Entries from Expedition Dispatches
RMI Guide Bryan Mazaika and the
Five Day Climb are approaching the crater rim of Mt. Rainier. New snow fell overnight but
Bryan reports the weather is currently nice and cold up top. The teams will spend some time on the summit before starting their descent. We look forward to seeing them back in Ashford this afternoon.
Congratulations climbers!
With rain in the lower elevations, we were ecstatic to hear that our
Mt. Rainier summit climb team was above the weather system.
RMI Guide JM Gorum is the leader of this crew. He radioed in that the rope teams were currently cresting the crater rim.
Congratulations to today's summit team!
Monday, July 1, 2019 - 9:24 PM PT
Denali is a mountain that definitely tests a group's patience. We woke up around 6 to look at the weather and
Denali was still a bit too testy up high for us to make our move. This is to be expected when climbing big mountains and our team has accepted this challenge of waiting like a cobra to strike at our good weather window.... which will hopefully be tomorrow.
The team is in great spirits and spent the day resting up and sport eating so we have the energy to get to the summit. Although not as nice as 14k camp, 17k is treating us well. Keep your fingers crossed for us for tomorrow!
RMI Guide Mike Haugen and Team Siete
On The Map
Summit!
A beautiful day to be on top of
Mt. Rainier! The RMI team, led by
RMI Guide Pete Van Deventer, reached the summit just before 7:00 a.m. They are currently enjoying the landmarks of the crater rim and Columbia Crest before they begin their descent.
Sunday, June 30, 2019 - 10:26 PM PT
Storms were forecasted for today... 90% chance of snow. But when we looked at the world at 4:30 this morning, things were just pretty, clear and calm. So we got up and ate breakfast. After breakfast it was still just fine in our neighborhood, so at 7 AM we set off to do a carry onto the
West Buttress. The track was well packed and so we made great progress in the shadows, moving up a series of gradually steepening hills until we were at the "headwall" and the ropes fixed in place up it. The start was a little sporty since there was a small vertical wall to scale in order to get past the bergschrund (a particular kind of crevasse at the top margin of a glacier). But with the aid of the rope and some sharp crampons, we each clawed our way up and over the lip to begin the merely steep and never ending slope above. But it did end as we pulled onto the ridge crest at 16,200 ft which turned out to be the perfect place for a rest break at 10 AM. Then we began climbing the ridge itself with spectacular-and still largely clear- views and the cleanest pink and white granite to clamber around and over. One more short section of fixed line took us up the steep flanks of Washburn’s Thumb at 16,800 ft and then it was relatively easy -but exciting- ridge walking with the Peters Glacier far below on the left and Genet Basin 3000 ft down on the right. By this point there were starting to be a few clouds and some wind gusts, but with the mild temperatures the wind wasn’t much of a concern. We cruised into 17,200 Camp at 12:15 and had a brief reunion with Mike Haugen’s team encamped there and waiting for the weather up top to be workable (it wasn’t today... too windy). With the idea of getting lower down before the storm moved in, we cached our supplies and skedaddled down the ridge. We were almost back in camp at 3PM when the clouds formed fantastic waves and tendrils all around the upper mountain. It began to snow heavily just after our six o’clock dinner of tortellini and soup... fulfilling the 90% prophecy. But we got our carry in. Rest is in order for tomorrow.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Sunday, June 30, 2019 - 8:44 PM PT
We woke up to a sunny and relatively calm high camp. When we stuck our heads out to see what it looked like above, it was apparent that
Denali wasn't a happy mountain. As guides, it is sometimes nice when the mountain makes the decisions for us and doesn't lead us on thinking we might climb.
We spent the day eating and resting up for when the mountain decides that it is our time. The forecast is trending for better winds up high, so right now we will do some high altitude camping. We are so glad to have such a strong team of climbers with great attitudes. Let's hope Denali appreciates it as well!
RMI Guide Mike Haugen and Team Siete
On The Map
Sunday, June 30, 2019 - 5:16 PM PT
We're enjoying the thick air at Camp 4, at 14,200' in
Genet Basin. We got a good night's sleep last night, slept in this morning and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast of bagels, cream cheese, and bacon. An ample coffee. Today we are resting and waiting for colder temps by which to travel. There is a weather front affecting Denali right now, bringing winds up high and clouds and precipitation down low. We're sitting in between in the sun and happy at 14k. Our hope is that we can travel through the night down the Kahiltna Glacier to the Basecamp Airstrip and that cloud and precip will dissipate tomorrow so that we can fly back to Talkeetna. We'll let you know how it goes.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
Zdravstvuyte comrades!
All is well here in
Moscow, although it's been a little rainy and cool for this time of year. Most of the team arrived yesterday evening after some very long flights and most of us are still adjusting to the massive time change, so we keep things simple with a little round of introductions and stepped out for a short walk and a nice dinner not too far from the Hotel.
Today we started with a visit to Lenin’s Tomb and then met up with our local tour guide Victoria and had a wonderful tour of the nearby Red Square and Kremlin as well as visiting several churches including the iconic St. Basil's. We also made good use of the beautiful, efficient and busy subway that Moscow is known for, which saved a bit of walking time.
After our tour we took a short break and then headed out once again for an amazing dinner and a nice walk.
Everyone is doing great and looking forward to heading to the mountains tomorrow.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
RMI Guides Walter Hailes and Chris Ebeling and the
Four Day Climbs reached the summit of Mt. Rainier around 7:30 AM. The teams climbed through the clouds before the sun broke through shortly before the summit. Walter reported 15 mph winds and cold temps.
The teams will spend some time on the summit celebrating before beginning their descent to Camp Muir. We look forward to seeing them back at BaseCamp in Ashford this afternoon.
Congratulations Climbers!
Saturday, June 29, 2019 - 10:10 PM PT
To deal with the heat, we got up a little earlier than we might ordinarily have for an easy day at 14 Camp. At 7:00 AM it is still shadowy and cool in camp but not so cool that we rushed our breakfast of bagels and salmon with cream cheese. The main task for the day was our back carry dropping down from 14,200 ft to retrieve the cached food and fuel at 13,500 ft. We were out of camp at 9:20 and down to the cache just 15 or 20 minutes later. The ravens showed no interest whatsoever in our buried treasure although we’d seen where they raided a nearby poorly done cache a few days back. After a bit of hard digging, we distributed the load and began trudging back up at 10:00. The route happens to be quite direct this season -- just a factor of a few crevasses either being bridged well or not in a given year -- and so it only took 45 minutes to get home. On the spooky side of things we witnessed the normally stable and well-frozen West Buttress shedding rock down its steep flanks due to the heat. Back at camp, the easy part of our day began. We took shelter and drank water. The forest fire smoke grew thick enough that we couldn’t see down onto the Kahiltna Glacier and all but the top 3000 ft of Mt Foraker was obscured. We were pleased to connect with
RMI Guide Mike Walter’s victorious team when they came down and became our neighbors.
In the afternoon we reviewed the techniques we’ll employ to safely ascend the fixed lines between 15,000 and 16,000 ft. Tomorrow the forecast calls for a weather change, but if that is slow in arriving, we’d like to
carry up onto the West Buttress.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
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Go Jamie! You are a rock star. Super stoked for you as well!!!
Posted by: Ryan O. on 7/2/2019 at 7:53 pm
Congrats, Jamie! What a feat! So stoked for you! Much love!!!!
Posted by: Jason Weisberg on 7/2/2019 at 7:17 pm
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