Nice to be in the mountains, especially the Caucasus. What a nice range of peaks it is. A bit of sun, a little cloudy at times, and some wind made for a nice variety during our day of hiking. We used the chair lifts to put us into thin air and then climbed to around 11,000'. Had a momentary glimpse of the Mt. Elbrus' upper mountain but saving the prolonged clear for summit day and time we will spend high on the flanks of the tallest peak in Europe. Good planning indeed.
Ran across a number of guide friends today and played a good trick on one of them. The team got into character and did not break till we totally fooled my pal. They met him on the trail and immediately surrounded him saying how great to see you again, giving him hugs and the whole enchilada, while I kept just off stage watching his reaction. He was pretty cool, trying to remember what trip or where he knew them from, being old friends and all to this group of five ladies, acting as if yes, I might just remember you. We all had a good laugh after I showed myself. I better keep an eye out for he will definitely try to get me back.
The team did great today on the hike. We are all well and having a fun time.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Chair lift? Now that’s the way to “climb” a mountain! Like to see the dismount from said lift with pack. Does my heart good to see Lucy’s hair still perfect after 4 days in Russia and Sasha in her colorful gear. Fully expect Laura to be in green. Mark has just tapped the potential for humor for this group. He has no idea. Love to you all
Posted by: Kathryn LeBey on 7/6/2013 at 4:58 am
ambushed by five attractive ladies, not a bad joke
Today’s Four Day Summit Climbs led by Jake Beren and Eric Frank reached the Mt. Rainier summit this morning. The teams are currently descending to Camp Muir and will be in Ashford later this afternoon. The Expedition Skills Seminar - Kautz led by Seth Waterfall is descending to Paradise after their successful summit yesterday. His team took a photo before they left their camp this morning (below).
Congratulations to today's summit climbers!
We had a great climb of Cotopaxi yesterday, and everyone summitted! We took advantage of cool weather and firm snow conditions and were able to climb during the day yesterday, hiking only the approach to the glacier in the dark. The weather was great, with no wind all day. The team climbed very strongly up the steep slopes of Cotopaxi, and had enough gas left in the tank to enjoy the summit and climb safely back down to the climbers' hut in 10 1/2 hours round trip.
We had great views along the way, being able to see many of Ecuador's high peaks, including Cayambe, Antisana, the Illinizas, the Pichinchas, Cotocachi, Imbabura, and El Corazon, as well as the beautiful mosaic of Andean farmlands far below us.
We spent last night relaxing at the climbers' hut and descended to our waiting vehicles this morning. Now we are at the beautiful Hosteria La Cienega, enjoying hot showers, lower altitude, and the comforts of life off of the mountain.
Congrats to our team for a successful summit of Cotopaxi!
RMI Guide Mike Walter
Hello RMI followers. This is JJ Justman with the first Mount Elbrus team. Today was an exciting day as we left the tiny town of Azau. After two tram rides, we arrived at the Garabashi Hut, also known as "The Barrels." We are currently at 12,000 feet. The team is enjoying the thin air. We would like to convince you that we are roughing it. However, life up here has some pretty darn nice creature comforts: French-pressed coffee and a full delicatessen, some comfy beds to name a few. It is important to relax and ease into the altitude. That's exactly what we need to do. We're playing card games and listening to electronic dance music, it's thumping in the background as I speak. I'm actually, myself, gonna currently watch culinary video podcast to get some new ideas for my mountain cuisine. We want to say hello to all the friends and family following along. The team is doing just fantastic, having a lot of fun. We will keep on informing you of how we're doing up here, but life is pretty darn nice. Take care for now.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
RMI Guide JJ Justman calls in from the Garabashi Hut.
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Groundhog Day at 11,000 ft on Mt. McKinley. Another storm day from start to finish. Moderate winds, light but steady snow falling, poor visibility. Our POSH tent is a well dug-in fortress; essentially a covered pit in which we've cut benches for people and shelves for stoves. It provided excellent shelter today. Obviously, we drag out the meals for several hours, eating and talking and talking some more so as to avoid going back into our sleeping tents too soon and for too long. We each put in a few sessions of digging out the tents during the day, which is good for the tents, but also for our muscles and our brains. In late afternoon, the team assembled for a lesson in how we'll climb the "fixed ropes" section of the route between 15,000 and 16,000 ft. Then it was time for dinner, more talking in the POSH, and finally bed once again.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Awesome news! We heard from Anders by Satellite phone that the weather broke and the guys were able to climb up past Windy Corner to cache some gear yesterday (July 5th) around 13K. Then they descended back to sleep at their now very familiar Camp three. Just posting this so other families get the news in case you don’t get to update the RMI blog soon. We were thrilled to hear you guys were able to do some climbing and make some progress! We look forward to reading Dave Hahn’s recap of the day, and hope you get another lucky weather break.
Posted by: judy christofferson on 7/6/2013 at 7:15 am
OK, enough already with the snow! Surely you guys have suffered enough and have earned a chance to get up that big hill! We are doing weather dances here on a frequent basis and hope that your weather fortunes soon improve.
Be sure to have Anders tell you about his love of penguins!
Posted by: Randy Christofferson on 7/5/2013 at 2:09 pm
Thursday, July 4, 2013
It has been like a sunny beach vacation...except if it were sunny we would have flown far away from this particular snowy beach days ago. The snow keeps coming a bit harder and the forecast says through Sunday now. Could be worse; we have plenty of food, fuel, and great conversations!
RMI Guide Mike Uchal made almost five hours worth of pancakes in a continuous stream for most of the camp. We have a small backlog of climbers around us. There are not many new climbers in basecamp since the weather has prohibited much movement on the mountain from any of the different camps.
RMI Mt. McKinley Summit Team 6
Hopeful for your getaway very soon! Keep us posted. Love, Mom and Dad Haugen
Posted by: Cindy Haugen on 7/6/2013 at 6:15 am
Missing you more every day. Good to hear your spirits are ok. Can’t wait to hear that planes can make it in. Got 3 holes in one today. Hug, mom and the guys. Ps did you put smiley faces on the pancakes?
We had a smooth departure from Moscow. We took a short flight which lands us in the district of Mineralnye Vody, well known for it's abundance of mineral springs, sorry team no spa time just yet.
Situated far right of the picture is our local mountain guide Johnny who will be assisting me throughout or adventure. We are here in the Baksan Valley at 5,500 ft. this begins our adjustment period to altitude before the summit push. We are staying in a nice chalet, used for skiers in the winter, now a very comfortable Basecamp for climbers from here and abroad. A few clouds around but not bad in the weather department.
Tomorrow we will ride a couple chairlifts to gain altitude then take a nice hike up to around 11,000 ft. Then we will return to our chalet for a second night. It is very nice to be here and out of the big city.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Did you have any fireworks yesterday? Tell Putin and Snowden hello for me. Ski chalet and chair lifts, I thought this was going to be hard? Enjoy the beet stew.
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Whulp, the weather gods didn't smile on us today. We went to bed under clear, calm skies, and high hopes for today, but when we awoke, it was to snow, blowing snow, and wind, and next to no visibility. It wasn't a hard choice to sit tight in camp today, rest up, and hope that the next few days bring our chance! Everybody is in high spirits, albeit ancy and ready to go. Hopefully we'll check in tomorrow or Saturday from the top! Happy Fourth of July to everybody out there.
RMI Guides Pete, Geoff, Robby, and team
Hats off to you all….it’s been a blast following this trek and moments where we wish we could be there with you b/c VERY hot here in upstate NY…travel mercies on the descent. Gil:I’ve been keeping Chandler in line. ~(:)
Posted by: Dana Holly Troy on 7/7/2013 at 8:16 am
Hola Guapo,
I have to assume you are summiting since there has been no news for two days!
We are munching nervously on the rest of your Kit Kat bars…..“oh my goodness!”
Forest Gump would say: “Run Guapo Ruuuun”!
Can’t wait to hear!
Lots Love!!
Thursday, July 4, 2013RMI Guide Mike Walter checked in at 10:50 am PT from the summit of Cotopaxi. The entire team had reached the summit of Cotopaxi and was enjoying beautiful weather with scattered clouds and no wind.
The team will descend completely today and drive to the Hosteria La Cienega for a well deserved dinner and spend the night.
Congratulations to the team!
Hello from the base of Mt. Elbrus,
We are enjoying our time in Cheget, located at the base of Mt. Elbrus. Today it was nice to stretch the legs. We climbed up Peak Cheget at 11,000 feet. The weather was nice and the views were incredible. We had a fantastic day in the mountains surrounding Elbrus. The team is doing great and having fun!
Enjoy the video.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
Chair lift? Now that’s the way to “climb” a mountain! Like to see the dismount from said lift with pack. Does my heart good to see Lucy’s hair still perfect after 4 days in Russia and Sasha in her colorful gear. Fully expect Laura to be in green. Mark has just tapped the potential for humor for this group. He has no idea. Love to you all
Posted by: Kathryn LeBey on 7/6/2013 at 4:58 am
ambushed by five attractive ladies, not a bad joke
Posted by: John on 7/5/2013 at 1:34 pm
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