Entries from Expedition Dispatches
Saturday, May 26, 2018 - 4:39 PM PT
Our first night sleeping at 14,200' on Denali was chilly but restful. After a leisurely wake up and breakfast, we booted up and headed down to retrieve our cache at ~13,600', just this side of Windy Corner. Now, back in camp, we are relaxing and resting, hydrating and eating.
Our plan is to rest and acclimate this afternoon and also tomorrow. We will spend some time tomorrow fortifying camp by building walls and also practicing fixed rope travel for climbing on the headwall above camp.
The next step for us is to establish a cache for our high camp. If all goes well, we'll get that done on Monday.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
The honking horns had subsided and the streets were nearly bare this morning at 5 am, when fellow guide And Bond and I got up to make the chilly trip up to El Alto Airport at 13,400' on the
Bolivia Altiplano. Three out of our six climbers arrived on the same flight, and after clearing immigration had piled their duffel bags next to an airport coffee shop, awaiting our arrival.
After a quick round of hand shakes and high fives, we grabbed a cup of coffee each and headed outside to hail taxis into the city. The soft beds at Hotel Ritz provided a few hours of rest before we had a late morning meeting to discuss the plan for the day.
The point of today, along with the next few days, is to play tourist and allow our bodies time to acclimate. After leaving the hotel, we visited several neighborhoods by using the new citywide teleferiquo system, a series of gondola lines that crisscross the city. The views of Huayna Potosi and Illimani from the gondola cars were incredible.
On the walk back to the hotel we were serenaded by loud music from a passing parade. This weekend is the Fiesta del Gran Poder (festival of the great power) which is one of the largest festivals in Bolivia. We watched thousands upon thousands of dancers, marching bands and people in traditional costumes stream by.
Tomorrow morning we launch north toward Lake Titicaca and Isla de Sol.
RMI Guides Eric Frank, Andy Bond & Team
The
Four Day Summit Climb Team led by RMI Guides Steve Gately and Bryan Mazaika were standing on Columbia Crest, the very top of Mt. Rainier at 7:30 am this morning. The team climbed above the clouds and have clear beautiful skies. They have started their descent and are en route to Camp Muir.
Congratulations to today's Teams!
We finally made some big moves! Weather was perfect this morning, so we ate our first mountain breakfast and worked on getting our ropes, sleds, and packs rigged for travel. The first morning always takes a bit, between organizing things for the first time, breaking down camp, and all of the other chores like digging cache that have to get done. By noon we were walking, and from there, things couldn't have gone more smoothly. We made excellent time, rolling in to camp with tons of daylight left. We move into a nice camp that had been left, retrofitted it a bit, and then settled in to the
mountain routine: making water, dinner, and then more water. Our goal is to cache a load of food and fuel higher up tomorrow, probably just below 11,000', putting us in place to move camp up there the next day.
We'll let you know how it goes!
RMI Guides Pete, Jess, Taylor, and Team
After a great night sleep, and tasty breakfast at the Roadhouse, we had the most scenic flight I've ever had into the Alaska Range. We easily landed on the snow thanks to the K2 pilots, and build ourselves a great camp at the base of
Mount Francis. Everyone was all smiles while digging out tent platforms because of the sunny weather and perfect views. After moving into the tents, snacking on some salami and chocolate the team headed out to learn more mountaineering techniques. Self arrest, rope travel and foot work were all refreshed through the afternoon. Now for some hot food and drinks in our spacious kitchen tent.
RMI Guide Christina Dale
Friday, May 25, 2018 - 7:44 PM PT
We woke early this morning to beautifully clear skies, and fired up the stoves. After an efficient breakfast, we took down camp and packed up. It was a chilly morning, the coldest we've seen thus far (-10F), plus it was the earliest that we got out of the tents so far this trip.
We had beautiful weather and great climbing conditions all the way to the
Genet Basin Camp at 14,200 ft, where we currently reside. It was a hard day with heavy packs, and everyone did well. After six hours of climbing at altitude with heavy packs we're all ready for some dinner and then some horizontal time in the tents. Tomorrow we will go back to 13,700' to pick up the cache we left there two days ago.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
May 25, 2018 - 10:01 AM PT
Our bags are packed, we're ready to go...and here our patient and excited group waits with boots on in the K2 hanger. The skies are clearing and we'll be airborne momentarily. Wish us luck!
RMI Guide Christina Dale
It took us an extra try, but ultimately our patience prevailed and the very talented pilots of K2 Aviation were able to thread us through some funky clouds and get us in to
Kahiltna Base Camp. We made our first run at 12:30 PM and made it almost all the way before a bank of fog turned us back. We landed back in Talkeetna to heavy rain, took off our boots, and settled back in to our waiting game. Then at 5 PM there seemed to be a break and we got the green light. The flight in was spectacular as always, flying right through the rugged peaks and walls of the Alaska Range. Since we weren't in until evening, we decided to put up camp, make dinner, and spend the night here. Tomorrow we will hopefully have the conditions to move our camp and all of our gear to our Camp 1 at the base of Ski Hill.
We are happily tucked into sleeping bags for our first night on the mountain, glad to finally be here!
RMI Guides Pete, Jess, Taylor, and team
On The Map
Thursday, May 24, 2018 - 8:55 PM PT
Our
Alaska Seminar Team packed and un-packed and re-packed all day waiting for the weather to clear. The bad news is we are still in Talkeetna but the good news is we've never been more ready to fly on. The team practiced knots, rigged their sleds and attached ropes to packs. We had time to sort meals and repackage food for our nine days out. Today gave us the opportunity to prepare well and practice skills we will use right out of the gates. We are first in line for flights tomorrow and the weather is looking good so with confidence, we will have a nice dinner and the last night in real beds.
RMI Guide Christina Dale
Thursday, May 24, 2018 - 6:21 PM PT
The snow that started last night continued into the morning, necessitating a 3:00 am shoveling session to dig out our tents. We picked up a little over a foot of snow over night, with no wind.
We had a rest day planned for today anyway, so the snow was of little consequence. We simply ate a leisurely brunch and lounged around our tents, resting and acclimating.
Tomorrow, if the weather allows, we plan to move camp up to
Genet Basin, at 14,200'. We will let you know how that plays out.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
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Alex, Tom and Team,
Glad to see the great progress! Hope you are having a blast….
Stay warm and be safe.
Love,
Dad
Posted by: Larry on 5/28/2018 at 8:56 am
Tommy and Alex
Wishing all great weather and summit!
Love from brooklyn
Lulu is happy and having fun
In the hood.
❤️
Aunt Elisa and Uncle Garrick
Posted by: Lulu on 5/27/2018 at 1:48 pm
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