RMI Expeditions Blog
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Southside
What a day, what a day!
We started the day off with a nice walking tour of this majestic city with our kind Russian guide Natasha. She led us around St. Petersburg stopping by the major highlights this city is know for and educated us to its deep history. We visited the Church of the Savior of Spilled Blood, St. Peter's Square, and St. Isaac's Cathedral along with many other beautiful sites. We took a brief break for lunch and explored a little on our own. Most of the team visited the Hermitage know for its incredible art collection, while others sought out their own adventure.
We reconvened around 8 and Natasha took us on a spectacular boat tour on the many canals that intertwine this city. The day was very rewarding for everyone and I'm pretty sure everyone would love to stay longer.
It has been a wonderful adventure the last two weeks with a great team! In a way it's sad that we've reached the end of this trip. Good times were had and good friends were made!
Missing all of our families and most of our friends.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Mark Tucker calling from camp number one on Kilimanjaro, Machame Camp, about 10,000 feet. What a great day. Got out of our low lands, slick-slick. Team was already, packed, started our hike at the gate under perfect conditions. A little bit overcast, kind of cool in the canopy of the lower flanks of Kilimanjaro. What a group. So thrilled with performances today. Everybody did fantastic. And right towards the end of the hike coming into camp, the mountain started to show the upper reaches. That just thrilled one and all and gave us that last little boost to come into camp. Bit chilly right now. It's 9 or 10 in the evening and we're all bedded down after real nice meal. Everybody's got a good appetite. I have quite the international crew: three Norwegians, a Puerto Rican, a guy from Mexico and a few US on the team. Really fun getting to know them; we are all having a gas and will check in tomorrow.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
RMI Guide Mark Tucker calls in from Machame Camp.
On The Map
Posted by: Paul Maier, Mike Haugen
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Four Day Summit Climb led by Jason Thompson reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. The team reported a beautiful day with clear views and winds at about 25 – 30 mph. They also reported that the route work recently done made for great climbing.
The Kautz seminar led by Mike Haugen also checked in this morning. The team topped out via the Kautz Route and began their descent at 9:15 a.m. Mike and team will stay on the mountain one more night and be back to Ashford tomorrow.
The Paradise Glacier Seminar led by Garrett Stevens is on day 3 of their 6-day seminar. They will spend two more days lower on the mountain before moving up to Camp Muir for their summit bid.
Beautiful day on the mountain!
We woke to a starry sky and calm winds last night, perfect conditions for our summit attempt on Chimborazo. We had altered our plans because the volcano Tungurahua, to the east of Chimborazo, was spitting out ash two mornings ago. So, instead of establishing a high camp in tents, we attempted our climb from the lower climbers' hut. We had our work cut out for us, with about 5,000 vertical feet of climbing, and a circuitous route to avoid the current rock fall hazard on the normal route up Chimborazo. Fortunately the weather cooperated all day for us, and we had a very strong and experienced team, and we were able to summit Chimborazo! We had a very, very long day of hard climbing. We started climbing in the dark, and got back to the climbers' hut a few hours after dark. We encountered steep and firm climbing conditions on Chimborazo, which made climbing and descending particularly slow as we had to concentrate on good cramponing and climbing techniques for hours on end. Our team proved up to the challenge, and we climbed safely the whole day. In the end, it was one heck of an adventure.
We're headed back to Quito now, and we should be at our hotel just slightly after noon. We'll have plenty of time to enjoy leisurely walking around the city (after a much anticipated hot shower!) before we have a celebratory dinner tonight. Then it's back to the old US of A on our respective flights tonight and tomorrow.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
WOW!! Nice job team! Way to go! Wishing the whole time that I was there with you!
Congrats to all of you!
Sounds like a heck of a climb!! Can’t wait to hear all about it!
Posted by: Anthony Tarantino on 7/16/2013 at 11:48 am
Hey Jeff, congrats on Chimbo! Sounds like you had another tough one, can never take the easy way, huh?!
Nicely done.
Your Argentinean tent mate.
Posted by: Greg Barber on 7/16/2013 at 8:54 am
Monday, July 15th, 2013
It was still very calm at 14K camp this morning, but it was obvious that the next storm system was moving in. So we moved out. At 9:15 we pulled out of Genet Basin and dragged our sleds to Windy Corner. The going was easy as others had plowed a nice trough through the recent snows. There has to be some advantage to being the very last team to come off the mountain. We made it around the corner, down the Polo Field, across Squirrel Hill and down Motorcycle in about two hours. At 11,000' we dug up our cache of food, snowshoes, and miscellaneous gear and took about an hour to reorganize. Then it was down to the main Kahiltna Glacier in excellent condition for travel. It only took us two hours to make the bottom of Ski Hill. By that point, however, glacier surface conditions were getting soggy and slushy -as expected. So we built camp to wait for the cool of night before going the last few miles to the airstrip. We need the freeze to firm up about a thousand snow bridges over crevasses between here and Basecamp. It is a relief to be low again. Our first time in over two weeks to be taking in so much oxygen with each breath. And we aren't even remotely cold after conditioning to the frigid heights of Denali. There is a downside, of course... there are smells again. The one in the guide tent has been described as "hot garbage."
Perhaps we will make it to Talkeetna and showers tomorrow morning.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Southside
It was another long day here in Russia, but the team has finally arrived in beautiful St. Petersburg. We spent most of the day traveling and have just finished the day with a wonderful Indian meal and a nice stroll to stretch the legs.
Everyone is doing great and we are looking forward to taking in the sights tomorrow.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Posted by: Mark Tucker
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Kilimanjaro
The team, as well as our luggage, is here at the Dik Dik Hotel. We caught up on some jet lag with one member saying, "Best sleep ever." After a nice breakfast, we had an orientation meeting then went straight into equipment checks. So important to take the time to start a climb with what you need for any mountain. The team came well prepared as very little was missing.
Once the team was organized for the climb, we had time to check out the local sights. Some of the team made a trip to Arusha, a nearby city, while others hiked around our neighborhood visiting shops, schools and an orphanage. We are all doing well and looking forward to the start of the climb tomorrow.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Posted by: Billy Nugent, Solveig Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The Four Day Summit Climb led by Billy Nugent and the Five Day Summit Climb led by Solveig Waterfall reached the summit of Mt. Rainier just after 7 am today.
The teams reported clear skies, calm winds and pleasant temperatures. They spent over an hour on the summit before starting their descent to Camp Muir. The teams will take a short break at Camp Muir to rest and repack before continuing down to Paradise.
Congratulations to today's Summit Climbers!
Jennifer and Nick…I am so happy for you. You are awesome!
Posted by: Karen Pratte on 7/15/2013 at 9:20 am
Posted by:
Categories: Mountaineering Fitness & Training
Mt. Rainier, everyday, when it’s not cloudy … I get to see Mt. Rainier. Ever since I moved to the Seattle area 10 years ago, I’ve been looking at that mountain, knowing that I would summit it someday. This September, with RMI Expeditions, I will be able to attempt the climb and hope that the mountain allows me to summit. Every day for the past 8 months I have been waking up and heading to the gym at 4 AM to work out. I have been part of a fitness program getting back into shape, and now, down 80lbs, I have been inspired to make my summit a reality this fall. The great thing about living in the Pacific Northwest is that I get to look at the mountain almost daily and it serves as a constant reminder of what I am training for. That training has to be incorporated into a very busy life, balancing my work and family schedules, but as many I have talked with, every bit of training you do is more ‘fuel’ in your tank for when you summit - that is what drives me to get up every morning. As someone who works in marketing for a major software company in Redmond, my days are kept very busy, and 9 - 10hr work days on top of training is at times challenging to keep up with. The way I keep life balanced is by starting my days early as it helps me get in what I need to at the gym and allows for some quiet time in the office to catch up on email before the busyness of the day begins. My days look like the following:
• 4 AM: Alarm goes off and I drag myself out of bed.
• 5 AM: At the gym to get in a 60 - 90 minute workout doing either circuit training, or a mountain conditioning class at the Pro Sports Club.
• Around 7 AM I am into work for a full day.
• 4 PM: I either head home for the day to relax or I head to Tiger Mountain’s cable line trail for training on Tuesdays & Thursdays.
• Eat dinner when I get home.
• 8:30-9 PM: Head to bed to rest for another busy day.
Right now I’m doing a combination of circuit training and a mountain conditioning course Monday - Thursday at the gym and on Fridays I workout my bigger muscle groups and do a short 30 min on cardio. On Monday and Wednesday after work I head to the driving range to mix it up a bit and have some fun. Tuesday and Thursdays are my big days where I have both mountain conditioning and I head up and do the Tiger Mountain Cable Line Trail (1000 vertical feet in a little over a mile). I use Fridays to recover and I do major hikes for training over the weekends, and try to include my wife on some of these more “fun” hikes.
Balancing the heavy training schedule with work and a family is very tricky, but I also remember this is only for a short period of life, and I am constantly reminded of the goal ahead when I catch a glimpse of Mt. Rainier peeking out from the clouds.
- Jeff Marcoux
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Jeff Marcoux is an avid hiker & lover of micro brews who lives with his wife in Seattle, WA.
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Zeb Blais, Mike King
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 14,200'
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Sunday, July 14th, 2013
Back at 14K. A couple of long, hard, exhilarating days have come and gone. When we left 14,200' two days ago, we were happy to even have a chance at getting to 17,200'. It wasn't certain that we'd get there with the leftovers from that two-foot snowstorm. And as we moved up, we were aware that teams were coming down from 17,200' because of avalanche conditions between there and the summit. But we had a perfect day for moving up and we weren't used to perfect days on this trip... we took advantage. The going was a little slow, what with trail-breaking, but it was better than we expected to find. We were able to walk on avalanche debris for a good portion of the approach to the fixed ropes. The climb up along the crest of the buttress was spectacular and difficult with our big packs, but all handled it well. It took 8.5 hours to reach camp at 17,200'. When we got there we were overwhelmed at the generosity of the teams who'd been waiting there for days. They gave us water and helped to build our tents... And most importantly, they pointed out that recent winds had virtually eliminated the avalanche hazard on the route to Denali Pass. They were going for the top in the morning and we were invited. It was just a matter of whether we could get camp up, dinner down, and people in sleeping bags fast enough that the team would be rested for a try on the top. The next day dawned cloudless and windless and our teams were all enthusiastic about a chance to climb. We took off at 10:20 AM just behind Rob Galler with AMS and Dennis with AAI. We'd discussed things extensively and were determined that the last guided parties of the season would work together to achieve this unexpected summit. Rob did a lot of the hard work breaking trail on the steep slopes to Denali Pass. We took over a little past the Football Field to make a route up to and along the summit ridge. Throughout the day, it seemed nearly unbelievable that on a storm-plagued trip, we'd get such a perfect opportunity for the top. The wind never blew and we were comfortable the entire day... no freezing hands, faces or feet. We hit the summit at 6:40 PM and stayed there for an hour, taking pictures, shaking hands and marveling at our good fortune. A few thousand careful steps later, we pulled into high camp at 11:30 PM.
Everyone worked to get some dinner down before turning in. The guides were up for hours more, melting snow and filling water bottles. It seemed a great gift that the good weather continued into this morning. It is always rough packing up at 17K after a summit day, but it was made immeasurably easier by the calm, sunny morning. We set out at 1:00 PM and climbed ever so carefully down the narrow ridge crest and the steep fixed ropes with our giant packs. It was quite hot by the time we reached 14,200' and it seemed a good idea to set camp rather than chancing rockfall around Windy Corner. Tomorrow will be another big day as we'll try to make it to 8000', putting ourselves in position to go out the lower glacier early the following morning. Probably too much to ask, to get another nice day, but we'll ask anyway.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Awesome adventure Super Dave, thank you so much for taking my brother to the top. I can’t even begin to imagine how outstanding the view was from atop Denali, with still winds and clear skies, oh my! Dave, please tell my brother he now qualifies as a Sourdough, no more Cheechako.
Posted by: Johnny Stevens on 7/15/2013 at 1:41 pm
Scott,
Congratulations to you and the rest of your team for a succcessful and hard earned summit climb. Sounds like the weather conditions were perfect and the views from the the highest peak in North America were spectacular. Hope you took a lot of pictures. Best wishes for a safe descent and look forward to seeing you and hearing some interesting stories about the climb.
Mom & Dad
Posted by: Wayne Adaska on 7/15/2013 at 9:03 am
Congratulations to you all! you made it, crazy Uncle Dan!
Posted by: Jennifer Robinson on 7/16/2013 at 2:49 pm
Congrats to everyone. So proud of my son John and his buddy Andrew! Hope you had the time of your life!
Posted by: Pattie Campbell on 7/16/2013 at 2:30 pm
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