RMI Expeditions Blog
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Categories: Guide News
Yesterday, April 4th, I descended back to Annapurna Base Camp from Camp 2. In total I spent one night at C1 and two nights at C2. The route into C2 was, at times, waist deep powder snow and it's even deeper above. So for now Camp 3 is inaccessible. Less afternoon snow storms and more sunny days to consolidate the sugar snow will be required before I can push higher. Unfortunately, the forecast for the next couple of days is for heavy falls (20-30") of snow above 18,000 ft. After that, it looks like we might have a clearing trend.
I've attached four pictures. The first shows the route from BC to Camp 1 (note the two climbers at the base of the route). The second photo shows the route from C1 to C2 and then the route continuing from C2 to C3, the third is my tent and equipment at C2, and the fourth is a view up the mountain from C2. This is a awe inspiring and beautiful mountain!
Today in Base camp a herd of wild sheep stopped by and there are rumors of some type of bobcat roaming around as well. For now I'm sitting out stormy weather and looking for my next window to get back onto the mountain.
RMI Guide Alex Barber
Happy Easter! The Everest Base Camp bunny somehow found his way through falling snow last night and left chocolate for each climber and trekker to find this morning. In the night, we couldn't hear the the rabbit over the noise of storm winds aloft and a handful of thunderous ice avalanches off the mountains around us. Morning wasn't so bad though, the sun eventually made it through the clouds and Kumar's great breakfast had us all feeling comfortable and content. This was a holiday for our team... 17,500 feet takes a little bit of getting used to and so we hadn't planned anything more strenuous than a series of naps and a walk out to "Icy Cyber" -the spot out in the Khumbu Glacier where we dependably get 3G cell service. A few helicopters came through on flight seeing tours and we watched the Icefall Doctors working their way up and down this year's route through the jumbled glacier. Our Sherpa team labored at building the stone altar for our Puja, which ought to take place in several days.
Tonight's dinner will be special as it will be our last chance to hang with Erin and Bonny. They'll start working back toward Kathmandu tomorrow morning, as planned, and we'll begin to focus on the mountain.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
I am truly excited for you guys…again! Be safe and enjoy the whole thing as very, very few get that experience. bb
Posted by: Bill Bussey on 4/6/2015 at 6:19 am
HW: Finally at EBC. Glad to hear the Easter Bunny paid a visit to you too,and brought you some chocolate. We were at the zoo for some eggtravaganza. Kids had great fun. Best wishes to you and the entire team. -FX
Posted by: FX on 4/5/2015 at 6:33 pm
This is Dave Hahn calling from Everest Base Camp, 17,500 feet on the Khumbu Glacier. Well, we made it. We came up from Lobuche today, the entire team- six climbers, two trekkers, and two guides. Tschering Dorjay Sherpa, our Sirdar, leading the way, brought us up to Base Camp. I think we are about the first climbing team to make it into Base Camp this year. And at our base camp, incredible progress has been made. Our Sherpa team has done great work setting our camp up and Mark Tucker, our base camp manager, has been here the last couple of days and got things buffed out just perfectly for us to move in.
We started up from Lobuche at 8:15. We got to Base Camp at 1:15, so we made great progress. It was a beautiful day with just a little cloud cover, and it was just about perfect for walking. Tomorrow we'll get squared away and get internet capabilities again, and get back into written distractions, but just wanted to bring you up to date for this evening. Bye now.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
RMI Guide Dave Hahn calling after arriving to Everest Base Camp.
Robbie, It’s Liz Weiner. I am in London with Olivia and we spent the morning with Laura at church and brunch. Way to go with reaching Base Camp on Easter. Very special. Looking forward to following your progress. All the best to you and your team! God bless.
Posted by: Elizabeth Weiner on 4/5/2015 at 1:08 pm
Happy Easter to all. Watching daily from Arizona as we pre-heat the oven for summer. Safe climbing.
Posted by: Josh on 4/5/2015 at 8:39 am
Posted by: Solveig Waterfall, Seth Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 6,400'
Hi this is Seth. Solveig Waterfall and I just wrapped up the first RMI ski trip of the Spring season here on Rainier. We had a great five-day trip with a really fun group. We based out of the Paradise area for our days on the mountain and were treated to some of the best ski conditions of the season. this was our 'Intro to Ski Touring' course and as the name implies we spent the majority of the time focusing on the necessary skills to plan and execute several days of backcountry skiing.
We had a clear day to establish our camp followed by two days of precipitation with steadily cooling temperatures. This resulted in fantastic powder-skiing conditions with really good snow stability. The final day was cool but the skies were mostly clear and we were able to get break our camp and some more good skiing. The team was great, the laughs and smiles were non-stop and the days flew by.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
solveig and seth are great leaders; awesome time
great snow and memories
Posted by: jmac on 4/12/2015 at 4:59 am
Seth & Solveig,
Great story about your backcountry course. Good luck with more of those and good on you both.
Cheers, Joe & Dianne
Posted by: joe Griffith on 4/4/2015 at 11:45 am
A quiet day for us at 16,000 ft in Lobuche. Things are certainly colder up at this end of the valley, but the sun was good and strong this morning and so we ventured out for a short walk along the lateral moraine of the Khumbu Glacier to stretch legs and catch views. Nuptse is front and center and ridiculously steep when viewed from Lobuche (and from any other angle as well, come to think of it) but our eyes kept straying toward Everest Base Camp and the peaks that surround it- Pumori, Lingtren and Khumbutse. It isn't very far away now... We'll be there tomorrow with any luck. But first things first, we made the most of this rest day with a short visit to the Italian research "pyramid" a few minutes away and up a side valley. One of the staff gave us a fine tour of the facilities and described the atmospheric and glacial science being conducted. Then it was back to our tea house as the sky clouded up yet again. Snow started falling after lunch, which made it just that much easier to kick back and rest away the afternoon. We've got cards, chess and scrabble... Books and naps worked pretty good as well.
Last night in a tea house... Tent life begins tomorrow.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Hey Robbie and Erin!
Hope you guys made it up to Base Camp today - congrats if you did! Enjoying all the updates!
x, Laura
Posted by: Laura Massie on 4/4/2015 at 2:36 pm
Hope that all the climbers will find their own little shining star this year in this cold magical Everest constellation. Good luck everyone
Posted by: Chrystel on 4/4/2015 at 10:34 am
Posted by:
Categories: Guide News
Made Camp 2 today, it's quite the distance from BC...and I'm still not even above 19,000'!
The route to Camp 2 starts with a stretch of glacier travel. After which you gain a large cleaver that takes you to Camp 2. I had a leisurely morning in Camp 1, drinking insta - coffee and watching the weather before deciding to try for Camp 2. The weather today was all over the place.
Annapurna's weather still feels very random and forecasts have been inaccurate. And as usual, what I'll do tomorrow will be dictated by the weather gods...
RMI Guide Alex Barber
Finally back in the land of Internet... But we had to go to 16,000 ft for it. The team is safely in Lobuche. We cruised up from Pheriche this morning in just about three and a half hours. Conditions were nice enough for walking, but it was a little on the cool side and not conducive to hanging out for long. The first glance at the sky today had us thinking we'd be walking in another snowstorm, but things cleared up well enough while we ate breakfast. We had fine views of Taboche, Cholatse, Pumori, Nuptse and Ama Dablam along with a half dozen other Himalayan giants. The last hour of today's hike involved snow-covered ground, but didn't present us with any special problems. All the team are acclimatizing well and we hope for an easy day of hiking and resting around Lobuche tomorrow.
Best Regards,
RMI Guides Dave Hahn, JJ Justman and Team
On The Map
HW: Great to see you in the photos Dave posted, looking healthy and happy. Glad to hear everyone is acclimatizing well. You are almost at Base Camp! Only for Everest do you feel, even you are already at 16,000, the real test has yet to begun. Please stay safe and healthy. We are all thinking of you every day. - FX
Posted by: FX on 4/2/2015 at 9:15 pm
Hey Everybody, This is Casey Grom checking in from the Everest Base Camp Trek and Island Peak Climb. Just wanted let you know that everything's going great here in the Kumbu. After having an incredible day at Base Camp, the team descended yesterday through a little bit of snow all the way down to Pheriche. It's about 12 miles and it took our group a little over 7 hours, so quite a long day on our feet, but everyone did great! Everyone certainly enjoyed the drop in altitude and the thicker air. It was only 14,000 feet, but everyone could feel the difference. Everyone is doing great and last night we ran into two of RMI's finest Jeff "JJ" Justman and of course Dave Hahn who are leading our Mt. Everest climb this season. It was great to see those guys and touch base and wish luck to those guys and the climbing crew that is with them.
After getting a good night's rest, the team got out this morning and had relatively early breakfast. The trekking group headed back to Namche. The Island Peak team and myself headed up the adjacent valley and are relaxing here at Chukung. It was bit of a sad day saying goodbye to our friends that we spent so many great days with, but I am sure those guys are doing great now down in Namche enjoying the warm air, cell service and WiFi. Unfortunately for us, we won't have cell service or WiFI here in Chukung as there has been some issue with the receivers. Anyways, we're headed up the valley a little further and expect to be at Island Peak Base Camp tomorrow. We'll try to check in via satellite phone we can get reception up there.
Thanks a lot. We'll talk soon.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
Casey Grom Checking in from Chukung.
Dave Hahn calling in from Pheriche on our Everest climb. Hey, We're still in black out zone. A temporary black out for all internet and cell phones, so I'm calling from the satellite phone. It's our last night in Pheriche tonight. We had a great easy day here in Pheriche, the team went hiking this morning about 1500 feet above Pheriche about 15,500' or so. It was a nice hike and nice views of Makalu the 5th highest mountain, we had views of Lhotse, Cho Oyu the 6th highest mountain, great views all around. And everybody is feeling really well.
We attended a high altitude medicine lecture that was given by the Himalayan Rescue Association next door in the afternoon. We then had a pretty easy afternoon of resting, playing games, reading and nice dinner. A nice treat for us, Casey Grom's Base Camp and Island Peak Trekking Group fresh from Base Camp shared the the dining room with us for the evening, It was nice to visit with some friends. We're looking forward to moving up to Lobuche. It is currently nice, but we will see what we get this evening. A things being equal we be in Lobuche tomorrow.
We will keep you informed.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn and Team
Dave Hahn Calling in from Pheriche
Hope everyone is safe! Take care.
- Janel Miller
Posted by: Janel Miller on 4/25/2015 at 2:04 pm
Today (April 1st) I moved up to Camp 1 at about 17,000' from 13,800' Base Camp. Enjoyed good weather in the morning which turned to light snow in the afternoon. The route to C1 is quite a distance from BC and has some enjoyable climbing. Low angle water ice and low grade mixed climbing, also a precarious arm wrap rappel of some 200' on the most insane choss... The recent snowfall - plowing through knee deep snow - made some sections of the route very tiring. I'm hoping the weather holds and I am able to make Camp 2 tomorrow. I've got three days worth of supplies including today, so I'd like to spend the next two at Camp 2.
Hopefully the weather plays along...
When I return to BC I'll post up a few photos for a visual of the route so far.
RMI Guide Alex Barber
How long do you plan for this trip to take?
Posted by: Mary on 4/2/2015 at 1:52 pm
Hope the weather is favorable for the rest of the climb.
Posted by: Gerri Seaton on 4/6/2015 at 3:36 pm
Larry Seaton - we are praying for your safety and the safety of your team mates.
What an adventure you are having and I’m sure you will have many exciting stories to tell us.
Love, Mom
Posted by: Gerri Seaton on 4/6/2015 at 3:24 pm
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