Mark Tucker checking in from the Carstensz Pyramid Expedition. All is well. We had a great training day today. We climbed a portion of the route just trying to familiarize ourselves with the terrain and technique. Our team is doing very well. We were pleasantly surprised at the abilities of our group here.
So, of course, it had to starting raining. We did start out in some clear weather but the spicket turned on and it is raining right now. We are going to take a look at the weather starting about midnight tonight. And at some point we’ll pull the trigger and give it our best shot. Safety is our number one priority but we are going to push it hard and hope that we get a chance to make the summit.
We look forward to climbing tonight but for now, we have to get some rest.
Thanks for checking in.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
RMI Guide Mark Tucker checks in from Carstensz Pyramid Base Camp.
Mark, so jazzed to see you are still climbing mountains! Pat is still in college (Theatre) and Erin is a librarian in Md. I am in Louisiana. Say hello to your family for us.
Posted by: Jessie Kelly on 7/12/2012 at 1:38 pm
WISHING YOU ALL A HAPPY SUMMIT.
ALEX FROM THE CANARY ISLAND
Posted by: ALESSANDRO (ALEX) on 7/5/2012 at 7:53 am
The Four Day Summit Climb teams led by RMI Guides Tyler Reid and Eric Frank reached 12,600' before turning around due to avalanche hazard. It is a beautiful day on the mountain with light winds and clear skies. The cold temperatures from overnight are dimenishing with the sunshine. The team will be making their way back to Camp Muir after the guides spend some time working on the route. RMI Guide Tyler Reid said it was a difficult decision to turn the climb on such a beautiful day, however, conditions on the mountain were not safe enough for them to continue.
The Expedition Skills Seminar - Emmons led by RMI Guide Seth Waterfall reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today! The team enjoyed a beautiful day on the mountain. They will return to Camp Schurman for their final night on the mountain. They may do some additional training tomorrow morning before returning to the trail head.
Congratulations to today's team and Happy Independence Day!
Congratulations to the entire team. Paul we are so proud of you!! Stay safe. Love you!
Posted by: denise heinen on 7/5/2012 at 11:07 am
Woohoo! Congrats, Joe and Will! At least, I THINK I see you in the group there, somewhere… Hard to tell under the parkas! Nice work- I’m so proud of you both.
Our team is spending the night at Basecamp tonight, as the weather has been un-flyable all day today. We were fortunate enough to have perfect weather for our summit day, and this little weather glitch is now merely an annoyance. We are all looking forward to some simple amenities like hot showers, cold beer, real beds, running water, and the opportunity to talk with loved ones on the telephone. But we know that these will come shortly and we're already accustomed to being patient with the weather; the important thing to remember is that we had a safe and successful trip on Denali, and the weather worked out for us when we needed it to. This little waiting period in Basecamp is just a reminder that the mountain is still in charge and we need to play by its rules.
We're optimistic that we will get to Talkeetna tomorrow and finish our expedition. Until then, we're all safe, comfortable, and happy. Hopefully our next dispatch will be from Talkeetna tomorrow.
Cheers,
RMI Guide Mike Walter
Hi everybody,
Congratulations to a job well done. I’m very happy for all of you and look forward to hearing all about it when I see you in person. Until then enjoy the triumphant feeling because you all very much deserve it.
PS Sorry this message is a little late, I got the news a little late
Posted by: Jim on 7/6/2012 at 7:22 pm
Glad you are down safe and sound. Can’t wait to hear all the details. Good luck getting off tomorrow.
Missy
And we were getting so lucky with weather to this point... Ah well, we did our best to make use of a break in the snow and wind today. It started, here at 11,000 ft, with a snowy and socked-in morning. Many a team leader came out of his or her tent and then went right back inside, waiting for something better to work with. We were up at 7... but then gave it a pass until 8 and then we took a look at 9 and had breakfast. Things did start looking up by 10 and a few teams went for it. We liked the trend by 11 since we were seeing a lot of blue sky above (the uppermost part of the mountain was still in cloud) and only some indication of wind here and there. We were wearing our spikes and carrying our ice axes out of camp by 12:20. Our intention was to carry food and fuel up and around Windy Corner, cache it and then drop back down to 11 camp. The first hour went great. That was spent on "Motorcycle Hill" which was far steeper than any hill we'd tackled so far on the climb. From the top of Motorcycle, we could see winds starting to whip at the top of "Squirrel Hill" our goal for the next hour. We topped the hill in a fairly vicious and cold breeze and pushed on into the "Polo Fields" below the end of the West Buttress. From there, we had a good view of Windy Corner, which looked... you guessed it, windy. We decided not to push things too far, although the team was handling everything just fine to this point. We chose a cache site at about 12,850 ft and dug in. The only reason for burying it all is that ravens long ago developed a taste for climber food and a talent for ripping a cache to shreds. We couldn't see any ravens, but by this point in the day we were seeing a lot of blowing snow and swirling cloud again. With light packs, we made good time getting down the hills and back into 11k. We were home by 5:30 and dining in the shelter of our posh tent by 7:00 while the storm intensified. It isn't a terrible storm yet, just some wind and snow, but we hope it plays out overnight and leaves us in peace.
Your messages to the web site were passed on to us and were thoroughly enjoyed by all the team. Thanks for the well wishes... keep those fingers crossed.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Daddy (Brian), I miss you and I want to go camping in that orange tent with you when you get home. (Direct quote from Connor)
Hope you and the team had some relaxing down time and that tomorrow brings good climbing weather. Stay safe, we love you!
Posted by: Connor Bulatao on 7/5/2012 at 6:12 am
Hello Brian! I hope that you and the team have a good climb, and I have added you and the team to the chruch prayer list for a safe trip. Love, Mom Bulatao
This is RMI Guide Adam Knoff, checking in from high camp on Denali at 17,000’. We had a sweet climb from 14,000’, up the fixed lines and along the crest of the West Buttress, eventually dropping into the basin where camp is placed. What an absolutely spectacular day of climbing! Unfortunately, the predicted nice weather did not materialize and in fact, has deteriorated. Such is life on Denali, where all movement is dictated by weather. We are securely entrenched in camp, with sturdy walls and a posh cook tent. We have plenty of supplies, and now it becomes a waiting game. We will keep you updated.
Happy Independence Day! Mike R we’re thinking of you all the time! Hannah has an impressive ball collection waiting for you…
Posted by: Susan on 7/4/2012 at 4:36 pm
Hey John, Happy 4th!!! Sorry you didn’t make the summit on the 4th, but the day is soon to come. Just got back from Maryland; very hot - it was 106 one day. Glad tobe home. Stay warm and safe. Jill
After summiting Denali on the 1st of July, our team has not stopped working. We descended from high camp yesterday morning, and continued to Camp 3 at 11,000' for dinner and some shut-eye. The former was in full effect in the form of bacon-chicken quesadillas, and the latter was in short-order, as we woke up at midnight to start our descent to Basecamp. After taking advantage of the early morning frozen snow conditions on the lower Kahiltna glacier, we arrived at Basecamp at 8:30 am. Now it's just a matter of waiting for better weather to allow planes to fly and take us back to Talkeetna. We are all napping in our tents while we anticipate sunny skies.
RMI Guide Mike Walter and Team
Today our team enjoyed a city tour of Moscow with our Guide Nina. She was a wealth of knowledge and we all learned a great deal. We visited of course Red Square, St. Basil's Cathedral and fortunately the subway of Moscow. At first I was a little skeptical. Mainly because I was expecting something like NYC and some dude in a snakeskin jacket and a funny hat saying, "that ain't a knife...this is a knife". However a nice jaunt underground displayed some spectacular artwork fit for a King and Queen. What a way to start a Mt. Elbrus adventure!
Thanks Nina!!
RMI Guide J.J. Justman
Good afternoon,
This is the Carstensz team checking in. We had a hike today into our base camp we got in pretty early this morning, and have spent the day getting ready for a prep day tomorrow. So tomorrow we will probably climb 6 - 8 pitches of rock as a warm up for Carstensz which we hope to attempt the following day. Things are going great. We are well established at base camp. It is raining still but there are long breaks of good weather during the day. And we're certainly hoping to take advantage of that. That's it for right now. We'll check in again tomorrow after we've done our training. Good night to all.
RMI Guide Alex Van Steen
Today's teams were unable to reach the summit due to high winds and new snow. The Four Day Summit Climb led by Andres Marin and the Five Day Summit Climb led by Pete Van Deventer reported consistent winds with stronger gusts and two new inches of snow overnight. At 8:00 a.m. PT the teams began their descent from Camp Muir.
There were a lot more clouds around when we woke at 5 AM at 9,500 ft on the Kahiltna. As we ate and packed, there was a hint of snow, but we still could see a good distance down the glacier and there was a sense that we were just getting the normal flow of weather that likes to hang about 10,000 ft Kahiltna Pass -the divide of the Alaska Range in these parts. We were roped and plodding into the murk by ten minutes after seven. As with the past two days, we wore snowshoes even though the surface was frozen up and supportable. Snow fell from time to time in our first hour of moving toward the Pass, but then we did climb out of the flow of cloud when we turned the corner at the top end of the glacier. As expected, the last pull into camp was a tough one with our heavy loads, but everyone did well and seemed quite satisfied to arrive at 11,000 ft at 11 in the morning.
We were actually surprised to see a few dozen tents around camp, having gotten used to not seeing so many people in the last few days. It makes sense though as a number of teams had come on the mountain in the days before we'd gotten on and we all tend to slow things down when we get to 11,000 ft. With that in mind, we'll attempt to carry a load of gear and food to around Windy Corner tomorrow but then we'll come back down for a second and most likely a third night at 11K. We want our bodies to catch up with the altitude before we make the big jump to 14,000 ft.
We did plenty of catching up with friends and fellow guides during the day at this impromptu reunion, but we were particularly pleased to spend a little time with Mike Walter and his team as they came into camp in late afternoon, freshly down from hitting the top yesterday.
Clouds came and went through much of the afternoon and evening, and now at 10:30 PM, it is snowing lightly with no wind. That blanket of cloud tends to keep the air temperature a little higher than it would otherwise be at such a lofty altitude. We'll hope for reasonably clear weather in the morning and that we can go for a climb.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Cathy!!! we are so proud of you!!!! keep climbing and enjoy this once in a life experience!!!
love Kae and Caroline
Posted by: Kae on 7/3/2012 at 7:11 pm
Hi Brian, It’s great to look at the beautiful snowy mountains that you are climbing, while we are in a triple digit heat wave in Hotlanta! Hope you and the team have a great climbing day tomorrow. Happy 4th of July!
Love, Inez
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Mark, so jazzed to see you are still climbing mountains! Pat is still in college (Theatre) and Erin is a librarian in Md. I am in Louisiana. Say hello to your family for us.
Posted by: Jessie Kelly on 7/12/2012 at 1:38 pm
WISHING YOU ALL A HAPPY SUMMIT.
ALEX FROM THE CANARY ISLAND
Posted by: ALESSANDRO (ALEX) on 7/5/2012 at 7:53 am
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