Entries from Expedition Dispatches
RMI Guide Mike King checked in from Mexico. Today the team made their summit attempt from High Camp but were forced to turn around at 16,000' on Ixta due to a major electrical storm on the horizon. The team descended and returned to the Altzomoni Hut where they packed up their gear, loaded vehicles and continued their descent. They will travel to Puebla today as scheduled and explore this beautiful colonial city.
We look forward hearing more from them soon.
RMI Office
On The Map
The RMI Mexico Team is nestled in their tents at 15,000' after a heavy move day to our camp. We woke early to beat the heat and afternoon storms. Our route today took us to the base of the "knees" on Ixta over four hours. The camp is dry so we had some porter help carrying water for two days.
We enjoyed views of the expansive golden bunch grass as the hills and rock features making up the lower flanks gave way to volcanic rock and scree. Being in and out of the clouds allowed for cooler temperatures and the team climbed well. We will head for the summit tomorrow morning if the weather holds. Coverage has been troublesome for longer dispatches, we'll get a longer one up from our day off in Puebla.
RMI Guide Mike King
On The Map
The Team has arrived at the Altzomoni Hut on Ixta, 12,000'. The goal today was to pack for our approach to high camp, get a walk in to continue acclimating and relax. While our drive today included a few detours, a late breakfast and some electrical storms, the team is doing well. So much of climbing in the big mountains can be' "hurry up and wait". Patience is tested, storms blow in making everyone stir crazy and it becomes easy to let the scenery just pass by without taking in your surroundings.
Our drive to the hut took us through beautiful countryside with acres of corn being harvested and up through dense forests of evergreen trees and shrubs. After passing through rolling pampas filled with grass we saw Popocatepetl, the neighboring volcano who watches over Ixtaccihuatl. Popo was on display today with steam and ash rising from it's caldera.
Tomorrow we will move up to 15,000' and hope the weather cooperates for a summit attempt on Wednesday.
RMI Guide Mike King
On The Map
Today we left Mexico City for the rolling hills of La Malinche National Park on a clear and beautiful day. Our climbing objectives, Ixta and Orizaba were on display with a light covering of new snow as our shuttle merged in and out of the maze of toll roads.
The goal for today was a hike to 14,000 ft to stretch our legs and lungs. On the ascent we passed numerous locals hiking and packing up camp sites from the weekend. As we got to tree line there were large dark clouds billowing over Malinche's summit. With rain and lightening on the horizon we turned around at 13,000 ft and headed back down through a dense pine forest to our cabanas where will stay for the night.
The team is doing well and excited to get on Ixta tomorrow afternoon.
RMI Guides Mike King & Steve Gately
On The Map
October 15, 2016 - 9 pm PT
This is Mike, the entire RMI Mexico team arrived with all their gear and high spirits! We kicked the program off with a good dinner and meeting. Tomorrow we will head 75 miles east of Mexico City into rolling hills of Tlaxcala to the base La Malinche. This is where we begin our acclimatization program with a day hike and spending the night at 10,000 ft.
Thanks for following along.
RMI Guide Mike King
Posted by: Tyler Reid
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Chile Ski
As promised, the storm hit Araucania last night. After a nice evening sunset on Villarrica, the rain came. We retreated from our camp this morning with heavy wet snowflakes falling from the sky, very happy to not be high up on Lanin. Now we are on our way to Peumayen, a beautiful lodge and termas (hot springs) outside of Pucon. This is our last night in Chile, and one to celebrate - this trip has been top notch. Great crew, great skiing conditions, a lot of great weather... Every year I'm always amazed how fast this trip goes.
Tomorrow we head for the airport and home to the US. Thanks for following along!
RMI Guide Tyler Reid and the Chile Ski Crew
With a gnarly low pressure system poised to strike our intended high camp on Lanin, in my experience the windiest mountain in the world, we decided a more prudent plan would be to focus our efforts on skiing some new terrain on Villarrica. This meant foregoing our two day attempt on Lanin (with the forecast, our odds of summiting were minuscule) so with a team consensus we decided to spend an evening camped on Villarrica instead.
Today we traversed around the mountain to the east and found a very long run down snaky lava tubes full of corn snow. We skied three runs today totaling 5800 vertical feet, and now we're about to have dinner at our Villarrica camp. Another fun day in Chile - hoping the weather is merciful tomorrow.
RMI Guide Tyler Reid & the Chile Ski Team
Today was slated as a rest day in our itinerary, but one member of our group was psyched to forego rest in favor of another uphill skiing adventure on Villarrica - and this one resulted in standing on the summit. The weather was absolutely perfect today and the snow conditions were efficient for uphill travel, as well as great skiing.
With the nice weather and being a weekend, there were a significant number of local guided climbing groups plodding their way up the main route, but we found our own variation that made it feel like we had the mountain to ourselves. It took us 4.5 hours to the summit, and about 30 minutes to ski down. Love ski mountaineering.
RMI Guide Tyler Reid & the Chile Ski Team
Posted by: Tyler Reid
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Chile Ski
This morning we headed for Villarrica to go for a ski, knowing that the forecast was probably not conducive to going to the top. We managed to hide from the wind for 3,000' of mostly skinning, edging into frozen snow with our ski crampons. Above us, a lenticular cloud was growing over the summit. Below us, we had clear views of Lago Villarrica's azure waters, the bustling town of Pucon on its eastern shore, and Llaima and Sollipulli in the distance.
We had a nice long run back to the van, where our driver Juan was waiting with his usual warm greeting. The weather looks better tomorrow, and we're going to take another crack at Villarrica... stay tuned!
RMI Guide Tyler Reid and the Chile Ski Team
Llaima is a big mountain, deceivingly big - from beneath it looks like a reasonable couple hours of climbing...not so. I learned this my first time on Llaima four years ago.
Yesterday we had an adventurous day on Llaima. Sun, clouds, heat, cold, calm, wind, visibility, low vis...sticky snow, icy snow, sastrugi, soft snow, corn... some horrible skiing, and a lot of amazing skiing. We walked, we skinned, we climbed. There is an old pocket glacier that's usually well covered in snow, but this year there were exposed crevasses, which added to the route finding challenge. At 15:30, standing on a rough, icy slope in strong wind, we decided to call it - about an hour from the summit. This was not safe snow for skiing so we down-climbed about 1,000' before putting on our skis. The rest of the descent was super fun, and went quickly. We didn't get to stand on top, but the group consensus was that this was an even more awesome day than summiting Lonquimay.
Today we had a nice drive to the town of Pucon, with perfectly clear skies. We were able to see all four of our volcanoes - Lonquimay, Llaima, Villarica, and Lanin. We stopped in the town of Villarica for a nice lunch and to take some photos of the mountain (Villarica) towering above the lake.
Another great couple of days in Araucania.
RMI Guide Tyler Reid & the Chile Ski Team
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OK: Weather Prayer.
Waltero
Posted by: Walter Glover on 10/18/2016 at 6:57 am
Following your progress, plan to follow in your footsteps next month (Nov.5-13). Wishing everyone strength (mental and physical) as well as good weather!
Posted by: Sierra Orr on 10/18/2016 at 5:50 am
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