Entries from Expedition Dispatches
June 27, 2017
Things looked good at 6 AM today, so we rolled out, fired the stoves, rousted the team, breakfasted and got walking. All of this was in the cold shadow before the sun came around. Our pals on Mike Haugen's team were two hours ahead of us, already starting the fixed ropes at 15,000 as we left 14K. We made steady progress up the initial hills with perfectly packed snow to walk on. The sun caught us as we neared the ropes ourselves, making it a little easier to keep hands and faces warm. We launched up the steep headwall, getting into the rhythms of mechanical ascenders on rope, and moving crampons and ice axes on firm snow and ice. We hit the 16,200 ft top to the lines and continued up the spectacular West Buttress to 16,400 ft. Only
Denali, Foraker and Mount Hunter were above the Alaskan sea of clouds today. We cached supplies and enjoyed the views from our lofty perch. Interestingly, this height wasn't a new record for any of our well traveled climbers. Our descent to 14,000 was relatively easy and fun with light packs. We hope our friends at 17,000 have a nice night and a good summit tomorrow while we rest.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
June 27, 2017
We are in position for a summit day. We made our move from camp at
14,000' to our camp at 17,000'. The crew did a great job ascending the fixed lines and climbing the spectacular ridge past Washburn's Thumb, a huge chunk of rock that towers above the route. It was a little windy on the ridge, but it is hard to complain about wind on a huge mountain like Denali.
We made a fortified camp before the clouds came up and gave us some wind and snow. The sun is starting to peak through and we are hoping for good weather tomorrow so we can get a shot at the summit!
RMI Guide Mike Haugen
On The Map
Today we toured the beautiful city of
St. Petersburg including St. Isaac's Cathedral and the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood. In the evening we had a nice canal tour, although the rivers being close to flood stage meant our boat couldn't pass under certain bridges. We had a nice final dinner as a team at our favorite restaurant - this trip has just flown by, which is always a sign of a great trip. Till next time...
RMI Guide Tyler Reid
Buenas noches from our camp at Quebrada Paria. We started our approach trek today towards
Artesonraju Base Camp. The long drive from the hotel was rewarded by incredible views of Huascaran and Huandoy, the towering Andean giants that oversaw our incursion into the range. After meeting our arrieros (donkey drivers) we continued with the first leg of our journey. A nice vegetable soup followed by rice and chicken on a potato cream made by our cook Emilio, all with ingredients from his own home farm, was the dinner that put us to bed. That's it for the first day of our expedition out in the field!
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos and team.
Our Five Day Summit Climb team led by
RMI Guide Andy Bond reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. They enjoyed calm winds and clear skies during their climb. The team will descend to Camp Muir, rest and pack their bags, before continuing their descent to Paradise. Once at BaseCamp they will gather for a presentation of certificates before concluding their program.
Congratulations to today's
Five Day Summit Climb team!
RMI Guide Mike King led his Four Day Summit Climb June 24 - 27, 2017 team to the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. The teams reported clear skies and low winds on the summit. They will return to Camp Muir and then continue their descent to Paradise this afternoon.
Congratulations to today's
Summit Climb team!
June 26, 2017
Well we didn't go for our carry after all. Even though we were up early and the day was beautiful. Over breakfast the decision was made to take a rest day instead. All are well, but we've been climbing hard and we are still relatively new to
14,000 ft... we'll bide our time. We did rope up and go for an enjoyable stroll to the "Edge of The World" to look straight down to the NE Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier and across to the West Rib of Denali. We posed for pictures and enjoyed the sunshine. The afternoon in camp was pretty peaceful -as we'd hoped would be the case. We chatted with teams descending the mountain and read our books and took our naps. At dinner, it was story night with each team member recounting some adventure, or misadventure for the group. Tomorrow we'll get back to climbing.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
June 26, 2017
Today was a well deserved rest day! Yesterday was quite the endeavor and I think everyone was happy to not have an alarm clock to answer to. We stayed cozied in our sleeping bags until the sun hit our tents and the warmth beckoned us out around 9:45 am. Emerging from our tents we wet straight into a leisurely Quesadilla breakfast, a special request by Pepper Dee, who turned 26 today! Later in the day we took a walk to the
Edge of the World and everyone got to strike a pose while peering out over the vast expanse of glaciers and mountain peaks. I may be bias but I think the best picture involved a blow up couch that the birthday boy had hauled up all the way from base camp! We finished the day off with a quick dinner and chat about plans for tomorrow. If the weather cooperates we will be headed to 17,000' camp in order to be in position for our summit bid! Yeehaw!
Good night from 14!
RMI Guide Mike Haugen
On The Map
Good evening from
Huaraz! We're ready to launch our adventure into the mountains tomorrow. We're all packed up and ready after a nice day of acclimatizing and resting around here. We hiked to Churup lake, at 14,200ft in the morning, to then come down for a good late lunch as a team. We caught up on our sleep with a well earned nap in between packing, that help with recovering from international traveling and driving across Perú the last couple days.
Our next check in will be from the mountains! Stay tuned.
RMI Guide ElÃas de Andres Martos
We left Quito early this morning and headed north towards our main objective, Cayambe. Today’s agenda, though, was our second acclimatization climb up Fuya Fuya, an extinct volcano that rises up above 14,000’. Fuya Fuya rises up from the beautiful crater lake, Mojanda. The climb started with a hike up a trail through high altitude grassland that got steeper with every step. Just shy of the summit, the climb got even steeper and involved some fun rock scrambling to get to the top. The weather was good, but cloudy, with intermittent views of the surrounding peaks and valleys. After a steep descent we were back at our vehicle and headed to Guachala, our hacienda for tonight. Tomorrow we will visit the market in Otavalo and then head up to the climbing hut on Cayambe where we’ll spend two nights and hopefully grab a summit.
R
MI Guide Mike Walter
On The Map
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Hi Dave,
thank you for your wonderful reports about your journey with all Details so that I can imagine the amazing nature you are hiking through.
The circumstances seem to be excellent and I wish all of you, specially my dear climber Hans a successful climb up to the summit.
I keep my fingers cross for you!!!! Ute
Posted by: Ute Novak on 6/29/2017 at 5:45 am
Hey Matt, keep up the great work. What an incredible journey!
Posted by: Eric Taylor on 6/28/2017 at 6:46 pm
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