Entries from Expedition Dispatches
Posted by: Dave Hahn
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Vinson Massif
We kicked off our Antarctic mountaineering expedition with a walk around the windy streets of Punta Arenas in the far South of Chile. Most of the gang came in on the afternoon flights from Santiago, so stretching legs was crucial following all those uncomfortable hours in the air, the airports and the airliners. We had a nice dinner at La Luna, one of the friendly restaurants just a few blocks from our hotel on the shore of Magellan’s Strait. Turkey wasn’t on the menu, nor was there any cranberry or gravy... and it was five unrelated strangers sitting down to get to know one another. So not your typical Thanksgiving feast, but for that, it was quite nice. It was still plenty light out at 8:30 pm when we walked from the restaurant, a pleasant reminder that we’d switched hemispheres and seasons. Tomorrow we’ll get down to the business of packing and preparing to climb Vinson. Tonight was just for relaxing with new climbing partners.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Update: November 11th, 2:00 pm PT
Buenas Tardes! Our team has safely returned down to Tlachichuca after our climb of Orizaba this morning. It was a beautiful day and a great climb, made even more so by the fact that we were the only people on the entire mountain! What a treat.
Now back in the valley below, we are doing the old duffle shuffle and getting ready to celebrate with a hard earned dinner. Tomorrow we will part ways, but our time in Mexico has been a fantastic adventure.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
Transcription of call from the Orizaba summit:
Hello. This is Jake on top of Pico de Orizaba with the crew. We are doing great. We had a beautiful, could not ask for a better style day, today. The winds are light, the sun is out, and we're going to reverse our path and start heading down soon. It was a great climb, everybody did well, and we'll be in touch from the lowlands. Alright everybody take care.
RMI Guide Jake Beren calls in from the Pico de Orizaba summit.
On The Map
Posted by: Jake Beren
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mexico
Our travels so far have been action packed and the team enjoyed a relaxing rest/exploration day yesterday. The colonial city of Puebla is a beautiful place to see the sights and we did a little sleeping in before taking it to the streets. Puebla is a city that certainly felt the effects of the recent earthquake and as you walk around town, you can see folks tending to the damage, repairing walls and buildings. It is remarkable that the damage was not more widespread, but we are all happy to see that the beautiful town of Puebla has survived.
Now we are off to Orizaba! Tonight we will stay in the Piedra Grande hut and begin our climb early tomorrow morning. Wish us luck!
RMI Guide Jake Beren
Despite a very blustery morning, we had a great time climbing on Ixta today. We moved through the night under a waning gibbous moon and caught the sunrise from 17,000' above sea level! The team climbed well, making wise decisions, on a windy day to the cumbre (summit) of Ixta! Now we are relaxing in a hotel in Puebla, enjoying significantly less wind, before heading out to celebrate over dinner. Tomorrow we will rest and relax, getting ready for the big one -Pico de Orizaba on Friday.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
On The Map
Posted by:
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mexico
Buenas noches from our High Camp on Ixta where we are tucked in for the night. The team did great moving up today and with any luck we will be calling from the cumbre. So all is well here. This is Jake and the Mexico crew signing off for the night. Adios
RMI Guide Jake Beren
On The Map
This morning we pulled stakes after a great night’s sleep in La Malintzi and made our way toward Ixta. Along the way we explored the little town of Amecameca, registered with the park and double checked our equipment for the climb. Tomorrow we will head uphill, establishing our high camp on Ixta. The team is doing great and after our afternoon walk, we plan to feast and do our best to duplicate last nights slumber in our new home at 13k!
Tomorrow we ride...
RMI Jake Beren and Team
On our drive from Mexico City we were treated to views of La Malinche, Ixta and Pico de Orizaba. Today’s clarity was one for the books and we made the most of it on our first acclimatization hike. One of the advantages of this style of trip is that you can pretty quickly get in position to be at altitude AND get a good night’s rest indoors. After a beautiful hike through the “arboles ponderosicas” we made it to some lounging at our cabana before dinner.
Hope everyone up North is doing great!
RMI Guide Jake Beren
On The Map
Posted by: Jake Beren
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mexico
Buenos dias everyone.
Our team has all safely arrived in Mexico City and after a team meeting and dinner last night, we are about to head out for our first scramble at altitude. Today we will leave the big city for an acclimatization mission to La Malinche, an extinct volcano a few hours from Mexico City. Thanks of following along and we will check in from down the road!
RMI Guide Jake Beren
Posted by: Elias de Andres Martos
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Gokyo Trek
Namaste!
We made it back to Kathmandu. Our descent from Khumjung went well, and we decided to expedite it, as the weather forecast looked not the most favorable, and wanted to have an extra day to secure flying out of the mountains without issues. Upon arrival to Lukla, the only storm of the entire trip developed, but we were lucky to get wet for only the last 30min of an almost 2 week hike... not bad! But we flew out yesterday, and were able to farewell the Himalaya from the air, as the skies were still relatively sunny by mid morning.
Tired but accomplished, we left the Khumbu with incredible images in the memory, miles in the legs and new friends in the hearts. Our Sherpa and porter crew made it possible for a great trip through this fantastic and mystic mountainous area of the world. All is good now in the city as we await for our flights back home tomorrow.
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
Posted by: Elias de Andres Martos
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Gokyo Trek
Today we continued to descend the Gokyo Valley towards Khumjung, "The Green Village", which, with its twin city, Kunde, hosts the largest population of Sherpa people in the Khumbu. Sightings of the smaller, yet impresive Ama Dablam, Tamserku and Kantega peaks reminded us we were back to the proximity of the lower lands where we started ten days ago.
Upon arrival to Khumjung, we visited its monastery, which believe it or not, conserves a scalp of the Yeti!!! We saw it ourselves. We continued to circumnavigate the perimeter of the two villages following long mani stone walls (fence like dwellings made with flat slate stones engraved with prayers and mantras) which, along with the mist and the domesticated yet majestic yaks, delivered a great deal of Himalayan mysticism.
We're now in bed, and bound to Lukla to finish the trek.
RMI Guide Elías de Andres Martos and team
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Sue: wishing you and the team the best of a excellent weather to conquer Vinson Massif, a prayer for you and please be safe, We still have many more hikes to do together around the world.
Enjoy the beauty of Antarctica y keep warm, proud to be your friend and can’t wait to hear from you and your amazing, priceless adventure
Take Care!!!
Posted by: Sandra E on 11/26/2017 at 5:25 pm
Thanks for sharing pictures Dave! Those of us left behind are excited each time we see one on the blog. Wishing you all good health and good weather for a safe flight to Antarctica, soon.
Go Team Vinson! From the Butterfield Bunch
Posted by: Vickie Butterfield on 11/25/2017 at 9:10 pm
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