Entries from Alaska Seminar
Posted by: Leon Davis, Mike King, Jessie Poquerusse
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Seminar
May 10, 2017 - 9:12 pm PT
The forecast threatened an 80% chance of more snow but we woke to clear skies. This morning was busy with packing, digging and more packing for our move to Camp 1. We hauled our sleds out onto the main Kahiltna under a hard sun and played leapfrog with a German team. By 5 pm we were cooking dinner outside in great weather. The team suffered under the hot globe with grace and we are going to do it again tomorrow to Camp 2.
RMI Guide Leon Davis
Posted by: Leon Davis, Mike King, Jessie Poquerusse
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Seminar
Elevation: 7,300'
May 9, 2017 10:19 pm
Today was action-packed as we rotated through a series of skills sessions. Sled rigging, avalanche awareness and practice beacon searches, and a more realistic and elaborate crevasse rescue scenario made for a full day of mountain skills. About mid-day we even had the pleasure of clear skies for the first time in a couple days. Dinner burritos and fruit pie to top it off!
RMI Guide Jessie Poquerusse
On The Map
Posted by: Leon Davis, Mike King, Jessie Poquerusse
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Alaska Seminar
Elevation: 7,300'
Today was off to an early start! After a quick breakfast, we stretched our legs heading up glacier to the base of Radio Tower and beyond to the cirque at the base of the East ridge of Frances, where we chatted about glaciology, route planning and navigation. Menacing seracs and at times nearly white-out conditions made the teachings come to life. After heading back to camp and a quick break, we learned and reviewed basic knots and hitches to get us ready for session 1 of basic crevasse rescue. We put to use our anchor building tactics from the previous day and spent the afternoon doing basic rescue drills. Cozying up to burritos was a great end to a long day.
RMI Guide Jessie Poquerusse & team
Posted by: Leon Davis, Jessie Poquerusse, Mike King
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Seminar
Elevation: 7,300'
May 7, 2017 - 8:40 pm PT
Success on day 2 of the Alaska Mountaineering Seminar - Expedition! We started out the day going over the bread and butter of mountaineering, including snow walking, using and traveling with crampons and practicing self arrest. We then progressed into learning about and building snow anchors. After a short rest, the calm morning gave way to snow flurries, which gradually picked up as we learned and began to build a wall or our camp--earning our dinners! Overall, it was a full day of review, learning, and work and we're all happily in bed resting ready for our first jaunt onto the glacier tomorrow.
RMI Guide Jessie Poquerusse & team
On The Map
Posted by: Leon Davis, Mike King, Jessie Poquerusse
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Seminar
Elevation: 7,300'
Some people spend the day after Cinco de Mayo in bed nursing a hangover. We spent it by packing gear, trading street shoes for climbing boots and flying onto the Kahiltna glacier. Our team arrived prepared and by 2 pm we were stomping out camp on the hill overlooking the airstrip. The team worked quickly and here we are ready for bed at 8 pm. Great weather today and great views of the surrounding peaks.
Tomorrow we will begin our skills training and fortify camp for some potential weather moving in.
RMI Guide Leon Davis & Team
Posted by: Elias de Andres Martos, Chase Nelson
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Seminar
The Alaska Mountaineering Seminar - Alpine led by RMI Guides Elias de Andres Martos and Chase Nelson were able to fly off the Pika Glacier yesterday evening during a break in the weather. Despite the weather, the team had several great days of climbing including successful climbs of Lost Marsupial and the Middle Troll.
Congratulations climbers!
Posted by: Elias de Andres Martos, Chase Nelson
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Seminar
June 11, 2016 - 10:29 am PT
WOW!!! What a day we had yesterday. Indescribable fun and challenge on "The Middle Troll", the main of the rock spires towering above the Pika. The weather held, just as it did for "The Throne" two days prior, we were able to sneak a super classic climb in.Splitter crack climbing 1200 feet straight above camp, while wearing only a base layer and seeing the ski-equipped planes land on the glacier beneath us, are only some of the surreal experiences the team had. Everyone faced an individual technical crux at some point on the route (the Middle Troll's South Face), but everyone was up for the task and the reward of the most radical view from the summit was attained.
Today we're waking up, yet again, to another snow storm that is presumably going to limit our activity. We'll make the most of it. Hoping to fly out tomorrow as scheduled, our next post will be greeting you all from Talkeetna.
RMI Guide Elías de Andres Martos and team.
Posted by: Elias de Andres Martos, Chase Nelson
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Seminar
June 10, 2016 - 12:12 am PT
And back to the tents... Rain kept us at camp today, with the exception of a few hours in the afternoon. We spent that time learning and reviewing more rope skills, and talking about staying motivated for a climb tomorrow. Our hopes are on the South face of the Middle Troll, the main formation that reigns over the Pika glacier.
Stay tuned.
RMI Guide Elías de Andres Martos and team
Posted by: Elias de Andres Martos, Chase Nelson
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Seminar
June 9, 2016 - 1:28 am PT
And... we climbed the "Lost Marsupial", on The Throne. Stellar route, stellar scenery and stellar crowd. It is hard to describe what it is to be atop one of these formations, surrounded by the longest glaciers in North America, the tallest peaks in the Alaska Range, and the best views in the world. Nobody around for miles, and a sense of insignificance directly proportional to the size of our accomplishment. Our two rope teams climbed and descended synchronized, like a well oiled machine, and pitch after pitch, rock, ropes, snow and gear were one with our climbers. Magic enough? More tomorrow.
RMI Guide Elías de Andres Martos and team
Posted by: Elias de Andres Martos, Chase Nelson
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Alaska Seminar
June 7, 2016 - 12:10 am PT
Yep, patience is an inherent component of alpine climbing. Patience for weather, patience for conditions. Little could we do today with about 1 foot of snow in the last 24 hours. We spent the morning digging camp out, and then made the most of the afternoon with a thorough session of rope skills at camp. A break in the weather motivated a tour of the Pika later, which for about 1 1/2 hours, kept us around its eastern perimeter, below the formations of "The Trolls", which we aspire to climb soon. A hearty dinner of pasta and steak (that's how we roll on the Alpine Seminar) brought us back to warmth, while the laughter was a constant because of the funny music played out of Chase's phone (Will promises to do the Michael Jackson's moves of Thriller after our first summit).
Expectant to see what the weather will bring us tomorrow,
RMI Guide Elías de Andres Martos and team
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