Entries from Expedition Dispatches
Monday, June 25, 2018 - 12:14 AM PT
This is Mike, checking in from 11,000' Camp as the team continues their descent to the airstrip. We woke at
17,000' Camp this morning after a long summit day. The team packed up and headed down the West Buttress with spectacular views of the Alaska Range. Once on the fixed lines we baking in the mid day sun and were looking forward to getting our cache sorted and headed to 11,000 Camp for some dinner and rest. We got water and high fives from the other RMI Teams and turned in for some rest, not sleep. We'll plan on hitting the road at 2 am in hopes of getting an early flight to Talkeetna. The weather isn't promising so an extra night or 2 at the airstrip might be in our future.
RMI Guide Mike King
Sunday, June 24, 2018 - 9:45 PM PT
We busted out of camp at 9,500 ft by 7:10 AM. There was still plenty of cloud out and about, but not so much in the direction we wanted to go. Of course things were a little cooler at the lofty heights we were reaching, but not unpleasantly so. We reached the corner at Kahiltna Pass in just over an hour’s time and left the mighty Kahiltna Glacier. A couple of tough uphill pushes then brought us to 11,000. Conditions were sunny, calm and nice as we built camp -we’re starting to get good at this stuff. The afternoon was spent napping and prepping for tomorrow’s carry to 13,500. In the late afternoon and evening we got a heavy and hot snow shower. We dodged it eating burritos in the dining tent. After dinner, things got fun and busy as RMI Guide Mike King’s victorious climbing team came down to share camp for an evening. They’ll head downhill in the early morning and we’ll be looking upward.
Best Regards
Dave Hahn
On The Map
Sunday, June 24, 2018 - 9:13 PM PT
Good evening from Huaraz!
It never gets old... our standard acclimatization hike (in picture here) to Churup Lake at 4,400m is a half day endeavor for virtually every
Alpamayo Expedition in the last five years. A couple thousand feet of elevation gain to an incredible glacial lake below a radical looking peak baring the same name, provided for us the perfect exercise on after all the travels.
A speedy descent brought us to our private van, and we were shuttled to Peruvian delicacies in downtown, before retreating back to the hotel to pack for tomorrow's hike in to the Santa Cruz Valley and start our approach to Alpamayo Base Camp.
The real adventure is about to start! Everyone is excited and motivated. Next post will be from the woods... stay tuned!!!
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos and team
Sunday, June 24, 2018 - 8:59 PM PT
Oh what a day! We awoke to cool, clear skies and quickly readied ourselves to go retrieve our cache at 13,500. As we walked and the sun began to rise higher in the sky our numb digits started to gain some life and the beautiful views put a little pep in our step. When we returned from the cache we lounged in the sun, listening to Rusty’s eclectic musical mix and filling our bellies with a delightful bagel breakfast. Later we practiced running belays and traveling on fixed lines in preparation for tomorrow’s cache at 17,000'. Our Super Crew cruised on through it and will do great with tomorrow’s climb. We are now packing bags and picking out the perfect food to stash at
17,000' Camp. We plan to rise early for our climb and be back tomorrow afternoon for some proper rest time.
All is well here at scenic 14,000' Camp!
RMI Guide Mike Haugen & Super Crew
On The Map
Sunday, June 24, 2018 - 7:34 PM PT
We had a great acclimatization climb today, tackling our first peak of the trip. It was a high altitude mark for many of our climbers, reaching the summit of Rucu Pichincha at ~16,300’. The day started off with a gondola ride where we left the city of Quito and traveled to ~13,500’. From there we continued on a well established trail for an hour or so before it gave way to a steeper single track trail. The climb culminated in a fun rock scramble to the top of the peak. The weather was great: in the morning we had clear views of
Cotopaxi before clouds rolled in; the temps stayed perfect as we climbed into the clouds, and the wind up high made it feel very alpine but not too cold. Every climbed very well today, despite only being at altitude for about a day; this bodes well for our upcoming summit attempt on Cotopaxi. Tomorrow morning we will pack up and leave Quito, heading south into the countryside en route to our next acclimatization hike.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
Saturday, June 23, 2018 - 9:57 AM PT
We’re moving up in the world! Today we moved up to
14K camp in style- everyone in our super crew moved well and took great care of themselves along the way. We arrived to our new home with sweltering sunshine with intermittent bouts of glitter snow and calm winds. We made our castle of a camp and enjoyed all of the things 14K camp has to offer- lounging, walking over to the NPS weather board, watching skiers and climbers coming up and down... Ain’t life grand! We intend to back carry tomorrow and reunite with the things we cached at 13,500 yesterday, then spend the rest of the day brushing up our fixed line and running belay skills before caching at 17K camp. We’re go grateful to be outside in base layers!! Thanks for tuning in and keep your fingers crossed that this great weather continues.
RMI Guide Mike Haugen & Super Crew 6
On The Map
Saturday, June 23, 2018 - 10:26 PM PT
This one started out differently. It wasn’t snowy at 3:30 AM and it wasn’t cloudy. In fact it looked pretty good for climbing. We were walking out of 7800 ft at 6 AM with a big view of
Denali’s South Face and some of its classic climbing routes. Our classic climbing route for the day was on “Ski Hill”. Once again we had heavy packs and sleds, once again we used snowshoes and ski poles. The fact that the snow surface had frozen overnight was in our favor, making for good walking. The fact that ski hill is all uphill certainly made things harder, but such difficulties weren’t exactly unexpected. We rolled into our intended site at 9500 ft by 10 AM. Building camp was easy enough in strong sunshine and calm conditions. We snoozed away the warm afternoon, or snacked, read, chatted and hydrated. Dinner in the dining tent was a picnic in the dry and calm conditions. We can no longer see Denali from this particular angle, but the view down 43 miles of the Kahiltna Glacier certainly isn’t bad. Most were in their tents again and turning in by 8 PM when the sun went behind Kahiltna Dome. A little cooler up here now as we start gaining altitude.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Saturday, June 23, 2018 - 5:14 AM PT
RMI’s 2018
Cotopaxi Express trip has officially started. All of the team members arrived safely to Quito, Ecuador. We started off the day with a trip to a cultural museum located on the equator, where we were able to straddle the line with one foot in each hemisphere. This was followed by a tour through “Old Town” Quito, visiting Independence Square where the Presidential Palace is located, as well as touring a historic church (Iglesia de la Compania de Jesus) and seeing some of the old, historic architecture. We also visited “El Panecillo”, which is a small hill where a statue of the Virgen of Quito over looks the city. After a long day of site seeing we relaxed with dinner at the well-known Magic Bean Restaurant. Tomorrow we’re off to Rucu Pichincha, a volcano outside of Quito, for our first acclimatization hike.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
Saturday, June 23, 2018 - 9:47 pm PT
Greetings from Huaraz! We're happy to announce the start of RMI's fifth season in Peru with our first day of the
Alpamayo Expedition. Everyone arrived in Lima yesterday, and we did the long drive into the Andes today. The team arrived at our hotel in time to relax a bit after the long hours on the bus, and we enjoyed a nice dinner at Hotel Andino. Stay tuned for updates on our progress!
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
Our Five Day Climb radioed in this morning to let us know they were standing on top of the highest point in Washington State! They reported bright and clear conditions. The team took advantage of the extra day built into our Five Day Program for an early summit in better weather. They will spend one more night at Camp Muir and will make their descent back to the land of fresh food and hot showers tomorrow.
Congratulations climbers!
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Congratulations on your successful climb and descent…..... Lot’s of good memories, pretty pictures and the satisfaction of a job well done….......My granddtr and her husband are with the Hauger team, Lindsay and Matt…
Barbara Jones
Posted by: Barbara Jones on 6/25/2018 at 8:42 pm
Mike, congratulations to the team. We know everyone is anxious to Talkeetna. Hopefully, you will get some rest before meeting us in Colorado. Mom and Dad.
Posted by: Ron King on 6/25/2018 at 8:46 am
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