Entries from Expedition Dispatches
Hi, this is
Mike Walter checking in from 14,000’. We have descended the
West Buttress and are back at the 14,000’ camp. Everyone is doing swell. Our plan is to continue the descent to 11,000’ and hunker down for a few hours. There we’ll ‘brew up’ hot drinks, grab something to eat and nap for a few hours. We’ll traverse the lower Kahiltna Glacier in the wee hours (when it’s coldest) headed for Base Camp. We hope to arrive at BC tomorrow morning, unless the Weather Gods have other plans in store. That’s all for now from our tired and happy crew.
On The Map
The weather is beautiful today and our team is about 3 hours away from
Basecamp. After we arrive, we’ll use the rest of the day for training and practice. We may try for the summit as early as tomorrow. Everyone is in good health, strong and excited for the summit attempt. We are presently in a valley where it’s difficult to get a signal but we will do our best to dispatch again soon.
RMI Guides
Alex Van Steen &
Mark Tucker
The
Four Day Summit Climb June 29 - 2 July led by RMI Guides
Brent Okita,
Gabriel Barral and
Erik Nelson reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning shortly after 7 am (PT). The team reported cold temperatures, winds and a high overcast sky.
The climbers spent 30 minutes on top before beginning their descent toward Camp Muir. The team will re-pack and re-fuel before at Camp Muir before continuing their descent to Paradise and on to Rainier Base Camp.
Congratulations to today's Summit Climb team!
Hello everyone following along back home and welcome to another series of dispatches from this year's summer
Cotopaxi Express trip!
After a long night of scuttling back and forth from the airport Jaime and myself finally got the crew settled in last night at our hotel here in Quito. Since everyone is usually a bit bushed from long travel times from the states we typically start out our first day of the program on a city tour of some of Quito's colonial sites in addition to a visit to the exact geographical equator. We were fortunate enough to climb the bell tower in the Basilica (a neo-gothic cathedral), walk the streets of the old town (world's first UNESCO World Heritage Site), visit the Church de la Compañia de Jesús (baroque interior guilded w/ 7 tons of gold leaf and one of the oldest churches in South America), and play with funky coriolis phenomena on the exact geographical equator. Despite the lack of physical exertion, the gang was still pretty tired after cruising around town all day at an elevation around 9,000'. We ran some errands, took a little siesta, and then met up for our first team dinner later this evening. The gang is starting to open up a bit and get to know each other better, a good thing considering the challenges ahead! Tomorrow begins the first of our acclimatization hikes...
Hasta mañana,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
On The Map
At 4:45P (PDT)
Mike Walter called from the summit of McKinley:
This is Mike and I’m calling from the summit of
Mt McKinley! The weather is beautiful; no wind, and just a few clouds. The summit of Mt Foraker (17,400’) is 3,000’ lower than us, and Kahiltna Base Camp is 13,000’ below us! Our ascent from high camp took seven and one-half hours, which is very good time. We’re taking hero shots, hugging and congratulating each other, but soon it will be time to descend to our tents. After a well deserved rest, tomorrow we will down-climb the West Buttress and reach the thick air at 14,000’ camp. More reports will follow.
Congratulations to the Mt. McKinley June 12th Team!
On The Map
Another early start and another straightforward move up in perfect conditions. We got up at 3 AM and ate breakfast in the cool shadows blanketing our 7800 ft camp. On our second day of climbing, it was already becoming routine to knock down the tents and get packs and sleds squared away for travel. We were roped up and moving up Ski Hill by 5:45. The hills were big and the loads were as well, but we slowed the pace and worked our way up. Again, we found the surface frozen hard and easy for sledding and walking without sinking in. Distances weren't terribly significant and it only took us three and a half hours to reach the top of the hills at around 9500 ft. We built a camp and dove into the tents just as the sun started heating the giant reflector oven of the upper Kahiltna Glacier. Afternoon was spent in slumber, or in reading, or in watching iPod movies, or in snacking and drinking water. Some did it all. We sat in our "POSH" dining tent chatting for a few hours at dinner. At 8 PM we tuned in our radio to catch the mountain specific weather forecast (which calls for a little bit of snow at our elevation tonight). Far more entertaining was our conversation with the other RMI teams on the mountain. We were excited for Mike Walter's summit and safe return to high camp and to hear that Adam Knoff and his gang are good to go for moving to 17,000 ft tomorrow. If our good luck holds, we'll cruise on up to 11,000 ft tomorrow with our strong and steady team.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Mt. McKinley has the gnarly reputation for being one of the hardest mountains in the world to reach the summit of. In circles of armchair mountaineers, horror stories bounce around like cheap cigars. What most people don't realize is how much down time comes with living the dream of climbing north America's highest peak.
Yesterday we put in our first "average work day" with an eight hour round trip climb to Washburn's thumb at 16,500 feet. We cached food, fuel and clothing needed for our time on the upper mountain. This was our teams most difficult challenge to date which everyone handled like cagey veterans.
Back to the down time. Of course the terrain on this mountain demands one's full concentration, but so does our time of rest. It is unnatural for all of us to try and sleep twelve hours a day with no darkness. The rigors of rest should not be underestimated. Today we woke from thirteen hours of hibernation and had a two hour breakfast demanding great effort to pull away from. Now we are preparing for a stroll to the edge of the world and then home for more sleep. Today is beautiful here at 14,000 feet, much more pleasant than our ten below nights. All is well and we look forward to climbing higher..
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
On The Map
Today our team completed a 10 hour hike through beautiful
marshland. We are getting into an area with limestone masses, passing by caves in the limestone cliffs. Quite spectacular! Today's hike was the first we've had in the rain. But despite the wet conditions, everyone is in high spirits and doing very well.
RMI Guide Alex Van Steen
On The Map
The
Mt. Rainier Four Day Summit Climbs led by
Dan Windham and
Shaun Sears reached the summit this morning in bluebird conditions. The cloud layer was at 9,000’ and the summit temperature was 25 degrees with light winds. What a spectacular day on the upper mountain!
Walter Hailes is leading the
Expedition Skills Seminar - Paradise. They start out on the mountain today and will spend the next five days learning mountaineering skills and will conclude their week with a summit attempt.
It was a little tough waking up at 1 AM, since we hadn't been able to get to bed terribly early, but coffee and bagels got us going. Just as we'd hoped, it had been a clear night and the glacial surface had frozen up good and hard. Conditions were ideal for tackling the lower glacier. This section can be problematic since it is normally heavily crevassed in late season, but we found that the recent snowfall and overnight freeze had combined to bridge things nicely. We set out around 4:30 AM and made steady progress, first dropping a few hundred feet to reach the main glacier and then turning North while working up small hills and inclines. The packs were heavy and despite the fact that the fully loaded sleds were sliding easily along, we were all pretty thankful for the short rest breaks each hour. It was good hard work, but we didn't have much in the way of glitches or problems. The last two hours of our push were conducted in bright sunshine with a great view of
Denali's south face. The West Buttress stood out clearly in relief. We pulled into our intended camp at 7,800 ft at about 9:15 AM and got to work. In no time, we had tents, a kitchen, a dining area, a latrine and the start of several significant naps. It was a day for power lounging and for catching up on hydration.
We rallied for a group dinner since
Solveig Waterfall was serving up excellent burritos, but then the naps resumed.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Congratulations!!!
Posted by: Tony on 7/3/2012 at 8:21 am
Congratulations Longbonez and the team! We are all proud of you and can’t wait to hear about your trip. Be safe on the way down and we will see you soon!
Posted by: Xbonez on 7/3/2012 at 7:57 am
View All Comments