RMI Expeditions Blog
Thursday, July 4, 2019 - 11:32 PM PT
All of our hard work and efforts paid off today with a trip to the summit of
Denali!
As soon as we woke up, we knew the the mountain was finally inviting us to go to the top. Although there were some pretty good winds along the summit ridge, it was clear and sunny and it allowed us to achieve our objective. What a view from the top today!
We are so proud of our team and all of their hard work! It has been a long day with over a 12-hour round trip from high camp!
I think we need some sleep!
RMI Guide Mike Haugen and Team Siete
On The Map
Thursday, July 4, 2019 - 9:38 PM PT
Independence Day on
Denali dawned clear and a bit gusty. Moving higher wasn’t terribly practical for us on this day, although it didn’t seem impossible. We were encouraged at our 9 AM breakfast to know that Mike Haugen’s RMI team was starting out from high camp bound for the summit. That will make our move tomorrow a great deal easier as we’ll be able to coordinate a "gear swap".
Today, forecasts called for high pressure building, hence the wind, but the prediction was that the wind would calm as the day went on, which is what we saw. It was still gusting pretty good as we set off at noon for the “Edge of the World”. Twenty minutes of roped glacier travel brought us to the very edge of the plateau we are camped upon. It is always a fun shock to look virtually straight down for thousands of feet to the glaciers below. After days of camping on a flat expanse, one can forget how high we’ve already climbed and a visit to the edge serves as a great reminder. The views of the West Rib and a portion of Denali’s South Face are stupendous and today we enjoyed smoke-free views of the southern Alaska Range. Mt Spurr and the Tordrillos seemed much closer than their hundred miles. We each ventured out on an overhanging granite boulder for a hero shot or two and a look into the abyss.
Back at camp we organized and pared down and packed for moving up.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
When I moved to Boulder, Colorado in the fall of 2017, Eldorado Canyon was a place that I treated with a high degree of respect. Known for its delicate route-finding, variable rock quality, and stiff, old-school grading, Eldo is a humbling place to climb. Rock guiding in Eldo has always struck me as particularly impressive--the variability of the terrain in the canyon necessitates a familiarity with a wide range of guiding techniques in order to stay safe with a group of newer climbers. This is one of the main reasons why I chose this venue for my Rock Guide Course.
My second mock lead on the course tackled an aesthetic, rambling three pitch climb on the Wind Tower. I had done the climb before, but had never been responsible for three other mock-climbers. I found myself doing nearly everything differently with my mock-climbers in tow--positioning my climbers out of the way of loose rock, breaking pitches up into shorter, up-and-down sections, and rigging lowers down exposed, short steps that I had always simply down-climbed. All told, a climb that had taken a mere hour and a half climbing independently took me three quite involved hours to guide.
To me, that is the part of guiding that I will always love the most--the challenge of using every trick in your toolbox to make a section of terrain as safe as you can for your climbers. My Rock Guide Course endowed me with plenty of tricks, from terrain belays to rigging rappels to rope management systems. The real excitement of the course, though, was getting experience applying these tricks in one of the most complex rock climbing areas in the country.
Hello again everyone
The weather continues to be beautiful here on
Mt. Elbrus for us. We started the day with a nice breakfast prepared by our amazing cook Dasha, then set out on our last acclimatizing hike just after 8 AM to make use of the slightly cooler weather and better snow conditions.
The team did a great job hiking as we made our way up to about 15,000ft in three hours, setting a new elevation record for some. We stopped along the way to take a few breaks and enjoy the view as well as chat with the other climbers that are here from all over the world, including some friends who recently reached the summit of both Everest and Denali in the last 2 months!
After reaching our high point we made our way back to camp just in time for another enjoyable lunch.
We spent the afternoon hitting a volleyball around camp and just relaxing in our little huts after our big day. Everyone is doing well and in good spirits.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and comrades
On The Map
The Four Day Climbs led by
RMI Guides Steve Gately and Mike King reached the summit of Mt. Rainier at 7:30 AM PT. RMI Guide Joe Hoch reported
warm weather and dying winds on the summit. Joe said, "It's finally starting to feel like July!"
The teams will spend some time on the summit before beginning their descent. They will return to Rainier BaseCamp in Ashford this afternoon.
Happy Fourth of July and congratulations climbers!
Wednesday, July 3, 2019 - 10:22 PM PT
Yet another snowy, cloudy morning at
14,000' Camp. There was less wind today though, so it was easier to be outside. It wasn’t a day for moving up or down the mountain -everybody stayed put. We found diversions, like remodeling the walls of our bathroom and kitchen and generally just digging holes in the snow. There was a brief clearing around noon, but then things clouded up again and the wind appeared to ramp up on the South Peak. We did a mid-afternoon quesadilla session and then logged a little tent time. In the evening we attended a barbecue. The final National Park Service ranger patrol of the season is tasked with packing up the NPS camp at 14K and they decided they had too much meat. Not wanting it to go to waste, they invited all the remaining teams on the mountain to come over to socialize and get a cheeseburger, which we did. There were about fifty of us standing out in the snow, comparing home towns and countries and climbing goals. Up at 17,000 there may be another 25 climbers waiting for a weather break, but they are sadly out of cheeseburger range.
Believe it or not, we STILL like the forecast. We’ll get moving again tomorrow or the next day.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Wednesday, July 3, 2019 - 8:26 PM PT
Another early morning peek out of the tent provided all we needed to know about how today was going to go...not very far. With terrible visibility and the sound of high winds above, we knew that we would add another tally mark on our tent wall!
Although all of us are more than ready to head to the summit and then get out of here, we are not exactly suffering. In fact, it turned out to be a relatively nice day in camp even though the summit was still angry.
We had some Mountain Pho (ramen) on our rock terrace at the edge of camp that looks 3,000 feet down to 14,000' Camp. It was good to have the whole team eating together instead of holed up in tents because of weather.
It feels like the weather is changing in our favor. Of course, we have felt that way for days! We are in negotiations with
Denali for a summit tomorrow. Although we never have the upper hand in weather negotiations with big mountains, I think this team has put in enough hard work and patience to use as a bargaining chip. Put in a good word for us!
RMI Guide Mike Haugen & Team Siete
On The Map
All of the climbers and guides on the Expedition Skills Seminar - Emmons led by RMI Guide
Pepper Dee reached the summit of Mt. Rainier via the
Emmons Glacier route around 1:00 PM PT. Pepper reports 20 mph winds and clear skies on the summit. The team will descend to Camp Schurman where they will spend the night. Tomorrow the team will finish their descent and will return to Ashford. We look forward to celebrating with the team tomorrow.
Way to go, climbers!
We woke to clear skies and beautiful weather again today, then had breakfast in the hotel and loaded up all our climbing gear and drove to the base of the
Elbrus ski resort. Once there we took advantage of the three gondolas, and a short snowcat ride to reach our new home for the next few days.
It's rather comfortable up here, as our outfitter has taken a few shipping containers and converted them into simple bunk rooms some for sleeping and some set up as dinning rooms.
Once we got settled into our new home we headed uphill on another acclimatizing hike and reached just over 14,000' before returning to camp where our wonderful cook Dasha had a nice hot lunch waiting for us.
We spent the remaining of the afternoon relaxing around camp and enjoying the views of the Caucasus mountain range which are pretty amazing since we are camped out at just over 12,000'.
Dasha has once again had filled our bellies full of delicious Russian food and so the team is off to bed now.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and comrades
On The Map
The
Four Day Climb Teams for June 30 - 3 July reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning led by
RMI Guides Eric Frank and Jess Matthews. The teams reported windy conditions and a cloud cap. They began their descent from the crater rim around 8:15 AM. The teams will return to Camp Muir for a short break before continuing down to Paradise.
Congratulations to today's Summit Climb teams!
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Congrats to all the climbers! Great job Meghan!! I admire all of u!! Gayle
Posted by: Gayle Conarello on 7/7/2019 at 6:01 pm
WOW, Andrew! Congratulations!!!
Posted by: Paul Myers on 7/7/2019 at 12:37 am
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