When horses eat grass, they shred and tear everything, even the roots. Llamas on the other hand chew to a perfect putting green height. Illimani Base Camp is a massive rolling field, home to dozens and dozens of llamas. So after arriving at base camp this afternoon we found ourselves on one of the largest perfectly manicured fields in Bolivia. And therefore decided that a round of lawn games was required. The only thing we were missing was proper equipment. Nothing a little creativity couldn't solve...
Two snow pickets, 18 tent stakes, a dozen moderately round rocks, plus our ice axes and Voilà !, a game of mountain croquette was the highlight of the afternoon. Styles varied, rocks broke in half, and every time a shot looked to go straight it would bounce sideways, but after almost two hours of play we had laughed and cheered our way to a winner.
RMI Guide Eric Frank & Team
Kim & Co. sorry the weather and conditions didn’t exactly cooperate. Still sounds like an AMAZING trip and I love the impromptu croquet…don’t be too concerned, but Lucky has found a suitor by the name of Hugo the Persian.
Xoxoxo Lora
May 31, 2017
Today has been a day of leisure! The team got some much needed rest and we had a long breakfast of chatting and relaxing. The team reviewed some technical skills that we will need for the rest of our climb above here. The guides often refer to the climb up to 11 camp as the approach. This section behind us, we'll pack our cache this evening with our goal being to take the groceries and other luggage up to 14,200 ft tomorrow morning.
The heat from the days radiation is intense, and we are currently hiding from the sun. The sleeping bags are out draped over the tents drying, and also cooling the temps inside our 100 sq ft portable homes. Hydration, stretching, and sorting the gear will keep us busy until tomorrow.
Hi to all our friends and family!
RMI Guide Tyler Jones & Team
Thanks for the progress updates! I’m sure Matt is wondering how the kickball team is faring without him, and we want him to be fully focused on your dangerous mission, so if you could let me know we have won the past 2 games. We are ranked 7th in the league (of 11) heading in to playoffs next week.
Stay safe & have a great time!!
Posted by: Denise on 6/1/2017 at 11:27 am
Hi John and Team!
Impressed with your progress so far… and love seeing the posts… it looks very very cold! Be safe!
Southwire Groupies
Posted by: Southwire Groupies on 6/1/2017 at 6:43 am
The Expedition Skills Seminar - Muir May 28 - 2 June, 2017 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier today! RMI Guides Adam Knoff and Paul Rachele led their teams to Camp Muir on Monday and have been working on mountaineering skills. Due to the weather forecast they opted to make their summit attempt today but they will remain at Camp Muir until Friday where they will continue to train.
Congratulations to today's Seminar Teams!
May 30, 2017
Greetings RMI Denali followers, this is Robby Young with the May 3rd Denali Expedition calling you from Day 26. We are sitting in the sunshine here at 14,000' Camp. We awoke this morning to some cloudy skies, some high winds and snow which delayed our progress uphill just one more day. It looks like the weather is going to be beautiful tomorrow and the next few days giving us our opportunity to finally climb higher on the mountain. We are looking forward to a move to 17,000' Camp tomorrow morning if the weather does in fact allow. Until then, we will talk to you soon.
Caio,
RMI Guide Robby Young
RMI Guide Robby Young calls from 14,000 ft on Denali.
The bet was that the Eagles Greatest Hits sold more than 29 million, which it did…I agreed that Thriller sold more.
:0
Also, amazing that you guys summited! Nicely done dudes.
- Mark
Posted by: Mark on 6/7/2017 at 11:54 am
Pretty sure it still isn’t close to Thriller at #1 all time. You can mail me the $50 or send it PayPal. Glad you guaranteed the Eagles was the highest selling all time.
May 30, 2017
After a full day packing up, weighing our gear and some serious duffel shuffling we are all set to jet into the Alaska Range tomorrow! Weather permitting we should head in mid morning and take stock of a most beautiful set of mountains. Our fingers are crossed for a grand adventure and we will keep you all posted on our journey. Take care everyone!
RMI Guide Jake Beren
May 30, 2017
The weather yesterday evening was a pleasant break in snow showers, but only for a few hours! We had heavy snow over night that wound up only stalling our progress for the time it takes to whip out 100 silver dollar pancakes with blueberries. The morning snow dissipated just as we stuffed the last few items in our packs.
We began our climb today in a brisk wind which we welcomed with the hard work of trail breaking. The team did an amazing job getting to our previous high point, where we loaded our personal food and equipment in our sleds.
We have "Friends in High Places". Big thanks to our other RMI team lead by Brent, Christina, and JT. They helped us by bringing some of our group food and fuel from our cache yesterday during our storm rest day at 7,800 camp.
With the climbing done for the the day, we entered the second half of the work day building camp and a mighty fine job our crew has done. We finished our day with loaded quesadillas and relaxing in the cook house. We are happy to have full bellies and the kit all here ready to rest and acclimatize at camp tomorrow. With weather on our side the team will deliver groceries to 14 Camp on Thursday!
RMI Guide Tyler Jones
May 30, 2017
We woke up to an unexpected foot of fresh snow this morning and unable to see the Buttress above us, let alone many of our camp neighbors. Our initial plans to head uphill became questionable at best, but we crawled out of our warm tents for some breakfast burritos and hoped for a change in the weather. The skies eventually cleared and the sun began to warm the basin, but the winds persisted up high long enough to set our sights on tomorrow.
Anxious to stretch our legs, we took advantage of the warm afternoon with a short walk to the "Edge of the World" for some spectacular views of the Alaska Range. The sun brightened spirits and kept folks lingering outside their tents all afternoon to soak it up before dinner. It was a much needed lift to prepare us for our uphill push tomorrow to 17 camp and on to the highest point in North America.
RMI Guides Jess Matthews, Jenny Konway, Pete Van Deventer and team
May 30, 2017
Finally we get a break. After nine days of squirrelly, cold, snowy weather the sun broke out just prior to noon. There was an inkling of better weather coming earlier, but nothing definitive. And when it broke, camp went nuts with folks either moving or carrying loads. We opted to stay put, not liking the idea of fighting all that traffic going up Motorcycle Hill and coming into camp at 14,200' late, needing to build camp as the shadows overtake camp and the temperature drops 30 degrees.
A couple of folks are fighting small colds, and this warm, easy day is just what the doctor ordered. When we saw rope teams waiting for 30-40 minutes to just leave camp because of the traffic, we felt pretty good about the decision.
We certainly enjoyed the day as it became spectacularly sunny and clear. This is the Denali I love and dream of coming back to every year.
With the weather folks are streaming into camp and it's as big as I've seen it. But, with just a little luck, we'll be out of here early and moving into a 14,200' camp that has been vacated by the crowds of climbers amassed there waiting for their opportunity to move to 17,200' camp for a bid for the summit.
Everyone's dispositions have brightened with the sunshine, which is amazing considering the good cheer among the team even in the poor weather.
We'll be talking to you from 14,200' soon!
RMI Guides Brent Okita, Christina Dale and JT Schmitt
May 30, 2017
Our unseasonal snowfall over the past two days set the team up for a wary summit bid in the wee hours of the morning. Leaving High Camp at 17,000 we found ourselves in boot high fresh snow. Yet, after two hours of uphill, we quickly came upon wind deposits well over a meter deep and made the tough but safe call to walk back to our refugio amongst the clouds. However, our morning wasn't quite over, for as we peeked back down through the cloud ceiling we were just in time to watch the entirety of an absolutely spectacular sunrise. The sun rose behind Huayna's sister to the east and lit three levels of clouds in hues of pink and gold. One rope team simply stopped in the middle of the boot pack and watched for 45 minutes as the valley below us slowly filled with light. Right as the sun finally crested the peak to our east, the valley clouds rose up around camp and engulfed us in a glowing mist. Despite not getting the chance to climb higher, I'm afraid we would have missed the sunrise being stuck in the high clouds and honestly it was all any of us could have asked for.
RMI Guide Eric Frank
Sounds like a fabulous experience despite the disappointment of not summiting! As an aside, a predator fan was arrested at the game in Pittsburgh for throwing a weapon in the ice - a catfish!
May 29, 2017
Hello, this is Eric Frank calling from the Casa De Guilles here on Huayna Potosi in Bolivia. The last couple days have been pretty interesting, yesterday a fair amount of snow fell on Huayna Potosi and we weren't really sure what we would find this morning. When we woke up the weather was good and we were able to climb up to the high Refugio in fairly comfortable conditions. Once again things changed, and it started dumping a bunch of snow so we spent most of the afternoon watching the flakes fall and clearing off the roof of our little shelter. We are just getting tucked into bed now, hopefully things will turn around in the morning. There's a fair amount of snow on route so wish us luck, we're going to make conservative decisions and see how far we can go.
Thanks for following along.
RMI Guide Eric Frank
RMI Guide Eric Frank checks in from High Camp on Huayna Potosi, Bolivia
Hi Mattie-
We think about you all day long, hope that the weather is in your favor, and that RMI and the guides do their thing and help you all to achieve your goal…a summit!!! Hang in there, sweetheart! We look forward to hearing all about your experiences through the blogs. Love you!
Mama, Jesse, Bud, Taira and Adryan
Posted by: Bird on 5/30/2017 at 5:20 pm
Justin,
Hope things are going well for you and the team. Just found the blog and will follow the rest of your trip. Enjoy the view. Dad
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Kim & Co. sorry the weather and conditions didn’t exactly cooperate. Still sounds like an AMAZING trip and I love the impromptu croquet…don’t be too concerned, but Lucky has found a suitor by the name of Hugo the Persian.
Xoxoxo Lora
Posted by: Lora on 5/31/2017 at 6:48 pm
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