Entries from Expedition Dispatches

We walked for seven hours today… of course we did take a leisurely lunch break in Phakding, so it was less.  But it felt like a big day.  We lost about 2,000 vertical feet in the first hour, coming down the Namche hill.  That was significant, since it meant we were then working at low altitude (around 9,000 ft) which was easier than so much of what we’ve done in the last week.  It was a cloudy day, but there was an amazing amount of helicopter traffic overhead.  And there were plenty of trekkers, porters and pack animals on the trail.  It is prime time in the Khumbu.  Still, we had some fine peaceful moments gazing at waterfalls and flowers and children playing on small farms.  We bounced across a bunch of cable bridges and finally we climbed uphill for the final 90 minutes to reach Lukla.  We’ll spend the night and see if we get lucky with clear weather for flying in the morning. 

Best Regards

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Thanks everyone for following along and once again, a shout out to Farmer Dave for all the encouragement!

Climbing Orizaba is never easy. We ended up having a great weather day and route conditions were also favorable. But it still felt like a hard push after the long week of being rained off of big mountains and spending hours drying gear. The team can take pride in their perseverance and their summit of Pico de Orizaba, the third highest peak in North America.

Last night we celebrated in Tlachichuca at the Servimont hostel, where there is always a nice meal and cold drinks. Most people were in bed by 8pm, it was quite the party. Now we are on one final bus ride, to the airport this time, and will return to normal life tomorrow. The muddy, dusty gear we are bringing home will remind us of the good times we had in Mexico.

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier

Saturday, October 14, 2023 7:11 am PDT

Summit Orizaba. High clouds, cool, light breeze. Nice day!

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier & Team

As hoped, we woke up a bit more refreshed and recharged at 13,200 ft Dhole.  We were already under puffy clouds as we began walking, but they weren’t very threatening.  Our trail took us further down yesterday’s steep sided valley.  The river far below was positively boiling and churning in its gorge as we passed down into trees (for the first time in nearly a week).  Finally, we had to climb out of the valley we’d been descending.  We gained 1200 feet in a short distance… which we each realized would have been a tough thing at 13,000 ft earlier in our trek.  This time we cruised, acclimated and conditioned to hiking every day.  At the top of our climb, we reached Mong La and sat outside sipping tea to enjoy views of Ama Dablam, Thamserku, Tawoche and Kangtega.  We moved on -with a few more ups and downs, to the beautiful village of Khumjung with its neat yak pens and potato fields.  We enjoyed a leisurely lunch and then walked through the grounds of the Hillary School as we headed for one last mountain  pass to Namche.  It felt easy as anything to come back into the luxury of the 11,300 ft Camp De Base Hotel for an afternoon and evening.  One more big day of walking remains. 

Best Regards,
 RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team

Alright, we are rested and have pressed the reset button. A rest day in Puebla is always well deserved for a group that has been tromping around in the mountains and enduring long bus rides. Rest day activities included all the standard stuff: museums, sampling local coffees, the bouldering gym, walking around the historic city center and a nice team dinner.

We are now on the bus, headed for Tlachichuca and it's a nice morning. Everyone is hopeful that the weather will be better than on Ixta, where we were slammed by rain and wind associated with the category 2 Hurricane Lidia, the eye of which passed just to our north. That was certainly an experience. We're looking for something less dramatic on Orizaba. Stay tuned for an update tomorrow afternoon!

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier

We got a lot done today. Things started out crystal clear at 15,600 ft in Gokyo this morning. We started walking at our customary 8:00 am. At first we strolled along one glowing turquoise lake after another, then we got moving down steeper descents along a charging, churning river. It got really big when we reached the terminus of the Ngozumpa Glacier. The steep sided valley got bigger and bigger. We had “new” mountains to look at on all sides. Despite the rugged and confining valley, we’d occasionally come across hidden side valleys with vivid green yak pastures and a few tea houses. We took advantage of one of those houses to simply sit outside and sip tea for a relaxing 45 minutes. Then it was back to work, dropping altitude. We rolled into 13,200 ft Dhole and settled into the welcoming Alpine Lodge after about four hours travel. High altitude was wonderful and exciting…but none of us mind being a little lower. Eating is easier, sleeping is easier…almost everything is easier. The afternoon clouded up--again--and so it wasn’t hard to just take it easy after our big walk. 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

The team survived sleeping at 15,600 ft   In fact there were still smiles all around and everybody was into going for a hike.  It didn’t hurt that daybreak in Gokyo was beautiful… Cho Oyu, the sixth highest mountain in the world, was just up the valley and glowing magically.  We headed toward it after breakfast.  We walked for three hours along the massive Ngozumpa Glacier to a place called Fifth Lake (by those of us unable to pronounce the local name).  There, from 16,500 ft, we had a few minutes of unimpeded views of Everest and Lhotse as well as the nearby and spectacular Gyangchungkang.   Then the clouds came in and we headed back toward our comfy digs in Gokyo.  We were back before the snow flurries flew.  The day was made more enjoyable by the fact that we saw a total of two other people in the giant valley we chose to explore.

We’ve got a final night in Gokyo now before we point downhill in the morning.

Best Regards

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Wednesday, October 11, 2023 - 6:10 pm PT

Well, that was a thorough soaking. On night one of Ixta we camped at the trailhead. It rained all night without a break. In the morning it was still raining, but showing signs of clearing so we packed up and headed towards high camp. About an hour in to our hike, the sun came out, revealing our surroundings. We were treated to views of Ixta proper and Popo with a dusting of snow. However, around 5pm the clouds rolled back in and it rained hard again.

It rained throughout the night, a very cold rain. When I woke up to check the weather on a few occasions I was pelted by sideways sleet. Oh right, it was quite windy as well. Sustained moderate winds and precipitation throughout the night thwarted any chance of making a summit attempt. But we can chalk the whole experience up to more acclimatization and for some members of the team, 15400' was a new altitude record or sleeping altitude record.

This morning we descended from high camp, following the direction of a new dog friend. If not already soaked from the night prior, this hike ensured everyone was completely wet. Needless to say, we are all looking forward to some good meals and rest in Puebla tonight and tomorrow. We are keeping our optimism alive for Orizaba and are honestly feeling prepared. Hopefully this weather pattern clears out before Saturday.

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier

Our big day began at about 5:45 AM… which was when the sun started hitting the high peaks.  There was a little more cloud -again- for the start of the day but it didn’t really seem like it would affect us.  We got walking at 7 AM in the cool shadows.  The trail turned uphill immediately and we got busy gaining altitude.  We enjoyed pretty much having it all to ourselves.  We took short breaks every hour or so.  There was great variety to the climb.  We reached an area of high alpine lakes and ultimately a grand stone staircase to the Renjo La -the pass at 17,800 ft.  We reached it at 12:30 after 4.5 hrs.  Everest was visible in the distance but there were lots of clouds about, meaning we just got some quick glimpses of Lhotse and Makalu and Cho Oyu.  It was a thrilling spot to be in and so we spent nearly a half hour enjoying it.  We made good progress down the other side, reaching Gokyo in just two more hours… at three PM.  Gokyo Lake was mesmerizing.  Quite large and quite turquoise in color.  It was wonderful to walk along the shore as a finish to the day.  And then we were in a comfortable tea house, sipping tea again. 

Best Regards

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Tuesday, October 10, 2023 3:17pm

This is Dustin and Team checking in from high camp on Ixta. It rained constantly last night and we almost pulled the plug on climbing Ixta. However, we started uphill into the rain this morning and eventually ended up in the sun. We're now at high camp and the weather still looks iffy in the distance, but if we can thread the needle again we at least have some chance!

Wish us luck!