RMI Expeditions Blog
Good morning from Club Andino Hotel in Huaraz!
Well, here we are, loading the bus and onto the trailhead. A 1 1/2 hour drive and a 4 to 5 hour hike await for us today. In our minds, the
Ishinca Valley Base Camp. Everybody is doing well, the minor headaches from arriving to Huaraz (10,000ft) are gone, and excietment is palpable in everyone.
We'll be checking again from our tents the next time. Best regards from Huaraz.
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
July 2, 2014 - 12:09 am PT
Thank you for all of the blog comments. It is great to hear from everyone back home and it is always reinvigorating.
Today we got to sleep in and then scurried down to our cache above
Windy Corner. It was nice to be reunited with our food, clean underwear and base layers that we left buried in the snow for a few days. We then spent the afternoon doing some kitchen redesign, fixed line training and more sorting of food.
Tomorrow is an exciting day! We will get to see some more challenging and exciting terrain-- carrying to the top of the fixed lines!
RMI Guide Adam Knoff and Team
On The Map
July 1, 2014 - 11:13 pm PT
Today was a relatively easy move for the team. We were walking out of our 9,000' camp at 7 AM when things were crisp and cold. The track was in pretty good condition due to the number of teams that had been over it in the preceding 24 hours and our loads were light. We began in clear conditions but by the time we reached the big right hand turn at
Kahiltna Pass, we were in cloud. Passing our cached gear at 10,000', we began the more serious hills leading to 11 camp. The team rolled into camp at around 11:30 AM and set to smoothing out tent platforms. Right about then it began to snow, just as had been predicted. There are at least a half dozen other guided teams in camp, a few more than we expected to see, but most are staffed by friends and acquaintances. The team took a well-earned rest for the afternoon.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
The
Alpamayo team had another great day. Early this morning we caught a bus, along with the
Peru - Expedition Skills Seminar, an hour out of town and went for an acclimatization hike to just over 14,000'. The scenery was stunning and sporadic hail from passing clouds added spice to the walk. After a few hours we found ourselves next to an alpine lake at the base of a snow covered face. Incredible! This evening we ventured into the heart of Huaraz to buy a few last minute items, and indulge in locally caught trout on the main plaza.
RMI Guide Eric Frank
Buenas tardes from Huaraz!
What a day we had! We were greeted by a sunny morning in
Huaraz, with excellent views of the Huascaran and Copa mountains right from our hotel. After breakfast, we headed without hesitation to the "Laguna Churup" trailhead for a morning stroll (which by the way, felt really good after two days of flying and riding a bus.) It was the perfect acclimatization hike, since we were taken from 0' to 10,000' by a bus, so exercising a bit at this elevation we found very beneficial. From the trailhead at 13,000' we hiked a good 2 1/2 hours towards this glacial lake at around 14,400' (oddly enough, similar height of
Mount Rainier) and we all got a better chance to start getting to know each other a bit better. Governed by "Nevado Churup", a small but steep peak on the southern end of the Cordillera Blanca, the turquoise of its waters, inspired the better picture moments of the day. After a short snack, we began our descent to the trailhead. Once back in town, we run the logistics of buying some extra snack food, a couple gear items and final arrangements with our outfitter to hit the trail towards Ishinca Valley tomorrow at 8am sharp.
Our next dispatch will be from Base Camp and from our satphone. Best regards to everyone back home!
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
We had another great day today, hiking up to the climbers' hut on the Ilinizas at an altitude of 15,500'. The weather, once again, was very cooperative and we had great views of Cotopaxi and the
Ilinizas. Afternoon clouds produced some showers, but not until we were already back at our van and driving down from the trail head. Now we're headed to the beautiful Hacienda Chilcabamba to rest for the night. We'll be in touch again tomorrow.
RMI Guide
Mike Walter & Team
June 30, 2014 - 11:19pm PT
After an impromptu camp on the polo field we woke up to intermittent wind gusts rattling our tent flys. We crawled out of our shelters to crisp cold weather and blue skies. We ate a quick breakfast and began to break camp to complete our journey to 14,200' feet. Amidst the chaos of packing our bags we spotted Billy Nugent and his crew descending from a successful summit, we exchanged high fives and and hit the trail. This time equipped with snow shoes and skis to deal with the waist deep drifts. We were feeling very happy about floating on the snow surface vs crawling through it. We had pleasant weather and relatively calm winds working our way around
Windy Corner. We pulled into camp and made ourselves at home, feeling the altitude a little we began to take care of ourselves and focus on the mountain ahead of us.
We are all feeling good and hoping for the best weather possible.
RMI Guide
Adam Knoff & Team
On The Map
June 30, 2014 - 9:44pm PT
Hey Everybody!
Last night we got our first taste of Denali weather as a wet snow fell, dusting our camp with six fresh inches. The little storm began to lift after a leisurely breakfast of bacon, eggs, and hash browns and we were soon able to pack our bags for a carry to 10,000' feet. Along the hike we witness spectacular views down the
Kahiltna Glacier and up to the start of the West Buttress. We are now back in camp resting and awaiting a tasty dinner of tortellini prepared by Zach. All is well here in the great north as the sun splashes some light into our dinning tent.
Thanks for following along!
RMI Guide
Ben Liken
Greetings from South America!
This is the RMI Expeditions
Alpamayo team making our inaugural check-in from the Peruvian city of Huarez. After spending most of yesterday on planes, the team had a brief layover in Lima last night before catching a shuttle up into the mountains today. With a dinner of Alpaca steaks, we are currently nestling into bed and getting excited about the days to come.
RMI Guide
Eric Frank & Team
Hola desde Huaraz!
Greetings from the
Peruvian Switzerland, where the team has just arrived!!! After everyone's flights made it timely around midnight yesterday in Lima, we all met for breakfast this morning. Shortly after a formal meeting and introductions of team members and the program, we all, filled with excitement, loaded the bus with climbing duffle bags and got on the road.
We made it to our hotel "Club Andino" right on time for dinner and to meet our outfiter Peter and local guide Carlos, who will accompany us in our Ishinca Valley adventure. We're moving to a well deserved night of sleep as we speak... lots of miles in the last 48h for everyone!
Tomorrow we have a short hike planned to "Laguna Churup" in the morning to start acclimatization and some logistic arrangements in the afternoon. We will be checking in again at the end of the day.
Best regards from Peru,
RMI Guides
Elias de Andres Martos,
Robby Young & Team
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Excited to see you are moving towards FOOD! Hope you got there ok. Love the pics And thinking of you. We are at the pool today! Sorry, had to say it.
Posted by: Ginni Fennema on 7/3/2014 at 3:02 pm
What an awesome adventure! We are reading all the blog posts. The pictures are amazing!
Posted by: Lisa Albert on 7/3/2014 at 10:04 am
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