Entries from Expedition Dispatches
Well, we had our fill of pizza, thick air, and dance remixes of American top 40 pop songs. We’re back on the mountain now, preparing for our summit attempt tonight. We just enjoyed dinner and a movie, chicken and couscous while watching a Russian overdubbed version of Twilight. The weather is better than it was last time we were here, but I wouldn’t say it’s remarkable. We can’t control what the weather does, but we can give it our best and see what happens.
Wish us luck tonight, and we’ll check in tomorrow!
RMI Guide JM Gorum & Team
The
Four Day Summit Climb teams led by RMI Guides Tyler Jones and Ben Ammon reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Tyler reported chilly temperatures with winds of 25 mph. The team will spend some time celebrating on the summit before starting their descent.
Congratulations to today's team!
Good afternoon from Chopicalqui Camp 1. We waved goodbye to our cook and base camp infrastructure this morning, and with the help of our invaluable porters, we ventured uphill. Four hours of straight climbing brought us to 16,075'. Now we are perched on an incredible terrace with a view of what will be our route the next couple of days. Chopicalqui sure is a more intimidating peak but we're bringing our A game in anticipation of
Huascaran. We're keeping our fingers crossed for good weather as we venture above the 20,000' mark here soon.
Stay tuned for more!
RMI Guide
Elias de Andres Martos and team
Last night a large electrical storm passed over
Mt. Elbrus. It brought hail, strong winds, and shaking thunder. We woke up this morning to find a few inches of fresh snow at our doorstep and a lack of electricity flowing through our local power grid. After our standard 8:00 AM breakfast, the winds and snow picked up considerably until it became unpleasant to venture beyond the impenetrable comfort of our repurposed shipping container homes. The forecast for tomorrow showed no improvement in weather.
We decided that instead of sitting in the wind and snow doing nothing for two days, we would ride the lift back down to town, eat pizza, and sleep in real beds. That’s precisely what we did, and it has been nothing but enjoyable. We’ll spend the tonight in Cheget, and tomorrow afternoon we’ll ride the lift back up to camp in preparation for our summit attempt on Sunday.
RMI Guide
JM Gorum
On The Map
RMI Guides Peter Whittaker and
Mike Uchal led their
Four Day Climb Teams to the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Peter reported light winds and a great route. The teams enjoyed some time in the summit crater before starting their descent around 8 AM PT.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
Greetings from base camp!
We have enjoyed our time off from climbing today, after our quick and uneventful descent (aside from the astonishing views) from Yanapacha high camp yesterday.
We're ready to go for
Chopicalqui now, and so, we have spent some time repacking for our move to Camp 1 tomorrow. Everyone's excited, doing well and ready for the next objective!
RMI Guide ElÃas de Andres Martos and team
RMI Guide Ben Liken called from Camp Schurman on the
Emmons Route. The team left at 4am this morning breaking trail as well as shoveling their way to 13,300'. Due to the length of day and high winds, they chose to make 13,300' the high point for the day. It is currently raining at Camp Schurman. They are going to do some crevasse rescue this afternoon and plan to descend back to the trailhead in the morning.
This morning we had our standard breakfast of oatmeal and eggs at our standard time of 8 am. We then suited up for our walk up to
15,000 feet on Mt. Elbrus. The weather was pretty marginal, but it was a great opportunity to test out our various layering systems.
We spent about five hours out in the wind and snow today, made it up to 15,000 feet, and only got blown over once or twice. The views were minimal, but we had fun. That’s all for now.
RMI Guide JM Gorum
On The Map
The
Four Day Climbs led by RMI Guides Walter Hailes and Josh McDowell got a late start out of Camp Muir this morning as the teams waited out some poor weather. The late start coupled with some patience paid off for the teams as they reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning!
Walter and
Josh reported sunny skies and breezy conditions on the upper mountain. The teams are on their descent and will return to Ashford later today.
Congratulations climbers!
The team is officially on the mountain! We’re living our best lives, as they say, up here at
12,600 feet. We took advantage of a series of gondolas to get us here, but we did have to haul our duffels the last 100 feet to our doorsteps. Working smarter, not harder.
We took a short break after moving in, and then went for an exploratory jaunt above camp. After we walked as far as we felt like walking, we turned around. We did spend some time practicing our footwork and balance on steeper snow. Some team members took to boot skiing like they were born for it. Others...not. Ultimately we all found our style, and descended with class and grace back to the huts in time for lunch. The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing, mingling with other climbers, people watching, and story telling.
Now the sun has set, and there’s no reason to be outside anymore, so we’re going to bed. We’ll check in tomorrow.
RMI Guide JM Gorum
On The Map
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Gorem,
You’ve had a successful summer of summits. Keep it up for Tyler and the others. Best wishes, and step safe!
Posted by: Susan Moore on 7/14/2019 at 12:47 pm
Hoping and praying conditions improve! Love you Tyler
Posted by: donna shearburn on 7/14/2019 at 6:26 am
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