RMI Expeditions Blog
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, JM Gorum
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Northside
Elevation: 12,300'
We're tucked in to our nice new abode at 12,300', at the foot of the glacier on the North side of Mt. Elbrus. The smooth roll continued today, as the deluge of rain that we listened to all night broke early this morning, letting us rise to cloudy skies that increasingly became blue. We packed up our camp, sorted through the final odds and ends that were going to come with us or stay in base camp, then shouldered packs and headed uphill again, this time for good. The terrain rolled by as clouds intermittently protected us from the sun, and after 5 hours of hard work, we reached our new digs. It took some time to level the gravel in this glacial moraine to yield tent platforms, but pretty soon we had a comfortable new home that will serve well for the next few days. Tomorrow we'll retrieve our cache from just below, and spend some time reviewing our climbing skills.
The rain was kind enough to hold off long enough for us to enjoy a group dinner outside, but now it has returned. We're going to head towards bed, thankful for dry tents and warm sleeping bags. We'll check in tomorrow.
Thanks for following,
RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer and JM Gorum and team
On The Map
Posted by: Kel Rossiter
Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades
Pawel had previously been a part of the Emmons and Kautz Seminars on Mt. Rainier. Finishing up the ice challenges of the Kautz, Pawel set his eyes on the prize, investigated ambitious alpine objectives and developed a plan. That plan included the North Ridge of Mt. Baker and the North Face of Mt. Shuksan. Last winter he trained for six days in Ouray, CO honing his ice skills to get ready for the task. And, as alpine climbing demands creativity, since then he's trained hard in gym and combined it with a rigorous running schedule, sometimes with a pack, at home in Chapel Hill, NC.
We met up for the planned 3-day climb of the North Ridge of Mt. Baker on a Monday in the face of a grim forecast—rain coming in Tuesday morning. The plan was to establish base camp on Monday and launch Tuesday morning. So, not good. But you can't win if you don't play and a large part of success in alpine climbing is putting yourself in position for it and then letting the cards unfold as they do. We set off toward base camp, hiking along the Heliotrope Ridge Trail, popping with alpine flowers. On the hike in it was clear Pawel's creative North Carolina training had paid off. He crushed it in two hours and—just as the thought entered my own mind—he suggested, “What do you think about going for it today?” Even with the crushing time to base camp, it was still 1p.m.—a rather untraditional start to the North Ridge. While we set up camp, I considered the timeline: We'd be pushing the weather forecast, but we felt comfortable descending the Coleman-Deming route (the standard descent) in poorer weather.
Once on the ice pitches of the route (approx. 9,600') you're pretty committed to the North Ridge, but we left camp with the caveat that should the weather change or the travel become more complex than planned, we'd turn back for another try later. Later never came. We made it to the ice cap in just over 3 hours, which is just over half the typical time. With a puffy cloud front still way off over the Puget Sound and a few small cells sweeping up over Colfax Peak, we committed. All the moments of consideration up to the moment of commitment in a climb like this is a struggle on par with Ali-Frasier—but once the decision is made, clarity begins—just climb.
And climb we did. Up through the ice cap, onto the upper flanks of the mountain, navigating through the upper bergschrunds, to the top. Descending the Coleman-Deming route to camp we were treated with blazing red sunset reflections on Puget Sound, rolling into camp just eight short hours after leaving camp.
We reconvened a day later for the North Face of Shuksan, a seldom climbed route. Seldom done for many reasons, among them being the formidable approach. After 5 hours of Amazonian bushwhacking and at least a Red Cross pint donation of blood from both Pawel and I, we arrived at the base of the actual climb. Not surprisingly, after that “warm up” the climb was like cake. Pawel's commitment to fitness and technical prep paid off and we stacked pitch after pitch after pitch of climbing until arriving at our lovely bivy atop the ridge.
The next day was an open road with a full tank of gas. We connected smoothly from the Crystal Glacier to the Sulphide Glacier, crisply circumambulated the mountain, ascended the SE Ridge, and then moved out smartly toward Winnie's Slide to camp. Arriving at camp at slighly past the stroke of noon, it occurred to the both of us that a trip out to the trailhead was easily doable, and since Pawel had some good friends in Seattle he wished to visit, we decided to go for it.
Four short hours later, we were at the trailhead. Packs were off, sandals on, sitting down. Life was good. And getting better. We met up for a culmination of the climb at the Chair 9 Bar and Grill. It was a pure pleasure to wrap up this stage of Pawel's alpine journey. In the face of a formidable forecast, we'd pulled off two major North Cascades objectives—a tribute to the power of positive preparation in the face of pure challenge. Well done Pawel!
RMI Guide Kel Rossiter
Posted by: Pete Van Deventer, JM Gorum
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Northside
Elevation: 11,200'
Hello all!
We had a wonderful day today. After waking to sunny skies overhead, we crawled out of our tents at a leisurely hour and enjoyed a nice breakfast in base camp. A few cows made it into the fenced in area of base camp overnight, and were apparently enjoying their breakfast as much as we enjoyed ours. After packing up and shoring up camp against our new bovine friends, we started working our way uphill towards Camp One.
The walk was quite pleasant, as we had a nice breeze, good company, and pleasant vistas all around. Mt. Elbrus was visible to us all day, and as we got closer, we were able to get a good view of the route, and climbers descending it. It looks to be in great shape, and everyone is excited. After about three hours we found a good spot to cache our gear, and divided it up into duffel bags. We descended with nearly empty packs, taking a detour to Mushroom Rocks. An interesting group of rock formations that look like, well, mushrooms. Very weird.
Upon arrival back at camp, snacking and napping commenced and continued until dinner time. We ate a fine meal of spaghetti and watched distant thunderstorms roll by. Tomorrow we will move to Camp One. Everyone is feeling good, and excited to get going uphill. You'll hear from us again tomorrow.
RMI Guides JM Gorum and Pete Van Deventer
On The Map
Posted by: Christina Dale, Katrina Bloemsma, Joe Hoch
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Five Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guide Christina Dale reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Christina reported cold temperatures and windy conditions on the summit. The team began their descent to Camp Muir shortly after 8:00 a.m. PDT. The Five Day Summit Climb team will spend one more night at Camp Muir before returning to Ashford tomorrow afternoon.
Way to climb!
Posted by: JJ Justman, Megan Budge, Blake Votilla
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
RMI Guide JJ Justman and the Four Day Summit Climb team reached the summit of Mt. Rainier under cold and gusty conditions. The team began their descent shortly after 8:00 a.m. PDT. On their descent, the team will stop at Camp Muir to rest and repack before continuing their descent to Paradise. They will return to Ashford and Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.
Congratulations!
We descended into the cloud forest today in route to our camp, Chaquicocha (9,900 ft). The temperature has increased and the vegetation is abundant after hiking over 2 passes. With the passes consisting of 1,800+ Incan steps on the descent the Team is enjoying having their boots off and a refreshing bowl of water to cool off and clean up.
Our weather has been great, a little cold for some the first two days, no rain and we got some clouds and cool air today to make for great pictures and respite from the sun.
We had the trail to ourselves except when porters would run by which allowed the Team to explore two Incan sites without fellow trekkers present. The meals continue to impress and we are excited to get into Machu Picchu for sunrise in two days time. Until then, we have more stairs to climb, card games to play and spectacular mountain vistas to absorb.
RMI Guide Mike King
Posted by: Elias de Andres Martos, Eric Frank
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Peru Seminar
Elevation: 18,500'
Hello - This is Elias and Eric. We are on the summit of Paria North at 5,500 meters roughly 18,500' and it's a beautiful day up here. We can see a lot of the cool summits of the Cordillera Blanca. We just wanted to let you know that we are are starting our descent. We will let you know what happens in the next few days on the blog. That is all for now everybody's good and we are enjoying ourselves.
Take care,
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos call from the summit of Paria North.
Posted by: Billy Nugent
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Southside
Greetings from Moscow!
Today was our first full day as a team and we spent it touring some of the famous spots in Moscow. The day kicked off with a viewing of Lenin in his tomb. It's not everyday you get to see a revolutionary embalmed and behind glass... We also visited many churches and buildings in and around Red Square including the Kremlin and the iconic St. Basil's Cathedral (of Tetris fame). After a while the heat and crowds were getting to us so we made a run for lunch and enjoyed a nice meal at a French bistro. Some of us walked back to the hotel while others Übered but we all got a few hours off before reconvening for a team dinner. Tomorrow it's off to Mineralnye Vody early in the morning and by evening we should make it to the Caucasus.
Прощай (goodbye), for now,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
Posted by: Mike Walter, Pepper Dee, Robby Young
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Four Day Summit Climb Teams for August 3 - 6, 2016 reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. RMI Guide Pepper Dee reported from the crater that they enjoyed clear skies with a slight breeze and great climbing conditions. The teams began their descent from the crater rim shortly before 8 am. Climbers will continue down to Paradise later this afternoon and return to Rainier BaseCamp in Ashford to celebrate their success.
Congratulations to today's Summit Climb Teams!
Posted by: Elias de Andres Martos, Eric Frank
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Peru Seminar
Elevation: 16,404'
Hello from Paria high camp at 5000 meter.This is a satellite peak of Artesonraju we've decided to climb to acclimatize. So far it's a Mars like landscape. All is good, stay tuned for our summit dispatch.
RMI Guides Elias de Andres Martos & Eric Frank
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Cheers to Roland from his fans in Atlanta!
Posted by: Meg Schlachter on 8/9/2016 at 6:43 pm
Wonderful! Sounds like everything is on schedule! Played trivia last week - one of the questions was “what sport uses an ice pick?” Yea! we knew! Love, momma
Posted by: Jane Lubow on 8/8/2016 at 8:08 am
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