RMI Expeditions Blog
It's winter!!! Maybe I'm a little too excited but we made it to
Camp Muir and the entire team is doing great. We endured the wind, rain and snow allowing everyone to learn the number one expedition skill...how to take care of ourselves in foul weather. We are busy sipping hot chocolate and there's a mug with my name on it!
RMI Guide JJ Justman
Monday, May 27, 2013
We are resting today! Nothing much to report but a trip to the 6,000' drop into the Northeast Fork of the Kahiltna known as the "Edge of the World" where we took some photos. Otherwise we relaxed and enjoyed the perfect weather on our first full day rest of the entire expedition. The team is doing well and excited for the big push ahead! We are hoping to move to high camp tomorrow and make a summit attempt soon thereafter!
Ciao from 14k,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
Sunday, May 26, 2013
We had a big day today and per the norm our team crushed it. We set out from 14 camp around 10:30 this morning hoping to get a cache of food, fuel, and gear in place for our high camp at 17,200'. Most teams are content caching somewhere along the ridgeline of the
West Buttress and picking up the needed supplies on their way by during the move to 17 camp. Our crew was strong enough to climb all the way up the buttress and place our cache right in the middle of high camp. This will play to our advantage on the move day, enabling us to travel with lighter loads thus conserving energy for our summit push. The day ended up being one of our longest and hardest yet at around 8.5 hours round trip but will serve as good training for the harder and longer days to come. Anyway, we are back in camp relaxing in the evening sun and looking forward to tomorrow's well-earned rest day.
All for now,
Billy
On The Map
The
Four Day Summit Climb led by
Adam Knoff and
Walter Hailes turned at the top of Disappointment Cleaver as a weather system quickly moved in on them making for an exciting descent back to Camp Muir. Both teams will continue their descent to Paradise and then to Rainier Basecamp this afternoon.
As the climbing season on
Mt. Rainier gets underway, I want to acknowledge the hard training that has been logged. For climbers attempting mid or late season expeditions, I also want to offer encouragement for the remaining weeks and months ahead.
The Fit To Climb training program is rigorous and to complete it in its entirety requires a substantial commitment of time and effort. Do people follow it to-the-letter? Sometimes yes, often no - people become ill, work or family situations come up and the best plans work on the basis of flexibility.
A quote I find useful is, "My current circumstances do not determine the outcome, merely the point from where I begin." No matter where my fitness is today, my job is to make the best of the remaining time between now and my climb. Practically, I'll assess things in order of importance and re-evaluate strengths. For example, I have a Mt. Rainier climb on July 11th. I'll be a little short on training time during the next month so I need to improvise and adapt. I feel that I have the muscular strength I need now and I'd like to be better prepared to 'go long' and to improve hiking efficiency. So, in order of importance, long hikes, back-to-back long hikes, and stair intervals will go in my calendar as priorities. I'll also pay close attention to
rest and
nutrition to ensure that I can recover well.
I'll also make sure that I focus my attention during training to ensure that I'm doing each session in a way that ensures quality results. For me, that means attention to detail; everything from gear to food - and a full effort, especially on
interval training.
A paradox of training for a major climb is that we want to set the bar high in training in order to replicate the demands we'll have during the expedition, however, we also want to maintain confidence if we fall short of a training session or goal. It's rarely a linear process; sometimes we feel awful just when we expected to be strong, sometimes our perfect plan goes sideways, and sometimes we feel doubt when everything has been completed perfectly.
As you start the final push, think of the key elements of success: Maintain momentum, rest when you need to, push hard when you feel strong, and constantly think about how you can recover well. And most importantly, be confident that your efforts will pay off; many people have climbed and succeeded in their goals while having not completed all of the training or while feeling sub-par. I remind myself that one can miss a few classes and still graduate. It's progress, not perfection, that counts.
- John Colver
Have a question? See the
Fit To Climb FAQ for explanations of specific exercises and general pointers to help you through the Fit To Climb Program.
John Colver is a longtime climber, former mountain guide, and certified personal trainer with the American Council of Exercise. Colver introduced outdoor fitness classes to athletic clubs throughout the greater Puget Sound region before creating his
adventX brand. Currently, adventX leads training programs in Seattle and Colver presents clinics on outdoor fitness at companies such as Microsoft, Boeing, the American Lung Association, and REI. Colver lives in Seattle, and is working on his second book,
Fit to Climb - a 16 week Mount Rainier Fitness Program.
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Mike Walter & crew rolled into 11,200' Camp tonight at dinner time looking surprisingly good for just having summited and descending from 17,200' today. They're planning on getting an alpine start tonight in order to descend the lower
Kahiltna Glacier while it's frozen.
They'll be drinking beers and eating steak soon.
Our hats are off to the entire team. Congratulations all!
RMI Guide Brent Okita
The
Four Day Summit Climb led by Tyler Jones and the Five Day Summit Climb led by Pete Van Deventer were forced to turn their climbs at 11,000’ due to limited visibility, high avalanche conditions, and blowing snow. The teams are descending the Muir Snowfield en route to Paradise and will be back in Ashford later this morning.
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Bagels fried in butter, slathered in cream cheese and accompanied with smoked salmon and bacon. It was the perfect fuel to start us out on the perfect day. Clear, calm skies prevailed over the
Alaska Range once again and shortly after 9:30 we were hoofing it down to pick up our cache at 9500'. Everyone cruised up and down, allowing us a quasi rest day upon our return to camp around 1:00.
A little afternoon training with our crampons and ice axes will serve us well as we start climbing some steeper terrain tomorrow. Motorcycle Hill, Squirrel Hill, the Polo Field and Windy Corner will be some of the areas we'll climb through on our way to caching a bunch of food and supplies at 13,500'. We're looking forward to an exciting and challenging day.
As we were preparing to settle in for our dinner of burritos we got a pleasant surprise when the first RMI trip arrived in camp after summiting on a perfect day yesterday. It is exciting to see our friends, and certainly gets us stoked for the climbing to come. We're hoping for some similar conditions when it comes our turn to go for the summit. But for now, we'll just concentrate on the matter at hand. Getting our cache to 13,500'.
We'll be getting up fairly early in order to get back to camp with time to relax and prepare for the next day.
Until then ...
RMI Guides
Brent, Logan, Leah
On The Map
Saturday, May 25, 2013:
Hi All!
Our team is safely back at high camp after a successful summit bid today! Our entire team made it to the top and we enjoyed near perfect weather and route conditions! We left camp at 9:30 this morning and were standing
on the roof of North America at 4:45 pm. After taking photos, exchanging high fives and hugs, and enjoying amazing views we descended towards camp in the evening glow of Alaska sunshine and with the anticipation of hot tea and a warm dinner.
We are all excited to begin our decent tomorrow and look forward to talking to all our friends and family in a few days!
Cheers!
RMI Guides Solveig, Mike, Ben, and the McKinley Team
On The Map
The sun doesn't set at
11,200' camp until after 9:30 sometime. Then it just passes behind a mountain to cast shadows on this place that we're now calling home. And we're soaking it all up after another nice day of climbing.
Today we made it to camp in under four hours, and for the first time had pretty reasonable sized packs. A cool down-glacier breeze offered us a change of pace from the sweat fest of the lower glacier, and I think most of the team welcomed the drop in temperature.
Pulling into camp in the early afternoon allowed us to walk into a vacated camp spot and relieved us of the tough work of building walls and excavating tent platforms. Most of us relaxed and enjoyed a well deserved break from our toils.
Another first for the trip: we enjoyed a fine meal from the comfort of our Posh House. This is a tent like thing that allows us all to sit, cook and eat, protected from the elements like the wind, cold, snow or even sun. It's cozy and makes it fun to just linger over a couple of hot drinks and enjoy each others company.
Tomorrow we'll be doing a back carry to pick up the cache we left there this morning. We're looking forward to a fairly easy day, and hopefully another great day of weather.
Before we sign off, Ayla wants to give a big shout out to her sister. Happy Birthday Eva! (By the way, your sister Ayla is a rock star - she's doing great.)
Until tomorrow ...
RMI Guide Brent Okita
On The Map
First and foremost, the biggest event of the day was Pete's birthday--
14K on a sunny day is not a bad place for a party.
Today was a bit a work and a bit of play, or rest anyway. We started by moving the 13,600' cache. We moved the cache and carried the cache to 14K. Resting at the cache spot before our carry, we could hear the water flowing underground, deep under the glacier. The trip back to camp was smooth and everyone arrived back far from flippy-floppy. We enjoyed a relaxing afternoon in the peaceful oasis of our surroundings. Though we all could certainly get used to that lifestyle, we're also eager to make the most of this weather and the team's strength, so we're heading off to bed soon to get ready for tomorrow's carry up the fixed lines.
RMI Guide Kel Rossiter
On The Map
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hope all is well hope my friend sees there wish her luck there Bri
Posted by: jerry stinnett on 5/31/2013 at 8:18 pm
Sending our hugs, kisses, and stay safe, warm wishes!
... Love JB, Jo Jo Tater Tot, Mother of Pearl and Oly Girl. Xoxoxo
Posted by: Taylor girls on 5/28/2013 at 8:53 pm
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