Entries from Expedition Dispatches
Summit day on Chimborazo. Not only were our bodies still recovering from the two previous big climbs of Cayambe and Antisana, we saved the trickiest and tallest climb for last. Towering over the surrounding landscape at 20,700ft, Chimborazo was our final objective. And boy, did it deliver!
Even in the best conditions, this peak isn't an easy target. But coupled with uncharacteristically dry season this year, this climb proved to be the most physically and mentally demanding of the trip.
We hiked up yesterday to our High Camp at around 17,500', made some dinner, and hit the sack. Our climb this morning began with our 11pm alarms waking us from our sleep. After tidying up camp, slamming some calories, and chugging some coffee, we pointed our tired feet uphill towards the summit.
The climb began with about an hour and a half of walking on trail, exposed ridges, and a couple of 5th class climbing moves. As the trail steepened, we cramponed up and prepared to hit the glacier.
Because of the dry spell Ecuador has been experiencing, the glacier was a challenging beast! Steep, firm, icy, exposed. Perfect footwork was required for the entire ascent, but our team delivered! From challenging cramponing to sections of pitched-out steep ice, this team persevered and tackled everything that crossed their paths. After a grueling 7.5 hours, we reached the Veintemilla summit at 20,561', 30 minutes later we had turned tail and began the descent.
The steep ice and exposure made the descent as difficult as the ascent, but the team kept their heads in the game and we made it safely back to high camp by 2pm. Our porters had already packed up camp for us, making it easy for us to continue on our final descent back to the bus.
The (thoroughly exhausted yet happy) team is now back at Estrella de Chimborazo, enjoying some much earned beverages, and reminiscing about these crazy last two weeks. It's hard to believe we're heading back to the big city tomorrow and flying home!
We will have one more update for you guys tomorrow, but we'll all be home to tell you more stories firsthand before you know it!
Until tomorrow,
RMI Guides Nick Hunt and Adam Knoff
Well, we made it to Base Camp yesterday! The team is moving well and feeling good despite our first abrupt change in elevation since the drive from Mendoza to Penitentes. We are now sitting pretty and all moved in at Plaza Argentina at an elevation of right around 4,200 m or about 13,800'. Anita and Griselda, head honchos here with Grajales, prepared us an over the top welcome dinner complete with soup, veggies, a slab of beef, and tiramisu for dessert! Despite the extravagance of the meal the living still isn't super easy up here and we knew were we are all in for a little bit of discomfort trying to sleep up here on our first night.
Today is another sunny and glorious day up here at
Plaza Argentina. The gang actually fared quite well through the night and enjoyed a casual wake up this morning. We all hung out and drank real coffee along with enjoying stuffed breakfast burritos complete with prosciutto and grilled veggies thanks to Katrina's solid work in the kitchen. We'll probably burn the rest of the day today preparing both our group and personal loads for tomorrow's carry up to Camp 1. Everyone's hanging out grooving on the Andes and looking forward to tomorrow's foray higher. That and wondering how the Seahawks are gonna do against Carolina.
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
On The Map
Jambo and greetings from
High Camp on Kilimanjaro. We are at 15,000' and the team is doing just fine. We were even blessed with nice weather all day today.
We had another easy morning with breakfast at 8:00. Fresh fruit, eggs and bacon sure is a treat at this elevation.
After breakfast we hit the trail and had a mix of sun and clouds but no rain as we climbed the 2,000 feet to high camp. The climb was gradual all the way except for a steep bit pulling into camp. Everyone was feeling good and had a great climb up here.
It's 12:00pm now and we are planning on having lunch soon and an early dinner. After that it is a midnight departure for the summit. Wish us luck!
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
On The Map
¡Hola de
Pampa de Leñas! After a last night in a real bed we got outta Penitentes and hit the trail. Needless to say the team is psyched to finally be on the move after the months of anticipation and the seemingly endless packing and repacking. We enjoyed clear skies and a decent breeze that despite kicking up a bit of dust was actually pleasant in keeping the temps manageable. Everyone moved extremely well and is currently lounging around camp waiting for the herrieros to finish up grilling up some giant slabs of beef for us. Steak and wine, and a crew of happy campers. Not bad for our first day on the hill.
All for now!
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
On The Map
Hey Everyone,
We woke this morning and had a great breakfast. After we were well nourished we decided to brush up on our crevasse rescue skills. This afternoon we packed up and headed for the
Chimborazo Reserve, from there it was a three hour hike to 17,500' where camp was set up for us. The team is doing great we had a great dinner and now it's off to bed, for an alpine start awaits us. The summit of Chimborazo beckons...Wish us luck!
RMI Guide
Adam Knoff & Team
Today we awoke with the same tired bodies we experienced after climbing
Cayambe but this time there was no packing up bags preparing for a walk to the bus. Here at Guaytala they prepared us a great breakfast, had hot showers and gave us free range over the espresso machine which helped shake out the cob webs more than anything. At 10:30 Victor arrived and we loaded our luggage once again into the magic bus for our final migration to Ecuador's tallest mountain,
Chimborazo.
Six hours after leaving the foot hills of Antisana, we arrived at La Estrella De Chimborazo, "the star of Chimborazo". Here we definitely saved the best for last. It was agreed that no other hotel or hacienda has displayed such forethought in its layout, architecture and decorating. This place is made for climbers. With pictures of
Chimborazo on almost every wall and a literal museum of climbing photos and old equipment hanging from every rafter, we can't help but to be inspired to push ourselves one last time into the high alpine in an attempt to make history of our own.
We are all feeling tired from two big climbs but ready for one final go. The weather had been great and most other things have gone as planned. Wish us luck as we move to high camp tomorrow. Adios for now.
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
Jambo! This is Seth checking in from
Karanga Valley. Only one more day to high camp!
We have broken out of our daily pattern of clear mornings and rainy afternoons. Today it was cloudy and with rain showers all day. Even though we are not having ideal weather the team is in very high spirits.
Everyone did great on the
Barranco Wall this morning. We let most of the people in our last camp get out early and then started up the 800-foot wall. The bottom part of the wall has some really fun scrambling and we all had a blast climbing through that section. We were lucky in that the rain held off until we topped out on the wall.
We hovered around 13,000' all day and the terrain is really cool at this elevation. It's right at the edge of where plants live and so sometimes it looks like a barren waste land. But then you turn a corner and there can be a giant heather forest. It's great trekking here.
Light showers started up after we topped out on the wall and continued to build into a real rainstorm as we pulled into camp. Our tents are nice and dry though and the cook made us a great pasta lunch. We are doing good.
I'll check in again tomorrow from our high camp.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
On The Map
Post
Antisana. Hmmmm? It is hard to put into words how a body feels after running full speed ahead for 36 hours without sleep. I take that back, we did close our eyes from 7 to 10 pm last night but if you asked anyone to tell you about their dreams they will half heatedly recount how their tent partner and the thought of eating instant oatmeal at 10:30 pm was more of a nightmare. So sleep was hard to come by.
Once "awake", we forced down what calories we could and loaded our climbing kits into the jeeps. From base camp it was a 20-minute 4x4 trail to the starting point. Like all the other mountains down here the first hour starts with a dirt trail before gaining the toe of the glacier. We all did so about 1am and despite this being our second big climb in a row, everyone showed good spirit and stamina.
For the next three hours we crossed spectacular crevasse bridges, cramponed up steep pitches and weaved through giant ice features.
At 18,000 feet, we took a break to search out the final piece of the route finding puzzle which ended at the summit ridge. Once the ridge is gained it is a straight forward climb to the top. Unfortunately there was nothing straight forward about the terrain from our position to the ridge. With a mandatory 55-degree slope exposed to a crevasse below and having very tricky snow conditions, the risk of taking our team into that terrain was just too high. So it was here I decided to turn the climb around. The good news was, up to that point everybody climbed really well and said unanimously that
Antisana was one of the coolest mountains they have ever been on.
After a safe descent we rested at camp for a couple hours then took the magic bus to a hacienda for some much needed food, beer and rest.
Tomorrow we are off to our final and most challenging mountain,
Chimborazo.
Stay tuned for the next chapter.
Adam and team wishing all of our loved ones back home big hugs. We can't wait to come home and see you.
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
Well we have definitely established a rhythm with
Kilimanjaro. It was very nice and sunny again this morning and at 9:30am the clouds started building. By 1:30pm it was raining heavily again.
The only thing different from yesterday is that we were out on the trail when the rain hit. It was only for about an hour so not a huge deal really, but it sure is nice to be in a dry tent now.
We covered the longest stretch f the whole trip today, other than summit day and everyone did a great job. We also reached a high point for every climber here at 14,900'. That's always a fun thing.
Now we have two easier days and after that we go for the summit.
That's all for now.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
On The Map
The team met up around 8 a.m. for a not too early breakfast. Afterwards we split up and set out on the streets of Mendoza, running all of our last minute errands. We visited a couple gear shops, hit the pharmacy, grocery store, all the usual stuff before reconvening for a team lunch at a sidewalk cafe. Nicolas, our liaison from Grajales, was kind enough to deal with all the permit rigmarole that is normally a complete pain. So the pace of the morning wasn't nearly as rushed as in years past.
Our transfer out to
Penitentes showed up at the hotel and we loaded up our gear and hit the road. The drive to Penitentes is absolutely gorgeous, rolling through the vineyards outside of the city, up into the foothills, and eventually making our way into the heart of the Andes. Four hours on the road brought us to the Grajales packing facility where we unloaded and spent the rest of the afternoon packing up for the mules and prepping for tomorrow's start up the hill.
Psyched to hit the trail...
RMI Guides Billy Nugent and Katrina Bloemsma and team
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Yo Branch,
Those are some good lookin Donkeys you got there. Now you know what it’s like to hang around West Point in the middle of winter.
Hey, what are the bathrooms like?
You know, I see you doing this and I think, wow! You could have been a Navy Seal and probably led the raid to get Bin Laden.
Remember, one foot in front of the other and if you begin seeing Sharon Steinhauer, get on oxygen immediately.
745796 sends
Posted by: TJ on 1/18/2016 at 2:52 pm
Randy
Sounds like things are going well for my mountain man. You definitely have the better weather right now…windchill of -20 here tonight…yikes! All is good on the homefront…Lucas got a promotion at work and Allison is happy with all her classes. Think of you often and miss you!
Love Lisa
Posted by: Lisa Irwin on 1/17/2016 at 3:28 pm
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