Entries from Expedition Dispatches
So there we were, moving into the "Blanca". A few hours of hiking brought us to the mouth of Quebarada Ishinca. With "burros" hauling the big part of our load, we arrived in style to
Ishinca Base Camp, home for the next 7 days.
Unsettled weather only allowed brief glimpses of the ice-cloaked, jagged "rajus" above.
If our senses weren't already overstimulated enough, we sat down to a dinner of fresh trout at 14,300'. Stormy skies passed leaving us with a magnificent sea of stars highlighted by the Southern Cross. Until tomorrow, "buenas noches".
-Spanish climbing word of the day; la cumbre (the summit)
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
Its a storm day for
Team Elbrus. We actually had good weather this morning and got out to do some more practice with the ice axe and crampons. We then moved into self arrest practice. By the time we finished that it had started to snow and then that turned to rain for a minute. The wind really kicked up for a few hours after that and we had a real storm for a while
We all hid from the weather and watched a movie this afternoon. Thanks to Brett for supplying the iPad. It's about 5:30PM now and there's not much wind and some sun at camp. The upper mountain is covered in a large cloud and it looks like there are more clouds moving our way. Because of that we have decided to stick to our original plan and go for the summit either tomorrow night or the next.
I'll check in again tomorrow.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
On The Map
The
Five Day Emmons Climb led by
RMI Guide Mike King reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning via the Emmons Glacier Route. It's a beatiful day with little wind and clear skies. After spending some time on the summit the team started their descent around 6:30 am PT, they will return to high camp for their final night on the mountain.
Congratulations!
We have teams on the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning!
RMI Guide Walter Hailes led his
Four Day Summit climb to the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Walter was approaching the crater rim just before 7 am and reported a beautiful day with light winds.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
June 27, 2016 - 11:08 pm PT
Another murky day, weatherwise. It was snowing lightly when we checked things at 6:45 AM, but it was calm and there were hints of clearing in some of the cloud layers stacked above us. We got up and had a slow and substantial breakfast as we watched the skies. With a few patches of blue showing, the decision was made to go on up for our carry. We left camp at about 10:15 and were promptly surrounded again by calm and listless clouds. It was a relief to be spending a day without our sleds and to be in crampons instead of snowshoes. The terrain, beginning with "Motorcycle hill" right out of camp, was steeper than any of the ground we'd covered to date, but that was nice too. We all felt a bit more like climbers with ice axes in our hands at last. The team wound up and across "Squirrel hill" to get to the lesser angled "Polo fields" below the end of
Denali's West Buttress. At least we think those were the granite walls of the Buttress... we couldn't really see very far up it in the clouds. Conditions stayed windless though, so we pushed on to Windy Corner. Nobody seemed disappointed that it wasn't living up to its well-earned reputation. We cached the provisions we'd been carrying there at about 13,300ft, digging a big hole and burying it all to keep the ravens from attacking. Then it was an easy and uneventful hour back to camp with light packs and still not much for views. We were down by 4PM and taking naps and sipping water by about 4:30. Tomorrow is a rest day, so we are less concerned than usual by the continued light snow and ever-present murk.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Hi from Huaraz,
Official Day 1 of the expedition started this morning with an excellent acclimatization hike to "
Puca Ventana" some 1,800ft above town. Good weather and better views, made a great morning for the team. If any of us doubted the hike made the heart pump enough blood to start triggering the acclimatization process, we found a stopped car in need of a jump to start, so we proved to be good Samaritans, and give the guy a push.
Some delicacies afterwards and a gear check to make sure we got what we need starting tomorrow, and we called it a day. A relaxed evening packing and enjoying the local food and fantastic facility of our hotel, is taking us to bed excited to start the journey into the Ishinca Valley first thing in the morning.
Our next post will be via our satellite phone, untill we come out to go to Copa.
Best regards, and stay tuned!
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
June 27, 2016 - 7:58 pm PT
We had another early morning departure to avoid the mid-day solar radiation that can wear a climber out much faster than the cold temperatures can. Our team did a fantastic job climbing up the steep fixed lines to the ridge and then up to our camp at 17,000'. We got into camp around 1:15 in the afternoon and proceeded to build a camp that would protect us from most any weather that
Denali could throw at us. We are getting organized for a summit bid tomorrow if Denali allows. We are currently sitting in the clouds with a small amount of snow falling, but the forecast seems good for tomorrow. We will wake up and get the "nowcast" by looking up towards the summit and seeing what the mountain has to say about us climbing it.
Goodnight and wish us luck!
RMI Guide Mike Haugen
Privet! We are up on the mountain and everyone is doing great. The seven of us are bunked in an 8'x8'x20' container at 12,500' elevation. We started the morning with coffee at the hotel along with the
Elbrus Ski Team who are on their way to St. Petersburg today.
After breakfast we drove to the base of the big ski area here and loaded ask our duffels on three consecutive gondolas.
Garabashi Hut is right at the top of the last gondola so we were able to drop duffels, grab lunch and head out for an acclimatization hike.
Yuri, the local guide, and I decided to try and shoot for a climb up 15,000' to speed up our acclimatization schedule as the weather forecast isn't looking great after tomorrow. Everyone did really well and we made great time up and down from 15k.
Tomorrow we are going to make a plan after checking the weather. We will ideally go over some ice axe safety techniques and go on another hike, but we will just have to see.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall and Team Elbrus
On The Map
Hi from Huaraz!
The team united in the morning at our Lima Hotel, and shortly after, we jumped on our private bus, en route to Huaraz. From hours along the Pacific Coast, to the extensive land lots covered on drying chili peppers and corn, being baked by the sun, a visually stimulating drive greeted us as we started to go up the Conococha Pass. With 1 1/2 hours left of our bus drive, we got a first glimpse of the
Cordillera Blanca, with Huascarán reigning amongst the clouds, and the Pastoruri Massif a mere stone throw from our "bladder emptying" stop in the 14K ft vicinity, right at dusk (yep, it's winter here, and it gets dark early).
We met Peter, our local outfitter and third guide completing the guide team. Dinner and bed time. All is great so far!!!
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
The
Mt. Rainier Summit Climb teams, led by RMI Guides
Brent Okita and
Zeb Blais, reached the top this morning. Winds were in the 10-15 mph range and beautiful, sunny skies. After spending some time on the summit, the teams began their descent at 7:00 a.m.
You guys are great!! Its so much fun to watch your progress…..Cant wait till I get the news that you’ve reached the summit and are on your way down! I wonder how long it takes to get down???Carol
Posted by: carol Latz on 6/29/2016 at 7:22 am
go john go
Posted by: Jill on 6/28/2016 at 12:41 pm
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