July 1, 2016 - 10:19 pm PT
A hint of storm moved in last night, with some more cloud, some more snow and a little wind. It looked like more wind up above on the crest of the West Buttress, but we aren't going up that way to find out until things improve. It was a quiet and restful storm day at 14K. Instead of carrying loads up high, we ate long meals in our dining tent, let our blisters heal and took naps. Call it an acclimatization day. We'll hope for some improvement tomorrow morning that allows us to sneak a carry in.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
And we made it!
Nevado Ishinca greeted us this morning with more ice and steep terrain than any of the three guides remember. Intricate navigation on its summit pyramid required a good deal of attention to crevasses, moats and leaning seracs, but motivation and performance had us on top at 11am. We passed the only other team on the mountain before summiting, and the descent proved to be another adventure to ourselves; we decided to descend via a different route, completing a full circumnavigation of the mountain... not a piece of cake when the subject is an 18,100' prominence. We're headed to bed as we speak, and a well deserved rest day awaits tomorrow.
RMI Guide ElÃas de Andres Martos and Team
-Spanish climbing word of the day; Rimaya (bergschrund)
Team Ecuador is all settled in at the Illiniza Hut. The weather was clear and sunny, which made for nice hiking to the hut. Once they arrived and settled in, the wind picked up and the team is currently in a cloud layer. Their plan is to climb Illiniza Norte in the morning. The team is doing well and will check in tomorrow.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
Hello from Azau. The team is down to five as two left yesterday evening. The remaining teammates are having our last dinner together as I type this message.
Today the guys went for a horseback ride in the morning and then we all went to a 'catch your own' trout lunch. There may or may not have been beer drinking involved as well.
It has been a total blast of a trip and today was hilarious. We are all catching flights tomorrow and beginning our journeys back home.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
Hello this is Elias, 11:00 local time in Peru. We just summitted Ishinca! I have some folks right next to me that would like to say something. [Team cheers!] Alright, that's what you get when you climb in style with RMI. We are going to initiate our descent in the next few minutes and we'll be blogging tonight with a recap of what we did. Tomorrow we're going to take a rest day and we'll be revitalized for the next climb up Urus. Stay tuned. Take care. Bye.
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos calls in from the Ishinca summit!
Congrats, Dan and Augie, as well as the rest of the team! Looking forward to hearing about more adventures and summits! (By the way, I love the new design of the RMI blogs.)
Posted by: Darrick on 7/3/2016 at 10:48 am
Ed, tassja and team - congrats on the Ishinca summit! Looks amazing and I am sure you are in heaven! Just a side note Ed - I made it to the top :)
RMI Guide Steve Gately radioed in from the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. The teams enjoyed a beautiful morning with light winds. At 7:00 am PT both Four Day Summit Climb teams June 28 - 1 July, 2016 were beginning their descent from the crater rim.
June 30, 2016 - 9:43 pm PT
Hey all,
We are all settled in here at our 14,200' camp were we can finally visualize the upper mountain. Before we could move gear and people up hill though we had to retrieve our cache of food and gear at 13,200 ft. So after a filling bagel breakfast we set off to grab it, and after a 3 hr round trip time the team was back in camp getting a little more rest. We are not fully acclimated to 14,000' yet so a little rest is still needed to recoup.
Now as the never ending sunlight moves west we are gearing up and talking fixed line technique, in hopes that we can climb high tomorrow. If the weather holds we will move some food and gear to the top of the fixed lines at 16,200'. Then after breathing that thin air and scoping our line up the rocky west buttress, we will retreat to 14 Camp. As the old saying goes "climb high and sleep low".
The team is still climbing like pros!
RMI Guide Ben Liken
We had a great day today as we ventured out of Quito for our first acclimatization hike up Rucu Pichincha (15,696’). The approach for this hike was a scenic gondola ride well above the city, dropping us off at 13,500’. After a few hours of hiking, we climbed into the clouds and finished with a scramble up Rucu Pichincha’s rocky summit. Although summit views were obscured, the weather was very comfortable all day for our hike.
We had a few hours this afternoon to relax and prep our gear for the next days’ adventures: hiking up to the climbers’ hut at the Ilinizas at 15,100’. We will spend two nights there and attempt summits on both the north and south Iliniza peaks. We will be in touch with updates.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
Expeditions into the great mountains of the world require an incredible amount of dreaming, planning, preparation, and finally, performing. The preparations our team has made leading them into the Cordillera Blanca culminated today with an alpine climbing school for the ages. We've trained and traveled, and finally put the finishing touches on our skill sets today with thorough instruction for the climbs ahead of us. Tomorrow, we perform. With stable weather building, we're setting our sights on the jagged 18,143' summit of Nevado Ishinca. With stomachs full of Lomo Saltado, we're bedding down early to rest our muscles for the work that lies ahead. If all goes as planned, we'll be calling from 18,143' tomorrow.
--Spanish Climbing Word of the Day: Hielo Glaciar - "Glacial Ice"
Buenos Noches,
RMI Guides Robby Young and Elias de Andres Martos and team
June 30, 2016 12:55 pm PDT
RMI Guide Mike Haugen and team have landed safely in Talkeetna, AK after a successful summit of Denali. They are happy to return to civilization where warm showers and much celebration will be in store.
Congratulations to the entire team!
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Hi Dave -
I hope that you and the team have a continued safe journey.
-Larry Seaton
Posted by: Larry Seaton on 7/2/2016 at 7:12 am
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