Entries from Expedition Dispatches
Posted by: Drew O’Brien, George Hedreen, Sam Marjerison, Felipe Guarderas
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 9,460'
Good Morning!
Most of team opted for a full educational day over a difficult summit climb. Summit team woke up at 10pm and with high winds in camp we made the call to skip the walk and prepare for a full educational day today. We will finish our expedition skills training here at Camp Schurman before descending tomorrow.
RMI Guide Drew O'Brien and Team
Posted by: Joe Hoch, Leif Bergstrom, Jackson Breen, Mitch Valaitis, Tom Skoog, Evan Redman
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 11,200'
The Four Day Climb led by RMI Guides Joe Hoch and Leif Bergstrom were turned on their summit attempt of Mt. Rainier due to route conditions and high winds. The team is back at Camp Muir and will descend later this morning.
Posted by: Alan Davis, Tatum Whatford
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Peru Seminar
Elevation: 17,782'
The team left Base Camp at 2:00 am and summited
The team left Base Camp at 2:00 am and summited Urus Este at 7:45 am and was back in Base Camp before noon! We enjoyed the day resting in the beautiful Ishinca Valley and lying in the sun near the creeks watching the horses, burros, and cattle graze.
We will check in tomorrow from Huaraz
RMI Guide Alan Davis, Tatum Whatford and Team
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Posted by: Ben Luedtke, Erika Birkeland
Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades
Elevation: 10,541'
Today, we achieved what we sought after and more. Waking up to a pool of mist, we were happy to be carrying feather light packs, compared to the last 2 days. With a break in the clouds and the moon to help light the way, we set off. It was everything we could do to catch a view, but we finally caught a glimpse and climbed high above the clouds just past Glacier Gap. The morning brought views our eyes couldn't believe. Passing onto the Cool Glacier, we new we were close. We pushed on through the switchbacks and snow on the final ridge until 100% of our team stood on top. It was 5 for 5 volcanoes in WA for some, and a first for others. Huge congratulations to our team for pushing through! We are now back at camp resting before we load up our heavy packs again and descend back to White Pass for the evening.
RMI Guides Ben Luedtke, Erika Birkeland, and team.
Posted by: Henry Coppolillo, Mike Bennett, Michael Murray, Nick Sinapius, Hannah Billings, Stella Johnson
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Peru Seminar
Elevation: 11,300'
The Five Day Climb July 19 - 23 led by RMI Guides Henry Coppolillo and Mike Bennett reached 11,300' today before strong winds forced them to switch their ascent to a descent. The teams have returned safely to Camp Muir. They will pack gear and enjoy the morning sunshine from 10,000' before continuing down the remaining 4.5 miles to Paradise later this morning. There adventure will conclude this afternoon at Rainier BaseCamp.
Posted by: Alan Davis, Tatum Whatford
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Peru Seminar
July 22, 2024 - 5:25 pm PT
Rest day in Ishinca basecamp. Woke up as the sun hit the valley and were welcomed into the dining tent with omelettes and coffee. We spent the day at our training crag just down the creek where we practiced more knots, hitches, fixed rope ascension, crevasse rescue, anchor building, and haul systems. Early to bed for a final summit attempt of our last peak of the trip, Urus Este.
RMI Guide Alan Davis
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Posted by: Ben Luedtke, Erika Birkeland
Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades
Elevation: 7,300'
July 22, 2024 - 5:48 pm PT
We started the morning with riddles from Ben. We continued to make our way up steep terrain and sandy trails, seeing our first patches of snow. We shooed a brave marmot (Jerry) away at snack time. Rock hopping, we made our way to high camp. Setting up camp in a beautiful snowy basin, we spent the afternoon honing our snow travel skills.
-RMI Climber, Miranda Chisholm
PC: Ben Luedtke
Posted by: Ben Luedtke, Erika Birkeland
Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades
Elevation: 5,900'
July 21, 2024 - 5:45 pm PT
Glacier peak. Aptly named for the features we climb, our team set out today for the long journey up. For some of us, it will be 5 of 5 for the Washington volcanoes if we are successful! But alas, it won't come without it's challenges. Off the start, we had a hint of wildfire smoke here and there as we lugged our heavy packs down the trail. It started off cool and calm as we admired the shady grove of old growth trees and picked salmon berries to keep ourselves satiated along the way. But then, we hit the switchbacks. With sweat dripping down our faces, we trudged along in and out of the sun and coolness of the trees. Now, we are set up at camp at White Pass for the evening fending off the swarms of mosquitos with our head nets as we prepare to make dinner, some of us trying to hide in our tents.
RMI Guide Ben Luedtke
It is great to hear day one went well for the team! Great job everyone!
Posted by: Chris Dennis on 7/22/2024 at 12:52 pm
Posted by: Alan Davis, Tatum Whatford
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Peru Seminar
Elevation: 18,843
Sunday, July 21, 2024 - 6:15 pm pT
Alpine start had us leaving camp at 0100 in the cold, clear of night. Thankful the winds died down, we walked by the bright moonlight hardly needing headlamps. We reached the toe of the glacier an hour before dawn and began working our way up the icy slopes, hearing nothing but our footsteps and the occasional cracking and popping of the ancient ice shift beneath our feet. We were greeted with a spectacular sunrise that seemed to last for hours and enjoyed the summit of Ischinca mostly to ourselves, save one party of three. After an hour on the top, we made our way down back to basecamp and rested. We feasted on the finest Lomo Saltado in the Ishinca valley provided by Peter’s father Emilio, a retired guide whom is one of the best camp cooks around. With full bellies and gratitude we enjoyed another beautiful alpine sunset and promptly got into our sleeping bags for some good earned rest. Photos to come!
RMI Guide Alan Davis
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Posted by: Alan Davis, Tatum Whatford
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Peru Seminar
Elevation: 14,348'
July 20, 2024 - 5:45 pm PT
Woke with the sun and some good Peruvian coffee. The winds were quite strong and kept us tent bound initially. We spent the day resting and working on knots, hitches, and rappelling at our campside crag. After dinner it was early to bed for another alpine start as we attempt the valley’s namesake, Ishinca, in the wee hours of the morning.
RMI Guide Alan Davis
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Peruvian coffee definitely sounds tasty!
Posted by: Some guy from Puyallup on 7/21/2024 at 11:53 am
Congratulations to you all! You did it Bubba! We miss you!
Posted by: Tanya Benavidez on 7/24/2024 at 11:07 am
Great Job Miranda!!
(And everyone else)
Posted by: Jim Chisholm on 7/23/2024 at 2:06 pm
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