Entries from Expedition Dispatches
Wednesday, June 27, 2018 - 8:39 pm PT
As mountaineers, we tend to take things one day at a time. It just so happens that this was one of the best climbing days ever.
After an early start, we climbed into the gorgeous sunshine that we have not had enough of this trip. The views of the glaciers below and the rocky ridge we were ascending made for stunning photos and memories we will not soon forget! We are pretty sure that
Joe Horiskey scheduled a fly-by and wing wave from a F-35 fighter jet just as we topped out on the fixed line! Spectacular!!!
We are currently residing at
17k Camp in the late evening sunshine. This camp stays particularly sunny since there is not much above us to block the Alaskan midnight sun.
Our plan is to go to the summit tomorrow if the mountain allows us! I think the mountain may owe us a good weather summit day after all the Super Crew has been through so far. We will see if
Denali agrees!?
RMI Guide Mike Haugen & Super Crew 6
On The Map
Good evening from "infinite skies land"!
It is quite amazing to enjoy the deepness of the night we're having right now. The clouds have moved away and moon lit ridges reign above us, giving us a sense of smallness amongst these Andean fluted snow walls. All of it wouldn't be as overwhelmingly haunting, if it wasn't because of the task we have in store for us. But having carried to our first camp today, and witnessed those very walls get smaller with our progress uphill, makes us feel that the power of the mountains is on our side. And so, we had a great day reaching the 5,000m mark and dropping half of the equipment we'll use to venture even higher, and eventually, to climb to the top.
It's now been four days of activity, and we're ready to go to bed and welcome a well earned rest day at dawn. Although, it is worth mentioning that, we sure could keep going as there is no challenge that can't be fueled by our cook Emilio's food; tonight, meat and carrot soup, followed by breaded chicken breast filled with cheese and ham, accompanied by french fries... Yes, we're here right now climbing
Alpamayo!
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
This morning the
Mt. Rainier Five Day Summit Climb teams, led by
Pete Van Deventer and
JM Gorum, reached the summit. They reported 10 mph winds and a thin cap, but otherwise a nice day. They are currently descending back to Camp Muir and will return to Ashford Base Camp this afternoon.
Tuesday, June 26, 2018 - 10:58 PM PT
Ahhhh. We made it to a much deserved rest day. It kept on snowing lightly through the night with some restless breezes playing through in the morning, but we didn’t care much what it did. We slept in and did a long, slow, yummy bagel breakfast in our comfortable dining tent. The day was a mix of napping, reading, and visiting with other climbers. We watched a handful of neighboring teams pick up and move to
14,000' Camp, although it looked as though they’d have to deal with higher winds on the way. Weather got gradually better through the day and by evening it was just calm, sunny and nice. At dinner we went through plans for our own big move up to 14,000' Camp tomorrow.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Tuesday, June 26, 2018 - 8:54 PM PT
Rest days are the best days! We slept harrrd after our long day of climbing yesterday. When we finally began rustling around we enjoyed a very leisurely pancake brunch and our whole team laughed and chatted with renewed energy. The afternoon was filled with napping, organizing, stretching, snacking, and enjoying the sunshine. Yes, you read that correctly, sunshine! We finally had a full day with no precipitation! It wasn’t exactly beach weather, but we soaked it up nonetheless, and the day moved at just the perfect pace.
Spirits are high and bellies are full- and every member of the Super Crew would like to send a very warm thank you to Carol Clark for her excellent baked goods! They somehow held up very well in Craig’s pack and he was generous enough (or his pack was heavy enough
On The Map
Hello from
Alpamayo Base Camp. We finished our approach to the mountain on an almost rainy day, but the clouds decided to respect us, as now, right before dinner, skies are open and we're enjoying a nice evening.
Alpamayo, Quiraraju, Paron,
Artesonraju... only a few of these "Andean Giants" that we're able to contemplate from our tents. We're about to enjoy another dinner from our cook Emilio; vegetable soup from his very own garden as first course, and it seems that grilled fresh trout with natural mashed potato and rice with cilantro are on the menu... Yep, living large here!
More to come tomorrow.
Cheers,
RMI Guide Elías de Andres Martos and team
The
Kautz Seminar, led by
Steve Gately, was on top of Mt. Rainier at 9:45 a.m. The team is working their way back to their camp where they will stay another night and descend from the mountain tomorrow.
Congratulations to our Seminar team!
After a relaxing stay at the hacienda Chilcabamba, we are all packed up and heading for
Cotopaxi, the stunning 19,347’ stratovolcano that is our main climbing objective. We will drive a dirt road that winds through Cotopaxi National Park to an altitude above 15,000’. A 45-minute hike will lead to the climbers’ hut, which sits near the toe of the glacier just shy of 16,000’. The goal of today is to arrive at such high altitude accommodations feeling good, resting, and adjusting to the altitude. Tomorrow we will hike to the Glacier and review the climbing techniques we will employ on the climb the following morning.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
Monday, June 25, 2018 - 10:31 PM PT
We woke up early to clear, cold skies. Our mission was to carry a load of gear up to our next camp at
17,200 feet. We chose to leave early to avoid the heat wave that can occur on the fixes lines when the sun is hitting them. It seems weird that we are avoiding heat while climbing a giant mountain in Alaska, but the solar radiation bouncing off of all the white snow and other light color surfaces can heat you up something fierce!
Although the conditions were sometimes less than ideal with some deep snow and some blowing wind on the ridge, the Super Crew did fantastically! We are all pretty worn out after such a big day and deserve the rest day we are taking tomorrow. Send us some sunshine vibes so we can rest in warmth!
RMI Guide Mike Haugen & the Super Crew
On The Map
Monday, June 25, 2018 - 10:52 PM PT
At six AM, things were looking positive... not much sign of wind and the upper portions of
Denali’s West Buttress were in the clear. We got up and got going slowly in order to keep an eye out for changes... and to enjoy a leisurely breakfast of bacon and eggs. We set out from camp at 9:30 in our crampons and carrying ice axes, feeling a little more like climbers. Nice to take a break from snowshoes and from sled hauling. We carried food and fuel for caching, but each of us elected to put it all on our backs and to give the sleds the day off. First up was Motorcycle Hill, a steep but short (40 minute) glacial slope, next we got on squirrel hill, which brought us to the Polo Field -the glacial basin at the foot of the West Buttress. By then we were watching dramatic clouds beginning to form atop the high mountains. Another hour brought us to Windy Corner, which was just starting to get a little breezy when we turned the corner and reached our destination at 13,500 ft. By the time we were digging a raven-proof pit in the snow to bury our supplies, things had whited out and the snow was starting to fall. We’d taken a respectable 4 hours to reach the intended cache, we spent 45 minutes there getting everything squared away and then took just a further 90 minutes to walk back down through the snowstorm to camp at 11,000. There were plenty of other guided parties from different companies on the route today but we all worked well together and there were no traffic jams. Back at camp by 3:45 we snoozed until dinner time. Several of us admitted to being a little tired after this fine day of climbing... but that is not such a bad thing. We’ve planned a rest day for tomorrow and we’ll hope the snow takes a holiday as well.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
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Hope all the hard work and preparation paid off today with a successful “visit” to the summit.
Congrats to all for what you have accomplished.
Posted by: Molly Frishmuth on 6/28/2018 at 6:35 pm
Josh, rooting for you and the team for a great summit day. Very proud of you. Love following the team’s progress. Will talk soon. Much love from Mom and Dad
Posted by: David Levy on 6/28/2018 at 10:24 am
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