RMI Expeditions Blog

Good morning. This is RMI Guide Eric Frank from the summit of Pico de Orizaba. We are enjoying the views looking out over the valley in Mexico. A little cloud cover is creeping Into The Valleys, but we are about 1,000 feet above it up here. It’s been a really nice morning of climbing, a little cold and a little windy, but we were able to get it done nevertheless. We are going to hang out for a few more minutes then get packed up and have a safe descent. Then we will go down and celebrate what's been a great week of climbing.

RMI Guide Eric Frank

On The Map

Oh what a difference 24 hours makes! Last night the Mexico climbing team was at dinner enjoying mole, drinking tequila and recalling our climb on Ixta. Tonight we find ourselves at the refugio below Orizaba repacking our bags and preparing for an alpine start.
Tomorrow looks promising for us. The weather is good, the team is strong and reports say that the route is in good condition for a late season ascent. With any luck we look forward to reporting in tomorrow morning from the summit!

RMI Guides Eric Frank and Jenny Konway

Thursday, February 20th at 9:07 pm PT

Today the team enjoyed a well deserved rest day in the beautiful city of Puebla. After enjoying breakfast together at the hotel, we all went our separate ways and wandered the city streets, taking in the views and enjoying everything from fresh squeezed juices to fried grasshoppers. At 7pm, we met up at one of our favorite restaurants for a team dinner, where we tasted some of Mexico's finest moles, a sauce unique to this area. We followed this up with a quick trip to the ice cream stand, just down the street, then headed to our hotel's rooftop patio to take in the evening views. We're headed off bright and early tomorrow morning to start our move to basecamp for our Orizaba climb. Everyone is excited and ready for the next leg of the trip. 

RMI Guide Jenny Konway

We concluded our nine day trek through Torres del Paine National Park with an 6 am start to get up to the Towers of Paine before the crowds arrived. The hike was 12 miles round trip with 3,900’ of elevation gain. Once at the towers we had cold wind, mostly clear skies for some good pictures. We saw a condor soaring around the cirque, we saw social media influencers doing acrobatic yoga, we saw someone fall into the glacial lake from trying to pose like an influencer and most of all we capped off a great trip with a nice brisk hike. The trio self named the “base layer boys” lead the charge up with our Chilean guide Fernando and once back at the hostel we packed up and are now back in Puerto Natales for the night. A few hour drive to Punta Arenas tomorrow morning and this fun trip will be done. We laughed a lot, ate great food, took lots of pictures and have some sore legs and feet. Guess that’s the price you pay to be in such an amazing location. We are going to celebrate with one last pizza dinner before the group disperses tomorrow.  Thanks for following along.

RMI Guide Mike King

Hi, this is RMI Guides Jenny Konway and Eric Frank calling in from the summit of Ixtaccihuatl with a full team. We reached the summit at 7:45 this morning. We are hanging out, taking some photos and we'll head back down soon. The team is psyched.

On The Map

Our day started with a 7am wake-up call, followed by hot coffee, eggs and some of the best papaya we'd ever had. While we enjoyed our breakfast, we took in the view, as Popocatepl put on a show for us, spewing large clouds of ash and smoke into the morning sky. 

We finalized our packing, loaded our gear into the van and headed to the trailhead to start our hike to high camp. The team did a great job, arriving at high camp in good spirits and in good time. After setting up tents and getting moved in, we all took a well deserved break before coming together for dinner. Once we'd had our fill of soup and quesadillas, we discussed our plan for tomorrow's ascent, said good night and headed to bed.

Wish us luck as we head out tomorrow for our hopeful summit of Ixtaccihuatl!

RMI Guide Jenny Konway

We finished our last day of hiking with the big packs. Last night was a windy and wet night down near Lago Nordenskjold. The Dones flexed, the tents shook and the trees thrashed about. For an area so infamous for stormy weather our team has lucked out. We hung out at the Refugio until the rain stopped and sunshine appeared. The winds would stay with us all day as we walked 14 km to Refugio Torre Central. The trail was a running creek at times and aside from some rocky bluffs to walk up and descend we cruised in just as the rain started back again. There is a lot of new snow up high and aside from watching some harriers play in the gusting wind the coolest views were the white caps and walls of wind blown spray moving like clouds across the lakes. Tomorrow concludes our 9 day trek of the “O” and “W” circuits. We’ll head out early to see the actual towers that gives this park it’s name and then head for Puerto Natales. 

RMI Guide Mike King

After a nice long night of sleep to recover from our acclimatization hike, the Mexican Volcanoes team was up bright and early this morning to move toward our first objective- Ixtaccihualtl. 

This climb will be a multi-day process, but we are already in a good position. Tonight the team is staying at the Altzomoni Hut at 12,700ft. We spent the evening packing for tomorrow, enjoying carne asada tacos and watching the sunset on the volcano across the valley. 

Everyone is excited for the climb and looking forward to getting higher on the mountain tomorrow. 

Wish us luck and thanks for following along.

RMI Guide Eric Frank

On The Map

By Geoff Schellens

Climbing big mountains is all about cardio, endurance, and strong legs, right? Wrong. While these are important areas to focus on during training, our core is easily overlooked. Our core connects our upper and lower body and is a vital part of stabilization when climbing. Carrying heavy packs on our backs, moving through uneven terrain, avoiding injury and maximizing efficiency are just a few examples of the need for a strong core. Below are five exercises for climbers that encompass our entire core: specifically the transversus abdominus (the cylinder providing stability) not just our rectus abdominus (that sexy six pack). Do these exercises slowly and with proper technique; please don’t risk injury forcing another rep. I recommend doing this routine two to three times a week and bumping up to four to five times a week after a month or more.

First, identify your core muscles and engage these. Lie down on your back and place your fingers 1 inch from the rim of your pelvic bone in towards your center. Push those muscles upwards. Those are your stabilizing core muscles.

Plank and Side Plank: Hold a push-up position with toes on the ground, legs together or shoulder-width apart, and hands on the floor directly under your shoulders. Engage your core and hold it. It is called “plank” for a reason; don’t let your back or hips droop or your butt rise up. At some point you will probably start shaking and it will become exponentially more difficult: hold it just a little longer. I keep a stopwatch on the floor in front of my face and try to hold the plank position 10 seconds longer each time. Keep your face relaxed with calm breathing. You can build up to forearm plank (instead of on your hands). Side plank is the same but rotate your body 90 degrees so you are facing the wall (or mirror). Remain lifted on one straight arm and the outside of the same foot. Keep your hips high: most likely you will droop towards the floor. If at first it is too difficult to keep your hips up with your legs straight, bend to your knee the leg closest to the floor. Don’t forget to get both sides.

Wood Chop: This is a great one for strengthening many of the smaller muscles in your core including some in the lower back. Start with a small weight (i.e. a full Nalgene water bottle), you can add weight later after you build technique. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and the weight about six inches to the left of your left foot. In a controlled movement, lift the weight with both hands across your body ending with out-stretched arms high above your right shoulder. Control the weight back to the starting point and repeat. I go for 25 reps on each side and add weight after a few weeks.

Russian Twist: Sit on your butt with knees bent, feet hovering a few inches off the ground, and a straight back angled slightly away from your knees. Again start with a light weight and add more later. Hold your weight, a Nalgene or a small medicine ball, with both hands and in a controlled movement twist your torso to touch the weight to the floor on your left side then slowly twist to touch the weight to the floor on your right side. Start with reps of 25 and go from there.

Toe Touches: Lie on your back. With your legs together, lift them straight up, feet flat as if trying to stand on the ceiling. Take your two peace sign fingers together and cross your left fingers to the outside of your right foot. Come back to center, then cross your right fingers to the outside of your left foot. Keep moving back and forth with control. Start with 15 reps/side. The goal is to keep your shoulders off the floor and your legs & feet stationary.

Bicycle: Start with your back flat on the ground knees at 90 degrees above your hips and feet in the air. Your hands will be behind your head with elbows pointing to the sides. Extend your left leg out so the foot is about six inches off the ground and bring your left elbow to your right knee. Again don’t strain yourself: this is a slow and controlled, twisting crunch. Now bicycle your right foot out and bring your left knee up as you crunch your right elbow to this knee. The goal is to bring your elbow to your knee (not vice versa). Start with 20 reps and add more as you go.

These are five of my favorite core exercises that are easy to do anywhere. Hope you enjoy!

_____

Geoff Schellens is a senior guide for RMI Expeditions, guiding trips around the world. He has extensive experience on Mt. Rainier, in Alaska, the Himalaya, and Antarctica. Geoff is also an AMGA certified Rock Guide. He lives in Bozeman, MT.  

The Team got started from Refugio Paine Grande at 9:30. The weather was cool and windy for the first two hours as we hiked to Campamento Italiano at the base of the French Valley. We ditched packs and grabbed a light lunch and water, then headed up to the British viewpoint. The views of the Horns, Sharks Fin, and surrounding peaks were worth the side hike. A quick descent down to grab packs and a 30-minute walk to the French Domes wrapped up the day. The skies have been grey and the rain has held off until after getting to camp each day so fingers crossed for two more days of hiking. 

RMI Guide Mike King