The Five Day Summit Climb team led by RMI Guides Dave Hahn and Andy Bond reached 11,800' feet this morning before weather and route conditions forced them to abort their summit attempt. The team has had two great days on the mountain, they are back at Camp Muir and will return to Rainier Basecamp in the early afternoon.
Congratulations to today's team!
I was part of this climb and was honored to meet, get to know and climb with some truly amazing people.
Cannot say enough good things about the most terrific guides on the planet earth. Intelligent, focused, superb situational awareness, competent and capable. They worked incredibly hard to try to make it possible for us to summit, despite all that nature and the mountain threw at us. Hats off to them.
Survival was the very most important goal, and I always felt their every move started and ended with that as the ultimate objective. I would trust these folks any where at any time. I have learned that when you out someone under intense stress, the true qualities of their character are revealed. The RMI guides showed they were flawless gems that shone brightly under the pressure. Many thanks for going up and being able to write this from back home.
RMI Guides Brent Okita and Bryan Mazaika with their Five Day Summit Climb Teams reached the crater rim of Mt. Rainier this morning. Brent reported high winds and thus a quick turn around. The team is en route to Camp Muir where they will take a quick break and repack before continuing down to Paradise. We look forward to seeing them at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.
Congratulations to the first summit climb team of the 2018 season!
Good afternoon from the Root Canal Glacier! We just descended from a successful, safe and adventurous climb up the Ham & Eggs Route on Moose's Tooth. We left yesterday at 6am, with great weather and enthusiasm. The route started very well, in great condition. The upper half, though, was bullet proof ice, which slowed our progress a bit. But we managed to maintain our calfs alive pitch after pitch of relentless intermediate angle blue alpine ice. After finishing, we stuck to our plan of spending the night at the col; perched at 10,000ft, on the exposed and corniced saddle that greets the few mortals who venture up this, one of the most impressive granite massifs of the Alaska Range. After a true alpine bivi, with our ropes as sleeping pads for the bottom half of our bodies, a two-person tent for three, and a belay to go to the bathroom, we woke up to questionable weather this morning, and so, we started our descent; some 16 rappels back down to the glacier. Now we’re back to our fresh vegetables, steak and beverages of choice at our camp. Our next report will be after we fly out from Talkeetna.
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
Greetings from The Root Canal Glacier! We were able to fly in yesterday, a day ahead of schedule thanks to our fantastic air taxi, K2, who had our logistics all planned upon our arrival in Talkeetna. We dug our camp right before the night fell, and enjoyed our first Alaskan dinner on the glacier. Today we dragged our feet and enjoyed the sunrise in our tent. After breakfast, we decided to go for a few pitches of the route, as to build team communications and to warm up for the big push. Now, we'll just take the best day that the weather throws at us; the Moose's Tooth awaits!
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
Long before we began to land there, i would come out of 747 pass and give my passengers a thrill, flying over the glacier and pass, i eventually named the root canel. Glad to see the name stuck
Posted by: Tom klein on 5/12/2023 at 12:06 pm
Super stoked to read the blog. My wife is fearless. I’m so proud of your accomplishment Vanessa and your first bivi! Mick and I can’t wait for the photos and the story! Love Mickey and Brett.
Back safe and sound in Kathmandu!
Flight out of Lukla went smooth.
Everyone is enjoying the comforts here at the Yak & Yeti hotel, along with hot showers, good food, and the warm temps.
It's been one amazing adventure with a great team and it will be sad to say goodbye, but we are all looking forward to getting back home to our loved ones.
Thanks for following.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and a happy crew
Hello again
We woke to a little new snow today, but thankfully it cleared before our final hike to Lukla. We started early to beat the traffic and made good time, yet taking time to enjoy this peaceful and majestic place.
There were still dozens of loads headed for Base Camp as always, because much of the needed supplies arrive via plane or from a few days away by mules.
We also ran into several more friends on the trail headed for Everest and it was nice to say hello and wish them luck.
With a little luck we hope to be back in Kathmandu tomorrow morning!
Keep your fingers crossed for us.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
Hello again everyone.
All is still well here in the Khumbu as the team members made our way back into Namche. It was a super busy day on the trail with climbers, Trekkers, yaks, and porters all bound uphill to Everest Base Camp. We slowly made our way through the maze of traffic and enjoyed one last good view of Everest.
Along the way we ran into several old friends from my past trips and stopped to wish everyone good luck.
Tomorrow we'll be moving out early on our final leg of the journey back to Lukla. Please keep you fingers crossed we have good weather and can make our flight back to Kathmandu the following morning.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
Hey everybody, this is Casey Grom checking in from the Everest Base Camp Trek. We finally got reception so I'm able to give you guys an update. Just wanted to let you know that all is going well. Yesterday we woke up to quite a little storm happening at Everest Base Camp. The jet stream had arrived and it slammed into the upper mountain so we had some winds gusting around and some snow blowing. Luckily for us by about noon it looked like the jet stream had lifted and the weather cleared. We ended up having a really beautiful afternoon. Most of the team at hot showers at Base Camp, and so everybody's super excited about that. After the team got showers, we got suited up and walked about 200 yards to the start of the climbing route. It's just outside of where our Base Camp is. We wanted to walk over to take a look at it, it's a safe area and it's the start of the Ice Fall, but far from any danger. It's sort of the crampon point, it's a starting point to the route. We went over there and took some great photos and then came back in and and had an amazing night. Our Base Camp Staff made a wonderful dinner and a cake to celebrate our trek and to celebrate one of our team members up and coming birthday. So that was yesterday. Today we woke up to calm beautiful clear day and said good bye to our gracious hosts at Everest Base Camp, all of our staff, and we started making our way down hill. In fact, we hiked for about eight hours today, with breaks and then lunch of course. We left Base Camp located at about 17,500' and a few hours ago we arrived here in Pheriche at about 14,000 feet. The thick air and the warmer temperatures down here have everybody feeling great and in good spirits, so all is well. I'm hoping that will have some wi-fi tomorrow. There wasn't enough connectivity tonight for me to get on to send any pictures. Sorry that I wasn't able to get a dispatch out last night. I just couldn't get a reception from from Camp. So anyway all is well, and hope to get you some pictures here tomorrow.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
RMI Guide Casey Grom checks in from the Everest Base Camp Trek.
Good luck gentlemen! FYI, it was 94 degrees in Walnut Creek today; expect it’s a little cooler where you are.
Posted by: Rich Hoag on 5/28/2018 at 9:24 pm
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