RMI Expeditions Blog

As you design a training plan to prepare for your next climb, data about your training and level of fitness is a really useful tool. One of the best ways to get an objective idea of your current level of fitness and to measure your gains is by tracking your heart rate with a heart rate monitor.

There are two main types of heart rate monitors available: watches that use an infrared sensor to your heart rate at your wrist and monitors that use a chest strap with two electrodes to record the electrical pulses from your heart. The infrared sensors on watches measure the change in the size of veins to record your heart beat, and can give a good rough idea of your heart rate trends. Movement of the watch on your wrist can interfere with the accuracy of the sensor however, so the normal movement that comes with training activities can mean that it doesn’t record your workout very effectively. The electrodes on a chest strap pick up the electrical signals from your heart very effectively despite any movement, and therefore and the best way to get a good picture of your workouts, and what we recommend.

Heart rate monitors are effective for a couple of different purposes. First and foremost, a heart rate monitor gives you the ability to track your training more accurately. Heart rate monitors use versions of the 5 training zones that most athletes utilize, so you can begin to build an accurate picture of how much time you spend in each zone and how effective a given period, week, or workout might have been for you.

A heart rate monitor also helps you to hit your target intensity zone for a given workout. This works in both directions; it can help you to tone it down on your long level 2 endurance training if you start to push a little hard, or it can let you know that you need to push even harder to make it to your target L4 zone on a set of intervals. One of the most helpful is setting an upper heart rate threshold alarm during your aerobic building workouts to warn you when you go too hard, which happens to most!

Tracking your heart rate over a period of time can also give you a picture of your overall fitness. As your training pays off, your resting heart rate should drop, and you will find yourself covering more ground and going faster, but at the same intensity. Conversely, a sudden spike in your resting heart rate may indicate that your training load is adding up and that you need to focus a bit more on recovery.

As an added bonus, most of the better heart rate monitors also have the ability to track your workout with GPS, so you can keep track of your training routes. A heart rate monitor won’t make you fitter, but it gives you invaluable information that allows you to create a more informed training plan.

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¡Hola!

Yesterday the entire team arrived for the first RMI trip to the Mexico Volcanoes for this season. We have all bags in tow and are now on our way to La Malinche for some acclimatization. Today is mostly cloudy, so we will see what the mountain gives us, but more importantly we are getting out to move the legs and exercise the lungs. Check back tomorrow for details on how our day went!

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier

As comfortable as we were in Namche Bazaar, it was time to go higher.  We got our customary 8 AM start climbing up and out of town.  Initially the trail was quite steep, but then it leveled off as we began following the Bhote Koshi River.  We travelled in a thick pine forest with only occasional views of the great peaks surrounding us.  Following the pattern of the past few days, clouds began moving in by mid-morning.  A few hours walking brought us to Thamo, where we stopped for tea.  Another hour got us to a dramatic cable bridge crossing of the violent river. We pulled into 12,500ft Thame, a garden-like village of neat yak pens and potato fields at 1 PM.  It turns out we are lodged in Apa Sherpa’s tea house… and his home (before Utah).  Apa was the Everest record holder for many years, having climbed the mountain 21 times and he is a hero to many of us still.  The clouds closed in after our lunch and made it easy to nap away the afternoon (since staring up at the mountains was no longer an option).  It is a little colder as we gain altitude, but the dining/sitting room is plenty comfortable with a fire. 

Best Regards

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Technically, today was a rest day…

but we still got up early and went hiking.  It would have been hard not to get out of bed with a stunning sunrise lighting up Kwangde - the giant and jagged peak across the valley to our west.  We hiked up a steep hill (everything out of Namche is steep) to Syangboche and then traversed through yak pastures until we reached a tea house at 12,400 ft for our first views of Ama Dablam and Lhotse.  There were some clouds playing through the area that prevented our seeing Everest.  We sat outside, drank tea, and watched.  At one point we could see Everest’s South Summit, but the true summit never quite cleared for us.  We packed up and headed back down into Namche to rest and browse through the many shops for the afternoon. 

Tomorrow we’ll push a little higher in our move to Thame.

Best Regards

Dave

It was a crystal clear and bright morning in Phakding.  We started walking at 8AM along the charging, frothing, roaring river.  Before long we could see Thamserku towering 10,000 feet above us.  The rock and ice was in stark contrast to the lush farmland we walked through.  A couple of hours in, we reached the entrance to the Sagarmatha National Park.  The team ate an early lunch at a tea house in Jorsalle before getting on with the big work of the day -climbing the Namche Hill.  It began with a walk across a very high cable bridge and then we set ourselves to walking slow and steady up switchbacks in a thick pine forest.  Things clouded up -predictably- as the day went on. We gained 2000 feet and finally turned the corner into Namche Bazaar at around 2PM.  We were relieved to pull into Camp De Base. Calling it a tea house doesn’t really do the place justice as it has become a fine hotel by any standard.  We rested and rehydrated for the afternoon and evening, getting used to life at 11,300 ft. 

Best Regards

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Things went a little smoother today.  Weather in Kathmandu was improved. There were still some clouds but no rain when we got to the airport at 6 AM.  In no time at all we were getting on board the AStar B3 helicopter bound for Lukla.  It was exciting and exhilarating to get up out of the Kathmandu Valley and to see the Himalayan peaks rising in a line to the North.  They were impossibly big and steep and beautiful with the first rays of the sun finding them.  We flew for about 45 minutes and caught a clear -but brief- glimpse of Mount Everest stabbing into the sky before we landed in the shadows down in Lukla. 

Our trek began with a good breakfast.  We set out walking at 9:30 and started downhill.  This part of the valley is all forest and farmland with a big violent river charging through the middle.  There was plenty to see as we followed our Sherpa guides, Dawa, Tenzing and Tsangdu.  Finally we crossed the river a little after noon and pulled into Phakding.  We lunched and then napped away the afternoon at 8600 ft of elevation.  By dinner time the tea house had filled with trekkers recounting their exciting first day on the trail. 

Best Regards

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Not so much to report today.  We were up early and off to the airport to begin our Gokyo trek.  But it was raining as we passed through the streets of Kathmandu.  It turned out that it was rainy and cloudy at our destination -Lukla- as well.  Our gear was loaded on the helicopter and everyone and everything was ready… except for the weather.  There were periods of clearing at either Kathmandu or Lukla, but never at both.  And ultimately, by 2 PM (we’d been at the airport since 6 AM) the weather was still bad at both ends and getting worse.  We called it quits for the day.  So we finished back at the comfortable -and increasingly familiar- Yak and Yeti hotel.  We’ll give it another try tomorrow. 

Best Regards

RMI Guides Dave Hahn

We began the day with a team meeting over breakfast.  The intention was to get everybody squared away on the details of preparing for our Gokyo trek.  But the coffee was good and plentiful, so our business meeting just turned into a story-telling session as caffeine levels rose.  At 10 AM we set out with Naraj for a tour of the city.  During the ride through busy streets, Naraj explained the mix of Hindu and Buddhist religions and the various ethnic groups making up Nepali Society. 

Our first stop was the Swayambhu Temple -known as the monkey temple for the great number of monkeys scaling the stupas and Buddha statues.  We  were lucky -on this partly cloudy day- to get great views of the city from the hilltop temple.  Next stop was Boudinath Stupa.  We made a circuit and then visited a school for artists constructing mandalas.  We finished our outing with a relaxing lunch on a rooftop overlooking the giant stupa. 

Back at the Yak and Yeti, we used the afternoon to finish organizing gear for an early trip to the airport tomorrow morning.  With all preparations complete we set out in a downpour bound for dinner.  Luckily the walk was only 5-10 minutes.  An impressive amount of monsoon rain fell while we were eating.  And an even more impressive amount fell as we were walking back to the hotel afterward. 

Best Regards

RMI Guides Dave Hahn

The 2023 RMI Gokyo Trek Team hasn’t accomplished much yet… but we sure are tired.  We each arrived in Kathmandu, via separate routes, in the last day or so.  By modern travel standards, we are lucky!  No flight cancellations, no hijacked luggage.  We all made it.  But those deluxe, extra length flights and passing over half the planet’s time zones has us sleepy.  We started the program with an easy and enjoyable dinner in our hotel “The Yak and Yeti”.  Perhaps tomorrow we’ll have more bandwidth for looking around the dining room and lobby to recognize the climbing celebrities present.  This evening we just needed a little sustenance before turning in.  Kathmandu was rainy today.  Tomorrow, when we’re rested and ready to explore our surroundings, it will certainly be better. 

Best Regards,

RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Hello everyone,

We spent our final day yesterday touring Tarangire National Park, which is home to more elephants per square kilometer than any place on earth and it didn’t disappoint. There were plenty of other animals as usual, and we got pretty close which was amazing. There were also plenty of the other large African mammals, including a bunch of Giraffes and even a leopard napping in a tree.

We ended our day at a remote and off grid camp within the National Park and surrounded by wildlife. The camp has screened in rooms that allow the night sounds and smells of Africa in.

It's been a memorable experience for everyone with great friendships forged. But finally it's time to return home to our families and loved ones.

Thanks for following!

RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Safari crew!