Entries from Expedition Dispatches
The
Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guides Brent Okita and Mike Soucy was 30 minutes from the crater rim at 7:40 am as reported by Camp Muir. Camp Muir reported calm winds, and clear skies. The team will spend a bit of time on the summit before starting their descent.
The
Expedition Skills Seminar - Emmons spent a misty afternoon practicing crevasse rescue and ice climbing skills on the Emmons Glacier near Camp Schurman The spent the evening in camp, having dinner, relaxing, and celebrating an exciting, strenuous and very windy climb to 13,200' yesterday. The team is descending from their camp this morning and will return to Ashford this afternoon around 3:30 pm.
Congratulations to Today's Teams!
Hola from
Ecuador. We had great weather today as our team went on our first acclimatization hike, summiting Rucu Pichincha, a volcano that forms part of the western perimeter of Quito's valley. To start our hike, we took a gondola from Quito up to an altitude of around 13,500'. Then a well-maintained trail with stunning views led us out onto a ridge toward Rucu Pichincha. An easy rock scramble later and we were on top, at 15,700'.
Our climbing was very strong today, making quick work of the altitude. We had good views of volcanoes
Cotopaxi, the Ilinizas, Pasachoa, and Ruminuai the south, and
Cayambe and Cotacachi to the north. We will leave Quito tomorrow morning, heading north towards
Cayambe. But, before we get to
Cayambe, we'll take another acclimatization hike tomorrow on Fuya Fuya, and then visit the market in Otavalo the next day. We'll keep you posted!
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
June 19, 2014 - 11:24 am PT
The team spent yesterday packing, chatting and organizing food. Today we arrived at the hangar and we're told to stand by...a few hours later we are still standing by but are loading are bags onto planes and got the go ahead to change into climbing clothes. Hopefully, we will be loading the planes shortly and our next correspondence will be sent from the
Kahiltna Glacier!
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
June 19, 2014 - 9:34 am PT
As the wheels of our bush plane touched down in Talkeetna last night, my mind breathed a bittersweet sigh of relief. On one hand, we were back in civilization with amazing conveniences, such as flush toilets and food with expiration dates, but the trip had not turned out the way I hoped in previous months of dreaming about it. After taxiing through the airfield, we unpacked the plane and I cataloged the 36 hours of frenzied activity leading up to that point.
The weather throughout this trip was challenging. Aside from the first few days traveling up the lower
Kahiltna Glacier, we battled ominous and unpredictable forecasts, and lots of marginal weather. The team did a great job of staying positive, always assuming that after the snow ended we would get our break. Day followed day, but the snow didn’t stop. It wasn’t a blizzard by any means, but just bad enough to not be able to move up high and make a summit attempt. Every morning we would get up and either watch snow fall, or see wind howling across the summit plateau.
After nine nights at
14,200’ camp we were in a difficult position. We had managed to get a food cache up on the route, just below 16,000’, but the snow was presenting avalanche danger, the forecast hadn’t improved and the days were counting down. The group had a long discussion about schedules and desires, eventually coming to the conclusion that we would split ways. Part of the team would stay, join another
RMI team for support and wait for better weather. The other half of us would pack up most of the gear and move downhill toward the runway. Family, friends and work obligations were calling our names. After a 15-hour, 14-mile walk through the night, we made it to the landing strip, caught a plane and found ourselves on terra firma Tuesday night around dinner time.
As a
guide, these trips are some of the most difficult to manage. The puzzle was one piece from coming together, but it wasn’t meant to be. The frustration was not solely ours. This has been a rough year in the
Alaska Range weather-wise. When we flew onto the glacier, the summit success percentage was a depressingly low 16%. It has hardly risen since then. It would seem as though this season has been one of failure, but I prefer to view it differently. As a team, we did everything we could to be ready, the mountain simply said “no.” That doesn’t mean that we didn’t have an enjoyable trip with lots of good memories. Quite the contrary, we had several good weeks together filled with learning and bonding. I am reminded of the very applicable mountain phrase, “The summit is for the ego, but the journey is for the soul.”
Final thoughts-
To our three climbers- Andy, Jesse, and John. Thanks for arriving fit, ready to climb and with great senses of humor. You guys were a riot to hang out with in the cook tent, and on the rope. I have every confidence that given a decent weather window, you guys could tag the top. Unfortunately, not getting a chance to summit is sometimes part of big mountain climbing. You guys handled it with class and smiles. I hope our paths in the mountains cross many times in the future.
To my fellow RMI guide,
Geoff Schellens, it is always a pleasure to work with you. Good times, buddy. You are smart, patient and ridiculously strong at altitude. I felt lucky to be up there with you.
To all the family, friends, armchair mountaineers and acquaintances who followed along in the last few weeks; thank you for the support. Your comments on the blog and daily positive vibes were the fuel that pushed us along up there. We thought of you in every decision, and with each picture we took.
Until next time, keep warm and enjoy every moment of life.
RMI Guide Eric Frank
June 18, 2014 - 9:00 pm PT
We went around Windy Corner! We dug a hole (or chipped one out of extremely hard snow)! We buried some stuff (food, fuel, overboots, etc.)! And then we came back down to our camp at 11k'. All in all, we had a great day; the team is moving well and getting more and more psyched as we make our way up the
mountain. The weather is gradually improving and we enjoyed blue skies and beautiful views of the Messner Couloir and the Orient Express on the upper mountain from the cache site. We filled up with an early dinner tonight and are racked out in anticipation of a big day tomorrow on our move to 14k' camp.
Check in again tomorrow...
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
On The Map
Greetings from Ecuador! Our team all arrived in Quito,
Ecuador yesterday, and we met for our first official team meal this morning. After introductions and reviewing trip logistics, we departed the hotel and spent the day on a city tour of Old Town Quito. We visited the Basilica, the presidential palace, and various other historically significant locales while learning about the foundation and history of Quito and Ecuador from our very knowledgeable local guide, Jorge.
After lunch we headed north to the Equator, and visited an ethnographic museum where we were able to straddle the Equator, as well as learn about various native cultures of Ecuador. A fun day of sight seeing was just what we needed, as we get used to the altitude of Quito (9,000') and recover from a long day of travel yesterday.
Tomorrow we will venture out on our first acclimatization hike up the Volcano Rucu Pichincha. We'll keep you posted with updates along the way.
Hasta luego!
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
RMI Guide
Seth Waterfall and the
Four Day Summit Climb teams were approaching the crater rim at 7:29 a.m. PT. They reported very cold and very windy conditions on the Disappointment Cleaver Route. The teams will be starting their descent soon after reaching the summit.
RMI Guide
Solveig Waterfall and the
Expedition Skills Seminar - Emmons aborted their summit bid at 13,200' due to high winds and blowing snow. They are descending back to Camp Schurman.
June 18, 2014 - 8:20 pm PT
We woke up around three to clear skies and no wind. We couldn't resist this opening to cache gear up higher. We were traveling so well this morning that we decided to carry all the way up to
McKinley's 14,000' camp. It was such a nice day up there that we spent around an hour and a half catching up with the
Tyler Jones' and
Jake Beren's teams. It looks like there should be good weather for a couple of days?? Cross your fingers for all of us!
The plan for tomorrow is to move our camp up to 14,000'. We are hoping for more of the same weather we had today.
RMI Guide Mike Haugen and Team "The Ocho"
On The Map
June 18, 2014 - 4:51pm PT
Well, it's time to light this candle. We're getting ready to vacate the premises at 14K and head up for the thin air of
17K camp, after our extended stay here in advanced base camp.
Yesterday we put the final pieces in place, as a group of guides took on an afternoon mission to move some group gear from a cache at 16,700 up to our future high camp. The afternoon was a perfect day for fast movement and by 6pm we were comfortably situated with the food, fuel, hardware and kit that we'll need to launch for the top. Team No Troubles gets to reap the benefit of yesterday's work, as the normally heavy group load is now up high, and folks will get to move with their bad selves and a little bit of personal gear. Woot!
It's been a bit of an emotional roller coaster these last few days, wishing for good weather and then having forecasts dash our hopes. But this latest round of prognostication seems to give us the glimmer of goodness we need, opening the window just enough for us to make a tactical strike. Stoke and energy is at an all time high, and we'll channel that energy into upward movement as soon as we can in the morning.
We really appreciate the love and support - keep it coming the next few days!
Until tomorrow,
RMI Guides Tyler, Garrett, Geoff and Team No Troubles
June 18, 2014 - 3:00pm PT
RMI Guides Adam Knoff, Lindsay Mann, Andy Hildebrand and Team have arrived in Talkeetna, AK to start their 2014 Mt. McKinley Expedition. Everything is going as planned for the team. They have completed their equipment check, met with the National Park Service and with good luck plan to fly onto the
Kahiltna Glacier tomorrow.
Follow along on the RMI Expeditions Blog for updates on the team!
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Looking good guys!!!
Posted by: Sarah on 6/22/2014 at 2:48 am
GO TEAM!!
Posted by: Jan Hejl on 6/20/2014 at 11:08 pm
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