Entries from Alaska Seminar
The team woke to blue skies and firm snow. The smiles grew even more as they devoured Bagel Bacon sandwiches for breakfast. They are hard not to love when the crisp texture of bacon and lightly, toasted bagel has been cooked to perfection by our leader
Christina. We suited up and headed out on firm snow in boots under the tower which cast a shadow and gave us a delightful coolness from the beating sun. We traversed under a few seracs before we donned crampons on the hard-packed snow up to the top of
Radio Tower. With sweeping views we visually inspected and learned about the intricacies of the phenomenon of Glaciers and Mountains. We descended under some growing clouds to a spectacular basecamp where we are now lounging in the sun and sipping on La Croix. The team is so strong and impressed us all by climbing a peak like this on day 2. We wanted to take advantage of the beautiful weather and were proud that everyone climbed so well.
RMI Guide Lucas Haaland
May 25, 2018 - 10:01 AM PT
Our bags are packed, we're ready to go...and here our patient and excited group waits with boots on in the K2 hanger. The skies are clearing and we'll be airborne momentarily. Wish us luck!
RMI Guide Christina Dale
Thursday, May 24, 2018 - 8:55 PM PT
Our
Alaska Seminar Team packed and un-packed and re-packed all day waiting for the weather to clear. The bad news is we are still in Talkeetna but the good news is we've never been more ready to fly on. The team practiced knots, rigged their sleds and attached ropes to packs. We had time to sort meals and repackage food for our nine days out. Today gave us the opportunity to prepare well and practice skills we will use right out of the gates. We are first in line for flights tomorrow and the weather is looking good so with confidence, we will have a nice dinner and the last night in real beds.
RMI Guide Christina Dale
After many drives, flights, and bag hauling, we made it to Talkeetna. The team brought about 950 pounds of gear that we promptly dropped in the K2 hanger in order to get some food and rest. Tomorrow we will attack the pile of gear and pack it into submission within our packs. In the afternoon we'll fly into the
Kahiltna Glacier. Hoping for sunny skies.
RMI Guide Christina Dale
Our summit has clearly angered the mountain gods. We woke to a blizzard at 12,300 ft. Not the worst blizzard though, winds are steady at about 25 mph, visibility is barely to the neighboring tents, the air is chock full of snow -at least some of which is “falling” from the cloud we are in. Moving -even to lower and more comfortable climates and airplanes- was out of the question. Besides, on the radio at midday it sounded heinous at
Low Camp, with fifty-knot gusts and busted tents. So we sat put. Our tents are holding up well, although great quantities of snow and frost seem to find their way inside. We recovered from yesterday’s climb with bed rest and hot meals and coffee and cocoa. A small price to pay for a visit to the highest point on the continent.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Our third
AMS-Alpine Expedition has come to an end. What an incredible time we had! The rugged terrain of Little Switzerland didn't disappoint at all... While the weather has been the main challenge, conditions on the routes were stellar. Our team of four climbers were super talented and motivated, and training days in the vicinity of camp waiting for weather to clear, turned to be the most productive lessons on the terrain; from rock rescue scenarios, to anchor transitions, all paid back with very efficient climbs up iconic formations like "The Lost Marsupial" or "The Troll", which astonished glacier landing tourists from down below as their K2 Aviation plane landed on the Kahiltna Glacier.
Worth mentioned was our menu. If most of us are familiar with the concept of car camping... imagine how plane camping can be! With a powerless fridge like the glacier, steaks or fresh vegetables are unquestionable components of our diet in here. Yes, the alpine climbing in our seminar is at its best; light packs, 1 day missions from camp, and technical terrain. But when we're at camp, fun times, quality rest and better food is guaranteed.
Now we're headed to the airport, already thinking of next year's edition. Thanks for following and I hope you will consider joining us next season!
RMI Guide Elías de Andrés Martos
Good morning from little Swiss,
We came to an end, but not without reward...Yesterday we had, after a patient wait for blue skies, the most amazing of the climbing days we could hope for.
the Middle Troll, reigning over the Pika, towered for hours above us, as its splitter granite cracks discerned a feasible access to its airy summit. The team climbed seamlessly, and all the training of the last week payed for an incredibly well oiled "uphilling" engine. We climbed into the evening, as the morning and early afternoon were still foggy; climbing into the evening light of Alaska's summer was very special.
We're now cooking our breakfast and soon we'll fly back to civilization... wait to see our pictures!
RMI Guide Elias deAndres Martos & Team
Good morning from the
Pika Glacier. The weather and visibility yesterday were not exactly what we hoped for. But we made the most out of our day with more valuable training near camp; crevasse and rock rescue systems took the bigger part of the day, finishing with a few laps of vertical ice climbing out of a big crack, Alaska size. Dinner didn't disappoint and made up for the lack of the climb we hoped to do, and a veggie-cheese omelette and steak fajitas were on the menu.
This morning we're in a holding pattern as well, as a super dense fog is reducing our visibility to 30ft.
Stay tuned for more,
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos and team.
Hello from the
Pika Glacier! We had a terrific day on the "munchkin" a rock formation 20 minutes west of our camp, where we spent the day training. This team is really talented and motivated to learn, and with the best classroom as our domain, we had a very productive day; short roping, rock anchors, belay escapes, transitions... We lost the concept of time getting techie with our ropes and gear, and we realized we had to come back to camp when our stomachs told us dinner time was due. We are hoping for good weather tomorrow to climb another objective. Best regards from Alaska, Elias, Chase and team.
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
June 10, 2017
Good evening from Alaska. It shouldn't be raining on the glaciers of this Range. But it is. We've been confined today to our tents and kitchen tarp to stay dry, as a wet cloud and on and off rain took over most of the day. No climbing or outside training we could do, but for the hour or so that we got a break, we moved camp, as our tent platforms became 1 foot tall pedestals due to the high temps. We're all looking forward to an improvement on the forecast, and continue to climb on this sanctuary of alpine dreams that
Little Swiss is!
Elias, Chase and team.
Jodie,
What an adventure! I’m so excited to see all your pictures and hear about your memories. Enjoy every moment.
Love you!
Wendy
Posted by: Wendy on 5/28/2018 at 3:18 am
Benedikt,
I hope the campbooties are keeping you warm and cozy. Missing you!
-MB
Posted by: Madison Booth on 5/26/2018 at 11:21 pm
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