There I was, putting one foot in front of the other, over and over and over again. I knew what everyone was thinking. Who's going to the Super Bowl!! And thanks to one of our team members little go go gadgets, his wife texted the final scores. Go Seahawks! Go Broncos! Who cares, Green Bay isn't in it.
The team packed up base camp and moved outta base camp. On move days the packs are always heavier loaded with tents and kitchen gear. Everyone did fantastic and we are now settled into our new home at 16,600 feet on Aconcagua. We just finished with some hot soup. It's like I always say, you have to put money in the bank. We used up some good energy getting here and you have to replenish and put energy back in to keep the bank account at a million bucks.
Speaking of a million bucks, anyone want to place some bets on the Super Bowl!?
RMI Guide JJ Justman
Good morning! We've moved on from La Malinche and are currently enjoying the best breakfast in Mexico at the Mission Tlaxcala. After breakfast we're headed for the village of Amecameca and then on to the base camp at Ixta. Our plan is to get an acclimatization hike in this afternoon and tomorrow head to high camp.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
Taylor….we all wish we were back there with you. Can’t wait to see your photos…I hope Seth makes guacamole as well as JJ and Solveig!!! Climb on my friend!!
Posted by: Debbi LaPrevotte on 1/21/2014 at 4:44 am
The use of trekking poles during climbs (in appropriate terrain) can dramatically reduce your expended effort, allow you to move more efficiently, and ultimately let you climb longer and further. Trekking poles help us to balance, taking some of the work away from the small muscles in our feet and ankles responsible for balancing, and involving the core and skeleton instead. They also help enormously when it comes to managing a large and unwieldy backpack. There are ways to use and hold trekking poles that improve their efficiency.
A common question is how long should the poles be? For climbers’ purposes, trekking poles should be significantly shorter than most would think: right around hip height. By setting our poles at hip height, and holding the pole by placing the palm on the top of the grip and draping fingers over the pole, the skeleton can take much of the load from the pole, reducing fatigue and effort. The shorter height allows the bones of the arm to stack over each other, taking the load rather than the muscles. Remember, this is not cross country skiing and having the pole tall and out in front of you only means more, yet less effective, work for your arms.
Another element to think about is how overly active arms can actually create more exertion for your body. Imagine that you were hiking up a set of stairs. Now put a tall pair of poles in your hand, and hike the same stairs while you try to push yourself up with the poles at the same time. Rather than two of your limbs working hard to move your mass uphill (lots of work already!) all four are doing the job; only your arms, working out in front of you, act as levers instead of pistons (like your legs) so they are mechanically much less suited to the task. But, by moving your arms and trying to push on those levers, your heart rate will rise with the extra exertion; the result is a higher heart rate, earlier fatigue, and less efficient use of your system if your poles are out in front of you (like a cross country skier). Even with the poles set to hip height, we see this happen often on steep rolls, when climbers don’t lower their grip on the pole to keep their hands at a comfortable height. Once the hands are above the heart, they have little effect on balance or upward motion, and the heart has to work harder to pump blood uphill to them. Through small steep terrain features it's key to choke up on your poles to avoid this.
These are not absolute principles but suggestions. Play with them during your training to teach yourself to move more comfortably and efficiently with poles. It will pay big dividends on your next climb, and can help to take some of the training stress of hiking up and downhill with heavy packs, off of your joints, helping to prevent injury!
Questions? Comments? Share your thoughts here on the RMI Blog!
Thanks for the tips! Would definitely want to have a trekking pole myself brought on hiking.
Posted by: Marge on 5/25/2016 at 10:57 pm
I’m doing the Ironman Lake Tahoe as a training program for my Mountaineering goals. What are your thoughts? If I do well with the Ironman at 6,000+ feet in elevation will this be more than plenty of training? I have 9 months until the race. After the race I expect to be in the best shape of my life.
Hey this is Seth checking in from La Malinche over here in Mexico. We just had a great day climbing up the mountain actually of La Malinche. We made it to just about 13,500' from our cabanas here at 10,000 feet. It was getting to be around 4:15 at that point so we turned around, descended back down here to 10,000' and just finished with a nice dinner and we're getting tucked in. There's actually TVs in the room here so we were able to pipe in the Seahawks-49ers game. We started a fire in the fireplace and we're gonna watch them. [Connection lost.]
Tomorrow the team will depart La Malinche and drive toward Ixtaccihuatl's Altzomoni Hut.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall calls in with a team update.
Cotopaxi summit!
We woke up at 11pm to a breakfast of coffee, tea, oatmeal and bread. We finished our packing in the dark with the rest of the hut's inhabitants before beginning our 9-hour summit bid. We got off to a bit of a stressful start when we realized that someone from a different climbing group had accidentally taken Adam's climbing helmet, but we weren't going to let that get in the way of our climb. (The helmet was returned later in the afternoon, once we returned to the huts after the climb.)
It was windy and snowy as we stepped outside around midnight, and that continued for the first hour during the hike up to the toe of the glacier. But soon after donning our crampons and ice axes, the weather mellowed out and the good luck we've been having with the weather on this trip continued for the rest of our ascent: the clouds cleared, the winds died down, and for the next 5 hours to the summit, the weather could only be described as mild and pleasant. At one point, we could see an active lightening storm beyond the lights of Quito and were grateful that we weren't experiencing the same.
The initial climbing on the glacier was steep, but not too difficult. These moderate angles soon gave way to steeper slopes that had us rest-stepping our way up. The dry snow made traction difficult (even with our crampons), so as the terrain became more exposed, we had to kick hard with our feet to really gain purchase. An exhausting endeavor at 19k feet!
In 6 hours and 15 minutes, we had made it to the top! The group's previous high altitude climbing on Cayambe and Antisana had definitely gotten us into shape for this climb. We moved well and as a team the entire way up! As we pulled on to the summit, the sun was just beginning to rise and we got a quick look into the summit crater. We didn't stay for long, though, since the winds picked up as we snapped our group photo. After 15 minutes up top, we began our descent.
Not only was our group strong on the ascent, but we rocked our descent, too! Despite some rather high winds at times, knocking us around a bit on narrow ridges, we continued to move well and made it back to the hut in just under three hours.
Back at the huts, we packed up our gear and descended to the parking lot, where we met up again with Victor and the magic bus. We were whisked away to La Cienega, a hotel that looks more "castle" than "hacienda", and after taking showers, we met up over dinner and a couple of games of Wits and Wagers, reflecting on our trip as a whole.
Tomorrow we head back to Quito and begin our journey back home. See you soon!
RMI Guide Nick Hunt
We will spend the day taking showers in our Cabelas shower tent, ordering pizzas and perfecting the art of chillaxing. Finally, the sun is out in full effect so we are also charging phones and iPads. Tonight will be a marathon session of The Wire.
Today's rest really isn't needed. Our team is doing great! However, at this altitude we can recover back to 110% before we move to Camp 1 at 16,600' tomorrow. Stay tuned and please keep posting comments! The team appreciates it.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
Buenas Tardes! The team is all here and excited to kick off the Mexico's Volcanoes trip. Everyone arrived today and we had our first team meeting in the evening. Some of the group went on to bed while the rest of us went out for a delicious Mexican dinner.
We made an early night of it since tomorrow we hit the ground running and head for our first destination, La Malinche.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
This is Adam Knoff from the Ecuador Skills Seminar. I am happy to announce that we have successfully summitted Cotopaxi this morning on a glorious, calm day. People could say it was in great style. I am very proud of the team for their efforts as it took some fortitude to get up on a cold and windy day. The expedition seminar has concluded its climbing on the mountains and we are happy to be tucked in here at La Cienega and drinking cervezas and very comfortable. Everything is fabulous. We will touch base tomorrow. Gracias. Adios.
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
RMI Guide Adam Knoff calls in after Cotopaxi summit.
It's a cold, cold world.
We woke up and fired the stoves at about 3:30 this morning and things were looking good: clear skies, bright moon, and calm winds. We scarfed a quick breakfast, had a quick cup of coffee, packed up, and hit the not so dusty trail. The consistent snowfall of the past week has blanketed the mountain so what is normally a gravelly trail out of Cólera was a very snowy sendero. Our team moved well, per the norm, despite the large number of other climbers clogging the route and before too long we had climbed past the Indepencia Hut (ruins) and hit the traverse into the Canaleta. At some point along the way we found ourselves no longer enjoying the clear skies but instead traveling under consistent snowfall. In fact it was snowing heavily and visibility was poor. Despite the worsening weather the snowpack seemed ok until we reached the center of the traverse. Walt and myself headed out further without the group and found the normally gravelly trail under several feet of snow. In fact the whole Canaleta was smoothed over with the storm snow. Every other team on the mountain had already turned around due to avalanche hazard but we hadn't seen anything worth turning around until the deep storm layer that we encountered in the lower Canaleta. While the snow didn't seem super reactive the steeper part of the Canaleta was surely more dangerous and there was no way to see without exposing ourselves to the hazard. With worsening weather and continued snowfall we decided that the dire consequences of an incident were too much for us to shoulder. We weren't willing to bet our lives on it so we did the smart thing and turned around at 21,500'. Now we are back at high camp and the weather is still crappy. So much for the forecasted sunny day...
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
Sorry to hear you didnt make it to the top this time but I’m glad you made a smart decision and did what was best. I’m sure it was still quite an adventure and Mike, can’t wait to see the pictures when you get home. Safe travels back to the States!
-Rich
Posted by: Rich on 1/22/2014 at 10:47 am
Billy k- you have accomplished so much on this trio. Even without the summit you must have so many stories. I can’t wait to hear all about! Now get you butt home :) !
Today we carried to 16,600 on Aconcagua. We enjoyed a cool morning with snow and a light breeze. The entire team cruised through our breaks to arrive at Camp 1 with a small piece of blue sky. The scree which is typically dry and loose was covered in snow, making the climbing more enjoyable. The team returned to Base Camp just in time for weather to roll in and snack before siesta. Rest day tomorrow!
RMI Guide Mike King
Michael…We are enjoying your blog posts. Checking in with Abby today. Love, Mom
Posted by: Diana King on 1/19/2014 at 6:28 am
Bissell, for some reason, my messages do not seem to be getting through. The kids and I miss you terribly, as does Atticus of course. The pictures are wonderful and I try to imagine what it must be like to be surrounded by such beauty. So proud of you. Love you.
Keeping pushing forward, dad (Lew Smith)! I know you are doing awesome! So proud of you!!!
Love ya,
Kyle
Posted by: Kyle A. Smith on 1/23/2014 at 8:50 am
Go Diane! from the Nissan TMG team
Posted by: Ed Nicholson on 1/22/2014 at 12:04 pm
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