Although we were excited and prepared to climb when we went to bed last night, the weather refused to cooperate with us. We woke up at midnight to hail and freezing rain, along with six inches of snow already on the ground. After two hours of watching the weather and hoping for improvement, we gave up and went back to bed.
This morning the skies were scattered, but dry. After breakfast we were able to punch a path up to the base of the route. At points the snow was nearly waist deep. Most of the snow had come down from the face above and it felt like wading through Dip-n-Dots.
We are back in camp now, resting and hoping for better weather in the morning.
Thinking of our friends and family,
RMI Guide Eric Frank and the Alpamayo Team
Good luck guys. Hope you summit today. Fingers and toes crossed.
A
Posted by: andrea on 7/9/2014 at 9:33 am
We’re praying—and so are lots of others - Love, Pam
“but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31
Hi RMI Blog Enthusiasts!
It was really nice to finally get in the mountains and breathe some fresh air! We had a gorgeous day as you'll see in the video. The team had a relaxing day as we strolled up to 11,000 feet topping out on Peak Cheget. Tomorrow we will continue the adventure and head to the hut on the lower flanks of the mighty Elbrus.
Sad news...or maybe you'll be glad...I don't think I'll be able to post anymore videos until we get down in a few days. If you have any questions please contact my agent...
RMI Guide JJ Justman
It snowed through the night and into the morning here at 14,200 ft. Not heavily, and there wasn't much wind finding our camp, so it wasn't like it was an awful or epic storm. But it was enough of a storm to keep us from going climbing today. We caught the odd view of the mountainside through occasional cloud breaks in the morning and saw dramatic avalanche scars in the Messner Couloir and Orient Express that matched the rumbling we'd heard. After a long breakfast, we turned the day into a rest day to shore up our acclimatization. By evening, the clouds were breaking up and it seemed that weather was improving again. We'll try again tomorrow.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn & Team
The Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guide Brent Okita reached the summit of Mt. Rainier at about 6:40am today. Brent reported a beautiful morning with clear skies and calm winds of 10 – 15 mph. The team is doing well and have started their descent to Camp Muir.
Tyler Jones and the Expedition Skills Seminar - Kautz Team also reached the summit of Mt. Rainier later in the morning. The team had a great climb and have started their descent back to their high camp on the Wilson Glacier.
Congratulations Teams!
And congratulations to the rest of the team and to the RMI guides who did their usual outstanding job keeping everyone safe while pushing them to find hidden reserves they never knew existed.
It is hard to sit under Alpamayo's southwest face and not stare for an extended period of time. Our team, along with three other groups moved up to the Col Camp (17,600') today and find ourselves trying to prepare for the ascent tomorrow, but constantly distracted by the beauty of the route. From our tents the route rises nearly 2,000 feet in a vertical line of frozen snow and ice. An alpinist's dream.
Getting to camp today was a job in itself. We climbed up a glacier for 90 minutes to the base of a headwall. It took three pitches of ice to reach the saddle where camp lies. The team performed well, but climbing 60-degree ice at 17,000 feet with 45-pound packs had everyone breathing hard.
Stay tuned for tomorrow. We hope to make an attempt and will call via satellite phone to update everyone with the results.
RMI Guide Eric Frank and the Alpamayo team
Monday, July 7, 2014 - 12:05 PM PT
Well, the team is currently experiencing deja vu here at 11,200' camp on Mt. McKinley. Before arriving here in deja vu land, the team did an AWESOME job packing up high camp and descending to 14,200' camp. At 14,200' we were met by Dave Hahn and his team who treated us to lots of hot water and quesadillas. Delicious and just what we needed!
Descending to 11 camp required all of our attention as we re-acquainted ourselves with sleds, experienced some post-holing, and walked (as best we could) through less than exciting weather. Now to the deja vu part of the story...a snow storm at 11,200'. We thought the weather gods had released all of the snow on us already but we were wrong. We are doing a weather dance right now so we can continue our descent and make our dreams of warm showers, cold beers, and loved ones a reality. Until then, we will keep you posted.
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
Hello, good morning. This is the Peru climbing team calling from the summit of Ishinca, 5,530 meters. It's 9:45 a.m. local time. I'm going to let you know how the crew is doing... [Team's happy cheers!] I hope that was a good enough sign. We had a heck of a climb this morning. The team crushed it. We are having a really good day. We've had some easy weather the last couple of days but this morning from sunrise to right now, nothing but blue skies. The views from up here are astonishing, and we'll let you know when you see the pictures. We will keep you posted of our schedule. Tomorrow we are going to take a rest day and we'll see what the next couple days bring us as we wrap up the program. We call you back and I hope everybody is doing well at home. That's it for now.
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
Elias de Andres Martos calls in from the Inshinca summit!
Awesome, Lucy and Corell!!! So excited for you and the rest of the team!!!
One more to go!
Can’t wait to hear about it all, and to see photos!
Corell- the boys are home from Philmont—Colman is filled with stories—not the least of which is waking up to a lightning-induced forest fire ~100 yds away across the creek. A nascent forest fire that their group actually alerted the nearby staff/ranger camp about, and the same fire that made the papers back here… YIKES! we are fortunate the group leader got up earlier than the others to make coffee—noticed the flames filling the trees just across the creek, then went to the tents with the sleeping boys and said, “Boys, we might have a bit of an emergency here…” Colman said they had never packed up so fast!!!!
Thurston’s group was not on same trail, but apparently saw the flames…think both groups were diverted a bit. I think the fire was finally contained a week later…
But oh my!
Hoping your adventures are challenging—- but not so dangerous!!
XOXO
Posted by: Dana Marie on 7/8/2014 at 8:53 pm
Great job, Lucy. So good to hear everyone is climbing well and the weather is cooperating. All is well in VA. Love from all 5 of us. C
To prepare for your next climb, you have spent hours upon hours training your muscular strength, your muscular endurance, and your cardiovascular fitness. How about your breathing? Your respiratory system gets benefit from all of your other training and doesn’t need specific focus, right? Studies of endurance athletes and performance indicate exactly the opposite! Your diaphragm is a group of muscles that do the work of inflating your lungs, bringing in oxygen and removing carbon dioxide, and just like any other muscle group in your body, they can be trained and toned to work more efficiently.
Belly Breathing
The key to more efficient breathing for performance is belly breathing. There is far more volume within the lower portions of the lungs (the belly) than there is in the upper portions (located in the chest), yet most people primarily use their chest to breath. When an athlete breathes mainly in their chest, they take in less oxygen with each breath, but as importantly, they also remove less carbon dioxide from their system. Carbon dioxide dissolves in the blood, and causes the pH of the blood to drop (acidification). Acidification of the blood is a major cause of muscle fatigue, thus removing carbon dioxide from your system is just as important as taking in oxygen to fuel your muscles. By belly breathing, more of the lungs’ volume is utilized both to take in oxygen, and to remove carbon dioxide, and an athlete’s performance increases to match. One study done by at the University of Arizona had 20 road cyclists do computer controlled deep breathing exercises for 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week, for 4 weeks, to develop their diaphragm and intercostal muscles. At the end of the period, they did a simulated 40 km race. The control groups all showed no improvement in performance, while the test group road 5% faster. Imagine if your next climb felt 5% easier!
Practice
To train yourself to belly breath during exercise, start by doing some simple belly breathing practice while at rest. Try lying down and placing your hands, one on top of the other, on your stomach, just above your belly button. Inhale, trying to push your hands as high towards the ceiling as you can. Hold for a moment, then exhale fully, feeling your hands sink as far to the floor as you can. Feel as though your belly button is moving towards your spine, but don’t push with your hands; let the muscles of your diaphragm do the work. Inhale again pushing your hands as high as you can once more, and continue to repeat the process. With practice, this type of breathing will become more natural, and will begin to move into your exercise as well. You can practice the technique the next time you are sitting at your desk, or while sitting in the car on your next commute as well. With practice and training, the muscles of your lungs will tone just like the muscles in your legs and core do!
The Pressure Breath
If you are not familiar with the pressure breath, it is one of the most important efficiency techniques that we teach new climbers. Pressure breathing is a technique nearly all mountaineers use on high altitude mountains around the world, and is really just a derivative of the belly breath. Inhaling as fully as possible, the climber exhales with force, generally pursing their lips slightly so as to create a smaller aperture, as if they were trying to blow out a series of birthday candles. Essentially belly breathing with a forceful exhale, the pressure breath helps to improve gas exchange across the alveoli by increasing the pressure in the lungs. The pressure breath helps to combat the effects caused by decreasing atmospheric pressure as climbers gain altitude. The pressure breath is one of the most important techniques for climbing at altitude efficiently, but it requires a lot of work from the muscles of your lungs. By beginning to tone and train those muscles now, you will be better prepared to pressure breath your way up your next climb in style!
Check out these few articles from the running and cycling world for more information and techniques to develop your belly breathing:
Chris Burnham of Burnham coaching, Breathing for endurance athletes.
And lastly, Endurance Training: surviving the tour.
Questions? Comments? Share your thoughts here on the RMI Blog!
I first learned pressure breathing when I took “How to Climb Mt. Rainier” from Pierce College in 1982. The instructors, Jeff Sharp and Ron Servine, attributed this technique correctly to the Whittakers when they taught it.
From then on I used it myself, subsequently taught it myself to my own students there, and always found it to be a great help. As we would say, ‘If your legs hurt , pressure breathe’. I still use it to this day in my continuing fitness activities. Thanks for the article!
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The Mount Rainier Four Day and Five Day Summit Climbs, led by Seth Waterfall and Casey Grom, reached the summit this morning with clear skies, warm temperaturess and winds ranging from 5-20 mph. Both teams began their descent from the crater rim at 7:15 a.m.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
RMI Guides Seth Waterfall and Casey Grom
Good luck guys. Hope you summit today. Fingers and toes crossed.
A
Posted by: andrea on 7/9/2014 at 9:33 am
We’re praying—and so are lots of others - Love, Pam
“but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31
Posted by: pam proctor on 7/9/2014 at 4:19 am
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