Entries from Expedition Dispatches
May 14, 2017
Happy Mother's Day!
We celebrated Mother's Day by taking a rest/acclimatization day at 14k. The weather was beautiful and we were able to get some much needed rest and dry out all of our gear. We took a leisurely stroll out to the
Edge of the World to take on the magnificent views of the Kahiltna Glacier nearly 7000' below us.
We also took time for continued training with fixed rope travel and running belays, which we will likely employ tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow, we plan to carry a load of supplies up high on the West Buttress so we will be ready to move to high camp soon. We'll keep you posted.
Again, happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there. Especially: Jeanne, Liz, Mimi, Kelly, Cynthia, Diane, Jarah, Victoria, Lea, Judy, Gale, Roberta, Pam, Joanne, Martina, Meme, Ann, Nancy, Debbie, & Renee.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
The
Four Day Summit Climb May 12 - 15 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning.
RMI Guides Brent Okita and Solveig Waterfall led their teams on a cold but clear day. The teams will descend to Muir and then return to Paradise. We look forward to seeing them at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.
Congratulations to today's Summit Climb teams!
May 14, 2017 - 9:35 am PT
The May 12th
Denali Team is loaded and ready to climb. We spent yesterday in town packing, repacking, sorting food, and enjoying the Talkeetna restaurant scene. Our bags are weighed, sorted, and now we just need weather to fly. Rain moved in overnight, but the news this morning is that weather in the range is good, so once things clear out here, we should be ready to launch for base camp. Hopefully that's sooner than later. We'll give another shout this evening and let everyone know how it went.
RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer
The
Mt. Rainier Four Day Summit Climb, led by
Casey Grom and
Christina Dale, turned at 12,800’ due to route conditions. The weather was mixed snow showers this morning and they received 14-18" of new snow overnight. The team is currently on their way back to Camp Muir.
May 13, 2017 - 10:43 pm PT
Our team had another productive day today. After a well deserved rest this morning, we headed back downhill to our cache near
Windy Corner. Fifteen minutes after leaving camp we found ourselves back at our cache. Upon digging up our supplies, we loaded up our packs and headed back to our camp in Genet Basin. In less than an hour we were back at camp.
We also spent some time today reviewing and practicing fixed line travel using ascenders. We will tackle the fixed lines on our next active day as we plan to make a carry of supplies up near high camp. We will likely take a rest day tomorrow and try to make a cache up high on Monday.
We'll keep you posted.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
May 13, 2017 - 8:21 pm PT
We woke up this morning when the cold bites the hardest and wasted little time making hot water for cereal and tea. Today we went to venture up the
Kahiltna Dome ridge with good weather on our side. The work we did yesterday breaking trail was worth it as we made quick work of the steep slope. Once atop the ridge the sun made its appearance coming from behind the west buttress and warming our bones. We began walking the ridge crest in deep snow and quickly found the maze of cracks shooting across. Progress was slow climbing with an axe in one hand and a probe in the other. The deep snow and one too many crevasse falls stopped us and so we headed down to camp but not before enjoying the sunrise from our 11,000' perch. Now the snow has started and we plan to make the long walk to base camp in the early Alaska twilight.
RMI Guide Leon Davis
The
Mt. Rainier Summit Climb, led by RMI Guides Ben Liken and Paul Rachele, turned just above Ingraham Flats this morning. A storm during the night dropped one to two feet of snow at Ingraham Flats, which also caused a high avalanche danger on the upper mountain.
The teams are safely off the mountain and enjoying some time here at Rainier Basecamp with their teammates.
May 12, 2017 - 10:49 pm PT
We rose early this morning to bitter cold temperatures and clear skies, with just a light breeze blowing through camp. Reluctantly we left the comfort of our sleeping bags and fired up the stoves. After a few hours we were fed, hydrated, and had camp broken down, and we were off climbing up
Motorcycle Hill. We were the first group out of camp by a long shot, so we had the mountain to ourselves.
After cresting Motorcycle Hill, we tackled our next challenge, Squirrel Hill. After Squirrel Hill, we had a little reprieve on the relatively flat Polo Fields. We climbed up and around Windy Corner, passed our cache site from yesterday, and continued into Genet Basin, the 14,200' camp.
It was a hard day with heavy packs, but everyone climbed hard. We arrived in camp with plenty of time to build camp in the sunshine and get some rest before dinner.
Tomorrow's plan will involve sleeping in before breakfast to let the sun warm our chilly tents. Then we will head back downhill to Windy Corner to retrieve our cache.
We'll check in again tomorrow.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
May 12, 2017 - 9:13 pm PT
Nice day here at 10,000' on the upper Kahiltna Glacier. The team slept in a bit after the hard day yesterday. We kitted up and waddled through a few feet of snow to the base of the ridge for some fixed line travel and snow science. A few of us kept our snow shoes on and put in a track up the ridge of
Kahiltna Dome for an eventual attempt early tomorrow if the weather holds. All is well here in Alaska. Keep your fingers crossed for good weather!
RMI Guide Leon Davis
On The Map
All good on the
Alaska Mountaineering Seminar front! A cold and clear wake up had us briskly packing up camp and beginning the sun-baked hike up to the base of Kahiltna Pass at about 9,800', where we established our next camp. The way was smooth but hot, and we are rewarded with sweeping views of Mount Capps, Kahiltna Dome and the entire Kahiltna glacier. Some snow is faintly swirling through the air adding to the grandeur of our setting as we prep dinner. Tomorrow we look forward to an active rest day with a whole set of new mountain travel skills to take in.
RMI Guide Jessie Poquerusse & the team
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Hi everyone… (Lax, Raghu’s wife)
Really awesome feeling to see all the progress guys :) Keep going and be safe…
Raghu- Mauna is doing great… :) can’t wait to hear the stories of the journey and of course to see all those beautiful pictures ;)
Lax
-Thanks for the updates !! and we are waiting everyday for the new post..
Posted by: Lakshmi gompa on 5/19/2017 at 12:51 pm
Hey there Jt!
I know you are having the time of your life now and I am so happy for you! You’re on my mind and in my heart daily. I know you will do great! I can’t wait to see all the beautiful pictures and hear the amazing stories when you get back. I love you bunches!
With love,
Crystal
(To the whole team, prayers and best of luck! You got this!)
Posted by: Crystal Kingsbury on 5/16/2017 at 5:22 am
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