The Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guides Seth Waterfall and Katrina Bloemsma was unable to reach the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Due to overnight rain the team was unable to leave Camp Muir for their summit attempt. The weather improved enough this morning for the team to climb up to Ingraham Flats at 11,200' to climb a bit and experience the upper slopes of Mt. Rainier. The team left Camp Muir at 10:45 a.m. to make their descent back to Paradise. We look forward to seeing them in Ashford early this afternoon.
The Mt. Rainier Expedition Skills Seminar has spent the last six days training along the Paradise Glacier and moved to Camp Muir yesterday. The team, led by RMI Guide Billy Nugent, went to bed hoping for a break in the precipitation. The guides checked the weather through the early morning hours with no such luck of weather cooperation. Although a summit did not come to fruition, the team walked up to Ingraham Flats and will descend from the mountain later this afternoon.
Our successful Ecuador Volcanoes trip has sadly come to an end; but the good times didn’t end with mountain climbing, as this adventurous team decided to sample the classic Ecuadorian specialty dish, cuy, on our way back to the Quito yesterday. Cuy, Quichua (pre-Incan language) for guinea pig, is a traditional food reserved for special occasions; our special occasion was celebrating summitting two challenging Ecuadorian volcanoes (and turning around a few hundred feet shy of the summit on a third), enjoying the people and culture of Ecuador, and enjoying the comradery and companionship of our climbing team.
Once back in Quito and checked into our hotel, we had a few hours to roam the streets and explore the shops of the city before meeting back up for a celebratory dinner with our local guides. The past week and a half has been a whirlwind of adventure. Now, as we go our separate ways back home, we’ll always share our Ecuador Volcanoes memories, and hopefully we’ll climb together again someday.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
Well...if there ever was a day to have a rest day, it would be today. As I laid in my sleeping bag last night watching Caddyshack for the 74th time I could hear the snow falling on the tin roof of the hut. Upon waking it appeared several inches of snow fell and it continued through most of the day.
The team spent the day relaxing and I even gave a mini slideshow on Mount Everest. We are putting the final preparations on packing our summit packs. The forecast is for this weather to push off and clear skies are on the horizon. Knock on wood. If all goes well the team will be on the summit soon!!
Stay tuned.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
Friday, July 8, 2016 - 3:19 a.m. PDT
Hey, this is Dave Hahn calling in from 17,000ft on Denali. We summitted today. It was a hard day- 14 hours out there, mostly due to new snow. It was a difficult day to guess what the weather was going to do. We spent a lot of it socked in cloud and light snow, but the good thing was we didn't have much for wind. So it was a hard day, but we're all safe back at high camp. We'll let you know a little bit more about it in these next couple of days. Bye for now.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
RMI Guide Dave Hahn calls in after their successful Denali summit.
Congratulations on making it to the summit! Michael Waters, I am so excited to hear about your adventuring when you return :) I hope you logged that EarthCache @
Posted by: Megan Brown on 7/8/2016 at 10:29 pm
Was never a better feeling to hear your voice last night David, from the top of Denali! All your hard work has paid off, what an adventure you’ll have to remember for the rest of your life. Hats off to you and an obviously strong & determined Team 8, so proud for you and that moment. A huge thank you to Dave Hahn and the rest of his team for making your wish to summit this mountain a reality. His expertise & knowledge is immeasurable, how awesome is it to say you’ve summited Denali with such a respected and admired mountaineer! Now we’re all ready for you to safely travel home so we can hear all about it, love you long time!!
Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn. Copa taught us a great lesson about ourselves today; about how much trail we could break, how much wind we could withstand, route finding we could do, crevasses to go around, or in other words, what are we made of. The climb stopped for us at 5,850m, basically a few feet from gaining the summit ridge. But the team had been building up to the circumstances with the previous climbs, and we held it together until it was no longer the right thing to do. Regardless, the feel of accomplishment is very present, and we're celebrating at Base Camp with the most awesome of dinners our cook Emilio could collaborate, including homemade chocolate cake, which by the way, made at 14,800ft on a portable propane stove top, is big deal. We'll head to Huaraz tomorrow after loading our donkeys, and close up our program with a celebratory dinner.
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
Spanish word of the day: viento blanco (cloud cap)
The Four Day Summit Climb Team led by RMI Guides Tyler Reid and Zeb Blais reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. The team climbed in and out of the clouds this morning and were able to spend a short time on top. They have started their descent and will be back at Rainier Basecamp in Ashford early this afternoon.
Congratulations to today's teams!
Great ascend fantastic experience responsible safe and enjoyable climb to the top, unsurprisingly spectacular crevice formations just below the summit, memorable experience Thank you Zeb, Tyler , JT Schmitt, Chris, Jordan, Steve for all fabulous work!
Today was another magnificent Russian day on Mount Elbrus. The team did an acclimatization day to exactly 15,000 feet. Not only did they do it, they rocked it! The stage has now been set. We are back in camp hydrating and recovering with a great lunch. As I told the team, sure, we could summit tomorrow. They are strong! However, there is no need to rush. Tomorrow is calling for a little snow so we are going to have a rest day. That way, come Saturday, if the weather allows, everyone will be feeling even stronger.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - 9:37 p.m. PDT
As we suspected might be the case, today's weather wasn't quite right for climbing. Ultimately there was good sun warming us at the 17,200 ft camp, but we could see wind and cloud whipping over the terrain we wanted to be on a thousand feet higher. So we rested, which -after yesterday's big workout to get up here- seemed about right. Nice to catch up on hydration and sleep and to give the boots a chance to dry out. Not many other people around us now, the mountain is rapidly clearing out as the end of the season approaches. But it isn't over until we say it is... We'll hope to climb Denali tomorrow.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Hello. This is the Peru Seminar calling in from our high Camp on Copa. We are going to bed. It's 6:30 pm local time and we are hoping to give you guys a call tomorrow from the summit. It's been a little bit of a taxing climb this year. Much drier year than others, but we managed to get up to camp. We hope to have a good climb tomorrow. Stay tuned.
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos calls in from Copa High Camp.
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Can’t wait to hear how the summit goes- shout out to Jen and Mark Becker and the rest of your crew!
Posted by: Mel Emanuel on 7/8/2016 at 2:34 pm
Following the updates…Hoping for a successful summit! Go team!!
Posted by: Shirley Tharp on 7/8/2016 at 12:39 pm
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