist arriving from the Anchorage area, and across the railroad tracks to the air strip where we spent the rest of the day organizing our gear for the climb. We unpacked, sorted, checked, rechecked, and repacked our personal clothing and climbing equipment, inspected our climbing ropes, fired up and tested our stoves, counted our 22 days worth of food, set up and examined our 4 tents, separated the shovels, wands, climbing pickets, and snow saws we will need, and then rechecked everything again - making doubly sure that we are feeling prepared with our equipment. Finally, by later afternoon, a pile of duffels, backpacks, snowshoes, tents, poles, and climbing equipment began to accumulate in the open entrance of the hangar of K2 Aviation. At long last the pile stopped growing and the final last minute items were added. Just before dinner we weighed out all of the bags, carefully checking the weights of each item in order to allow the pilots of the small prop planes we fly in tomorrow so that they can adequately distribute the weight of our loads.
With a full day of packing and preparing for the climb, we retired to the local and legendary eatery and watering hole of the West Rib, indulging in Caribou burgers and Halibut tacos before calling it a day. We are hoping that the clearing skies we see in the afternoon persist into tomorrow allowing us to make the 30 minute flight from Talkeetna into the Alaska Range to Denali Base Camp. There is always the chance that weather either here in Talkeetna or up on the mountain will not cooperate and not allow us to make the flight but spirits are optimistic and we are keeping our fingers crossed the weather shakes out in our favor.
RMI Guide Linden Mallory
Wonderful to read your blog Linden. Wishing you, Frank and the whole team a safe climb and an experience beyond all your expectations!
Posted by: Connie S. on 6/24/2011 at 12:12 pm
Happy Birthday…you know who you are…. :-)
Posted by: Laurie C. on 6/24/2011 at 6:45 am
Posted by:
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Greetings from Ecuador!
Today was the first official day of our Ecuador Volcanoes trip. After an excellent breakfast at our hotel (which included fresh fruit and juices from the region, like papaya, pineapple, watermelon, and guanabana), we set off on a tour of Quito. Led by our local city guide and expert historian, Jorge, we traveled to the historic Old Town Quito. We toured the Basilica and other historic churches in the district, learning the history of their creation and their unique architectural styles. We also visited the Presidential Palace, Ecuador’s House of Congress, and Independence Square. Then the team headed up to the hill on the outskirts of Quito known as El Panecillo. Here, in addition to seeing the large statue of the Virgin of Quito, we were afforded a panoramic view of Quito.
The next stop on the trip was at a beautiful restaurant/hotel for lunch, where we all sampled classic Ecuadorian cuisine; the meal started with an empanada, then a potato/cheese/avocado soup known as locro de queso. The main course was Fritada, or fried pork, accompanied by corn, plantain, and potatoes. The meal finished off with a delicious homemade ice cream with a fruit sauce made of babaco and guanabana.
With full bellies, we headed north to visit an ethnographic museum located exactly on the equator, where we were able to stand with one foot in the northern hemisphere and one in the southern hemisphere!
The day concluded with a great dinner, lots of joking around, and laughter at the well-known Magic Bean restaurant. Tomorrow we will go on our first acclimatization hike to the volcano Rucu Pichincha.
Everyone is doing great and we all send a big “Hola” to everyone back home. I will be in touch tomorrow with pictures and an update of our hike.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
Thanks for the updates! Have a great and safe climb.
I’m looking forward to lots of pictures
Posted by: Mike Erstad on 6/23/2011 at 9:56 am
We had great weather as we made our way to 14,200' today. Our mission was to carry a load of food and fuel to 14k camp so we can try to move up there tomorrow if the weather permits. The team looked strong as we climbed our way through some pretty windy conditions into the sunshine of "14". We ran into Jake [Beren] and his team. They are waiting to make their move up to 17,000' as soon as the winds die down up top. Looks like there is going to be a party @ 14,200'!
RMI Guide Mike Haugen
On The Map
Woohoo! Sounds like a fiesta! Hope the wind subsides and that you are staying warm- bet you’re missing some good old malaysian cooking right now after all that trail food, don’t you worry, i’ll eat an extra plate of chicken curry for you. Love you papa.
Posted by: Yashu on 6/23/2011 at 10:45 am
Dr. K we are here at st.marks thinking about you. Wondering if you still have all of your toes or do you need bethany to make you an appointment with Dr. Anderson. Homer want to know if you could bring him back a northern light.? We hope your hike is going well. Take lots of pictures for us and we will see you soon.
Love,
Homer, Scott, dr zimpolich, and the heart crew.
Ps. run like a gazelle!
Posted by: St.Marks Heart Team on 6/23/2011 at 10:26 am
Ominous yet beautiful spoons of spin drift continue to tear across the upper mountain. For now we wait safely at 14 camp passing the time reviewing knots, going on training hikes and practicing skills needed on this expedition.
Our camp at 14,000' is an ideal place for us to wait out the weather so that is what we'll continue to do.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
Hi Everyone
Hope the weather is clearing on the mountain top and you all will be able to move up there soon. Are you cold yet?? We love you Anne Gilbert and are very proud!Dad loved his call from up there. Mom and Dad
Posted by: chris chase on 6/24/2011 at 7:15 am
Glad you are hanging in there. We miss you and can’t wait to hear about your grand adventure.
Posted by: carolyn crandell on 6/24/2011 at 6:34 am
The Four Day Summit Climb June 19 - 22 led by Brent Okita reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning with 100% of his team. Leon Davis lead the Five Day Summit Climb June 18 - 22 on their summit climb this morning. The teams reported clear, cold and slightly windy conditions this morning with about 35mph winds. They were descending from the crater rim at 7:30 a.m. PT making their way back to Camp Muir and then down to Paradise.
Congratulations to the Four and Five Day Climb Team Members!
Good evening from the land of the midnight sun. The RMI June 21st Mt. McKinley Expedition Team gathered in Anchorage this afternoon, overcoming the first potential obstacle of any climbing expedition - the moment when you find out if all of the gear that you've spent days and weeks meticulously sorting and packing actually arrives with you after the flights. Thankfully, all the needed bags popped out on to the conveyor belt at Ted Stevens Airport at one point or another.
After loading the van with our gear we headed out of town, low lying clouds hanging above Anchorage and just obscuring the peaks of the Chugach that border town. After a quick grocery stop in Wasilla (yes, the legendary Wasilla, AK) we kept driving up the Parks Highway as the skies gradually broke. By the time we arrived in Talkeetna the mountains of the Alaska Range were beginning to poke out of the clouds in the distance and we spent a few minutes on the edge of town admiring the views.
Tomorrow we will spend the day organizing our gear and getting ready for the mountain. It has been many months of preparation an thousands of miles traveled to arrive here and the excitement about the adventures ahead is growing.
It is 11:30 at night here in Alaska and we just watched the sun finally settle out of the sky, disappearing the peaks of the Alaska Range that sit on the horizon. Happy Summer Solstice to everyone.
RMI Guide Linden Mallory
Previous Page
Next Page
Papa and Shreekanth uncle- hope you guys are entertaining eachother on your day off. Can’t wait to hear all the stories about your adventures!
love you, love yashu
Posted by: Yashu on 6/24/2011 at 8:57 am
Hi Dad! Take it easy tomorrow and keep warm at night! Can’t wait to see pictures, the view from 14,000 sounds pretty nice.
Luv,
Maya and Sarina
Posted by: Maya and Sarina on 6/24/2011 at 2:12 am
View All Comments