RMI Guides Leon Davis and Sid Pattison led their team to the summit of Forbidden Peak via the West Ridge today. Leon reported great but hot weather during the climb. They also enjoyed a quiet route with only one other party climbing today.
Congratulations to our North Cascades climbers!
The wind and snow conspired to make for a tough and noisy night in the tents last night. A few intrepid souls got out in the storm to dig away the encroaching drifts. Morning brought less wind, but the snow continued as the guides served breakfast in bed. It was slightly surreal to have the strong smell of forest fire smoke mixed in with heavily falling snow while camped so far from trees. Eventually the snow slowed and then stopped, but by that point, several feet of it had accumulated. The clouds stayed right in on us until about 8 in the evening. We were enjoying an open air dinner when the mist fell away, the sun came out and everything got beautiful. The team stayed out well into the evening, staring at Kahiltna Dome, Mount Foraker and Denali's West Buttress. Our prospects for going up in the morning were improved as we watched several teams come down Motorcycle Hill, plowing a trail and cutting whatever tension the otherwise suspect snow-pack was under.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn and Team
Aunt Carol & Uncle Richard got your postcard. Their thoughts and prayers are with you and your team. Stay Safe. Love Aunt Carol and Uncle Richard.
Posted by: Mary Ahlbrand on 7/3/2015 at 6:31 pm
Go Team Hahn! Safe travels and hoping your weather turns. Mine certainly hasn’t. Can’t fly anywhere north of here without serious thunder. We are cheering every second that you get up that mountain. Keep Living the Dream.
RMI Guides Win Whittaker and Casey Grom led the Four Day Summit Climb teams to the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Win and Casey reported beautiful weather and a great route. We look forward to seeing the teams back in Ashford this afternoon.
Congratulations climbers!
Ready to launch!
We're all set to tackle our first objective tomorrow, Ishinca. We spent the day today training on the glacier, in the 16,300 ft vicinity. Everybody had a blast, performed well, and is excited to begin what soon will be (with permission of the mountain gods) the opening summit. Hoping to check tomorrow from "la cumbre", that's it for now.
RMI Guide Elías and team
Thursday, July 2, 2015 - 3:15 pm PT
RMI Guide Mike King called the RMI Office from high camp at 17,200 ft on Mt. McKinley. The team spend a snowy and windy night at camp last night. Today they spent the day resting and drying their gear. The team has received the forecast for tomorrow and are hoping the weather will allow them to make a summit attempt. If the weather permits, they will be heading up hill.
We wish the team luck!
We had a successful day today, with everyone climbing strong to reach the summit of Rucu Pichincha (~15,700 ft) on our first acclimatization climb in country. We had great weather with perfect temperatures for climbing, and good views throughout the day.
After a quick cab ride from our hotel, we rode the gondola to ~13,500 ft and then began climbing up the flanks of Rucu. The well graded trail eventually gave way to some steeper switchbacks and then some 3rd class scrambling to the summit.
It was a high altitude record for many of our climbers. We hope to keep breaking those records over the next few days once we get onto Cayambe and Cotopaxi.
Tomorrow morning we’ll pack up and leave Quito, heading north for another acclimatization climb up the ancient volcano Fuya Fuya.
Thanks for checking in. We’ll keep you up to date.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
The Four Day Summit Climb teams led by RMI Guides Eric Frank and Solveig Waterfall reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. The teams enjoyed clear blue skies and warm temperatures. RMI Guide Kel Rossiter led the Expedition Skills Seminar - Emmons to the summit via the Emmons Glacier route.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
July 2, 2015 12:36 am PST
This day didn't start out all that bad, but then it didn't waste too much time getting bad. It got snowing about an inch an hour by mid morning. That didn't stop some of our neighbors from picking up and moving to 14K anyway, but it stopped us. We didn't want to risk getting caught at Windy Corner when the wind started. So it was a quiet day for us, sitting in our tents listening to the snow. Just about right in the middle of a nice dinner in our beloved POSH tent, a cannon shot of wind hit and ripped the shelter nearly in half. We sat for a few minutes more anyway, chowing down, looking out the big new vent and wondering who'd be first to abandon ship. Then it was a mass exodus back to the tents for what promised to be a windy, snowy, stormy night on Denali. We'll figure out a different plan for our cooking and dining shelter needs.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
July 1, 2015 6:25 pm PST
Hey, it's Billy here checking in from 17,200' on Denali. We are back in camp after our foray up the Autobahn and around the corner on Denali Pass but it was quite windy. The wind along with zero visibility and blowing snow and some wind slab instability conspired to shut down our summit attempt. So we turned tail at just above 18,500 feet and everyone is back down in camp, in one piece safe and sound. We're trying to regroup and figure out what the future holds for us. We'll check in tomorrow and let you know we're up to you.
All for now.
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
RMI Guide Billy Nugent checks in from 17,200 ft on Mt. McKinley
Good evening from Base Camp in the Ishinca Valley! We're settling in for the night, an early bed time, as tomorrow we'll have our first semi alpine start of the program. Today was spent reviewing the fitting and use of our equipment (the name of the game has been proclaimed as "we'll be the most pro-looking team on the mountain") followed by a thorough review of the knots and hitches we'll use on this trip. A gourmet lunch by our cook Emilio, (fresh trout and quinoa soup) gave us the energy we needed to take a stroll to "Ishinca Cocha", the glacial lake perched 1,000 ft above camp, and to continue to stimulate our bodies in the acclimatization process. Stay tuned for more!
RMI Guide Elías de Andres Martos and team.
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Hey, Rob,
Aunt Carol & Uncle Richard got your postcard. Their thoughts and prayers are with you and your team. Stay Safe. Love Aunt Carol and Uncle Richard.
Posted by: Mary Ahlbrand on 7/3/2015 at 6:31 pm
Go Team Hahn! Safe travels and hoping your weather turns. Mine certainly hasn’t. Can’t fly anywhere north of here without serious thunder. We are cheering every second that you get up that mountain. Keep Living the Dream.
Posted by: Mike Gorum on 7/3/2015 at 1:12 pm
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