Entries from Expedition Dispatches
Posted by: Steve Gately, Josh McDowell
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Four Day Climb led by RMI Guides Steve Gately and Josh McDowell reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning! The teams were stepped inside Mt. Rainier's summit crater around 7:00 AM. Steve reported nice weather with light winds and a cloud deck at 9,000'. We look forward to seeing the teams in Ashford later today.
Congratulations climbers!
Posted by: Dustin Wittmier, Dominic Cifelli, Matias Francis
Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades
Elevation: 6,200'
Our team woke up just after 7am to dense fog and intermittent rain. This group is positive and experienced in the back country, so it was no problem. The skies still have not cleared up, but we were able to cover the topics of technical gear, walking and advanced scrambling all while staying relatively dry. Not wanting to get the team too wet, we took shelter in our tents after breakfast, waiting for a break in the weather. We are now back in camp, relaxing outside as the sun is just starting to poke through. It is warm and any wet items have dried out by now. The team is looking forward to climbing tomorrow and we will check in, hopefully from the top!
RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Mike Uchal
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Northside
Elevation: 15,200'
We got our first day of glacier climbing in, and finally used all of the gear that we've been carting through airports and carrying up trails. Our main goal was to move our tents up to our high camp at Lenz Rocks and get some acclimatization time in too. We accomplished both. We roped up and climbed 2.5 hours of warm, sunny, and sometimes in the clouds glacier. Just below Lenz Rocks, we found the wind, the telltales of which we'd been watching for awhile. It wasn't any match for us though, and another half hour of climbing got us to our cache site.
The trip down is direct and fast. What took four hours to get up took maybe an hour to get down as we opened our strides up and rolled out of the wind back into the furnace.
We're hoping conditions look good in the morning to make our move and prepare to head for the summit.
Best,
RMI Guides Pete and Mike, and team "why are the hut doors all made for people who are 5 feet tall?"
Another day of perfect weather on Kilimanjaro. We’re starting to feel lucky. A few of the team ventured out in the dark last night to capture long exposure shots of the night sky and the moonlit mountain. At dawn we were far above the clouds and in perfectly calm and clear conditions. We set out from 13,300' Karanga Camp around 9:00 AM on a moderate but steady grade. Before long we reached the end of any vegetation and came into the Alpine zone. Without tree cover, we could see all of our neighboring expeditions and all of their associated porters moving as if in some mass migration. Hundreds of people with loads on their backs and or heads, all moving steadily toward Barafu Camp (Swahili for “ice”) at 15,000'. We arrived in short order at 11:30 AM, with everybody feeling strong. Our purposely easy afternoon was spent lounging about, eating, drinking and prepping for tonight’s summit bid. Normally folks lose their appetite at altitude, but Chef Tosha prepared a fine spaghetti dinner and none of our team let it go to waste. After dinner, it was a tough thing to quit watching the beautiful sunset and fading light, but the gang retired to the tents early. We’ll be up in just a handful of hours for our alpine start and a climb to the Roof of Africa.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
The climb sounds like so much fun. Wish I could traveled with you all. Wishing all well as you reach the top.
Posted by: Cynthia Chitwood on 8/11/2019 at 5:54 am
I am enjoying the blog and what an incredible journey! Can’t wait to hear all about your experiences especially reaching the summit….Michael Shannon!
Posted by: Dona Marrah on 8/10/2019 at 10:52 am
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, Mike Uchal
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Northside
Elevation: 12,300'
After two days of carrying big packs and moving from near sea level in Moscow, to 8,000' at Base Camp, to 12,000' at Camp 1, it was a fine day to rest and let our bodies catch up to the altitude. We had a leisurely rolling breakfast and coffee session outside the dining hut in the sun, watching climbers on the route above, some still ascending, some descending from their midnight departures. Some of us found nooks to tuck into and devour our books, while others stood around and chatted. Caffeine consumption was a theme for most.
We did a short climbing refresher on the toe of the glacier in the afternoon, double checked that our climbing equipment and skills were ready for a carry to 15,000' tomorrow, and then returned to camp to nap and wait for dinner. The most exciting part of the day was saved for just before bed when Pamela spotted a red fox cruising through camp. Everyone pulled out to catch a glimpse, though the fox was quick to slide behind some rocks, out of sight. Our plan tomorrow is to make a small cache of gear at our next camp, Lenz Rocks, in preparation for a move and summit in short order.
RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer and Mike Uchal, and Team "we saw a red fox and it wasn't the clothing brand"
Keep pushing Dan!
Posted by: Tom Maddalena on 8/11/2019 at 1:57 pm
Glad everything is going smoothly. At least you saw a Red Fox and not a Red Bear. LOL . Saying hi so my Sonny Boy, Marc.
Papa Bear
Posted by: David Gollob on 8/10/2019 at 9:30 am
Posted by: Brent Okita, Alex Halliday
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 11,000'
The Four Day Climb led by RMI guides Brent Okita and Alex Halliday attempted to climb Mt. Rainier today, but turned at Cathedral Gap due to pouring rain. The teams got a late start out of Muir this morning due to the rain and lightning overnight. They plan to leave Muir shortly after 9 am for their descent to Paradise.
Thinking of you all!
Amie
Posted by: Amie Oberg on 8/10/2019 at 8:27 am
The RMI Alpine Classic team has reached the summit of their first objective- the North Ridge of Mt. Baker! Route conditions and the weather were excellent. The team was approximately 14 hours round trip from high camp, summit, and back to high camp. The team is now resting at a hotel getting ready for their next peak, Mt. Shuksan via the Fisher Chimneys Route.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
We slept in this morning... to the decadent hour of 7:00 AM. The idea was to let the majority of porter traffic get out ahead of us so as to reduce traffic jams on the route up the "Great Barranco Wall". It was easy to go for the slow start in such a beautiful place. The morning light show as the sun found its way into our deep valley and the surface of the cloud sea below us was magical. We left camp at 9:30 and promptly found the traffic jam we’d hoped to avoid. The route begins with a system of rock ledges and small but steep scrambles so there are a number of natural "choke points". Generally we try to let porters have the right of way since they are balancing heavy loads on their heads and moving much faster than we will go. But it is high season and there were hundreds of porters and climbers tackling the wall at once. We waited on a few of the more spacious ledges and eventually made it to the more open middle sections of the wall (where the climbing is really just steady uphill hiking). It was a thrill to top out the wall and have the big views of Kibo and the hanging ice fields and glaciers above us. Then the hiking became routine and beautiful as we traversed under the mountain’s south side and came to the steep-sided Karanga Valley. It didn’t take us very long to go down one side and up the other to get to Karanga Camp at 2:00 PM. This camp is on a broad and open slope with unobstructed views of both the mountain above and the world around us. Mt. Meru, our 15,000 ft volcanic neighbor is prominent out to the West. Our afternoon followed a now familiar pattern, meals and naps interspersed. Coming out of the dining tent after dinner, we were all mesmerized by the stars above and the lights of Tanzania below.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
After a soggy morning of pushing through wet brush in the forest we emerged into the open slopes of Boston Basin. Our team setup camp in a beautiful location at about 5,600' in Boston Basin. Grand views of the Boston Basin peaks and Johannesburg Mountain made for a beautiful sunset under mostly clear skies. A cloud layer has the valley socked in, but it is an overall perfect night higher up. Tomorrow we will be doing some training for the climb the following day. The team is in good spirits and generally happy to be surrounded by the rugged landscapes of the North Cascades.
RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier
Posted by: Robby Young, Alan Davis
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Four Day Climb August 6 -9 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning led by RMI Guides Robby Young and Alan Davis. Robby reported a beautiful day with no winds and a great route. The team enjoyed some time on the summit before descending from the crater rim en route to Camp Muir. The teams will continue their descent to Paradise and return to Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
Thanks again for for the experience! Not all the way to the top for me, but still an unbelievable view and great challenge. You guys are professional, empathetic, and caring of your clients, and one couldn’t ask for anything more. I’ll be back for the challenge, and we’ll get it done.
Thanks,
Tony.
Posted by: Anthony Brune on 8/12/2019 at 5:53 pm
Have you guys made it back to Paradise? It’s almost 9pm.
Posted by: Paige Cline on 8/9/2019 at 7:37 pm
-640x480.jpg)
Great to hear the winds have calmed and the team is doing well. Awesome pictures! Sounds like Marc is still always looking to do an extra leg long after mostly everyone is spent. “Similar to Mt. Whitney”. Also, was wondering how it felt to have no issues with the hut doors for Marc since the 5 foot height was comfortably taller. :-). All the best to the team and my Buddy.
Posted by: Jimmy Hoadrea on 8/14/2019 at 10:04 am
View All Comments