Hey, this is Andy with RMI we had a successful beautiful summit today on Huayna Potosi, not a cloud in the sky! 100%! Everyone is looking forward to showers and a meal tonight in La Paz. Everyone's doing great and we'll check in with you guys later!
RMI Guide Andy Bond calling from the summit of Huayna Potosi
The Four Day Climb led by RMI Guides Mike King and Nick Scott reached 11,900' today on Mt. Rainier before route conditions forced them to turn. Mike reported clear and calm skies on the upper mountain with a marine layer coming in and out at 8,500'. They plan to depart Camp Muir, and be back at Rainier Basecamp early this afternoon.
Congratulations to today's team!
Friday, May 24, 2019 11:19 PM PT
After awaking to an uncertain forecast and thick clouds passing through camp, the team gathered for breakfast to wait and see what the day held. After a short wait, the clouds began to break and we were greeted with views of the West Buttress. The day went on to deliver excellent weather and we were able to establish a cache at the base of Washburn's Thumb, around 16,400 feet. With our final cache in position, we are now resting at 14k camp and waiting for a weather window to move to 17k camp and then make our attempt on the summit.
RMI Guide Steve Gately & Team
Friday, May 24, 2019 11:08 PM PT
Last night the forecast called for increasing snow and wind, but we woke up this morning to find that to be 100% incorrect. Skies were clear all the way down the Kahiltna and all the way to the summit. We packed up camp early in an attempt to beat the heat, and it worked out pretty well. We got moved in to our new home around 2pm, got a quick nap in, and ate a lot of food. Now we’re all relaxing in our tents and heading towards sleep. It’s always a long day getting up here, but the team handled it with grace and style.
Tomorrow we will retrieve our cache that is just downhill. It should be a short day, with a lot of relaxing and resting in the afternoon. Everyone is in good health and good spirits, though a few folks are concerned about NBA results.
RMI Guide JM Gorum & Team
Reading and smiling about this adventure. Love you’re listening to the mountain and her weather and VERY glad you had a beautiful window today. More pics please! Climb on.
Posted by: Jane Gagnon Baxter on 5/25/2019 at 10:22 am
Friday, May 24, 2019 11:03 PM PT
There is nothing better than starting your day with a pancake bigger than your face and your morning commute on an otter plane. The clouds stayed at bay and we were able to fly on to the Kahiltna Glacier. The views are mesmerizing. Words cant explain how beautiful it all is. We gathered are things from the plane, said goodbye to our pilots, and settled into camp. Excitement continues to grow for what is to come in the next week. But for now we are snuggled into out tents ready to catch some Z's.
Talk to you all tomorrow,
RMI Guide Hannah Smith and Team
Friday, May 24, 2019, 7:58 PM PT
Hello from the Great Ruth Gorge!
The magnitude of this place soon relieved the delay of not being able to fly yesterday. Cruising over a 35-mile long glacier to then land and camp under the massive 5,000ft East Face of Mount Dickey is indescribable. After a couple of hours crafting a classy camp, kitchen included, we treated ourselves to a nice diner of halibut burger with a side of fresh asparagus; definitely not your standard meal on the mountains. Heading to bed now as we're trying our first climbing objective early tomorrow.
Regards, Lucy, Corell and RMI Guide Elías de Andres Martos
We enjoyed a full night's rest and had a leisurely morning of coffee and eggs as we packed up our gear to head to our high camp at about 5200 meters on Huayna Potosi. The strong wind abated overnight and left us with blue skies and sun for our two-hour walk to high camp. We are all resting and relaxing as we will attempt to summit Huanya Potosi tomorrow at 6088 meters. Everyone is doing great in anticipation of the big day tomorrow!
RMI Guide Eric Frank
Friday, May 24, 2019, 3:49 PM PT
Last night was warm (for 14,200' on Denali) and we woke to clear, calm skies. It looks like it would be a good day to move up high, but there is a strong weather front forecast for this weekend and we weren't quite ready to make a dash uphill to try to take advantage of this short weather window. Instead, we're taking another rest day and enjoying the sun and warm temps.
We took a rope team up the fixed lines again today to get some exercise and stretch the legs, anticipating another few rest days in our near future.
The team is doing well and we're in position to strike when our weather window appears.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
I have been quietly following your progress and the memories have been flooding back. The photos look incredible. So very jealous and wish I was sharing it with you.
Fantastic effort getting the cache all the way to 17k in a one-er! Wow, that’s a big day!
I hope the storm abates and the mountain opens the route higher for you…all that new ground to explore.
Stay safe Pieter…looking forward to seeing you and hearing all about it later in the year. Paul
Posted by: Paul Summers on 5/26/2019 at 2:00 am
It was nice to hear of your day of sunshine! Stay warm and safe as the atmospheric storm approaches this weekend! A special callout to Tom M - we are all following your accent and keeping our fingers crossed for a successful summit this year! xo
RMI Guide Walter Hailes checked in this morning from Camp Muir. The Muir Seminar team is back from their summit bid. Due to unstable snow conditions, the teams turned after Ingraham Flats. The team had a mix of weather during their week-long seminar- some spectacular views and also some stormy weather of high winds and blowing snow. They learned a lot of mountaineering skills to take home with them after a week on Mount Rainier.
The starry skies that covered us when we went to bed gave way to a thick cloud deck and by 5am this morning it was blowing and snowing on our tents in Condoriri Basecamp. Thankfully the team all slept hard from our efforts the day before and by the time we started breakfast at 8am only a thin dusting of snow and partly cloudy skies remained.
This set us up perfectly for a relaxed day of travel. After breaking down the tents, we hiked out of the valley and met the transport vehicles.
Even though only 20 odd miles separate the Condoriri Valley from Huayna Potosi the terrain requires back tracking through the edge of La Paz, making the trip closer to three hours. We were rewarded with incredible views of the mountain, which grew larger and more stunning as we arrived at our refugio.
This evening the team is relaxing and enjoying a reset before our next big push.
RMI Guide Eric Frank
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Yay! I’ve been glued to the blog waiting to hear. Glad everyone made it and on a beautiful day too.
Posted by: Allison DeFilippi on 5/25/2019 at 10:29 am
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