RMI Guides Casey Grom and Adam Knoff are leading our first Expedition Skills Seminar - Muir of the 2013 season. Today they are spending the day at Rainier Basecamp preparing for their next five days on Mt. Rainier. Team introductions, gear organizing, and technical training is on their agenda.
While the team was testing out their boots on a hike from Basecamp, they ran into Lou Whittaker, the man who started RMI 44 years ago! Some stories were told and photos were taken, then it was back to training.
The team is anxious to head up on the mountain tomorrow!
"Pigs" is the term of endearment climbers use to describe any heavy load on a climb. On Denali our "pigs" are our sleds, and today we took them for their first walk. The team woke to a bluebird day--welcome after the days of gray--learned about packing, strapping, and roping up our sleds, and then took them out on the trail from Basecamp to 7,600'. Day one of "walking the pigs" can often be a porcine rodeo with lots of grappling and twisting going on, but this crew made it look more like walking poodles at the Westchester Dog Show. We're now at the base of Ski Hill, firing the skillet with fajitas, enjoying the stunning scenery up the Northeast Fork of the Kahiltna, and getting ready for tomorrow's push into steeper terrain--this crew is ready for it.
RMI Guide Kel Rossiter
Hey everybody, checking in from the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier where we are settled into Basecamp after a day of exciting weather. We woke this morning in Talkeetna to a couple inches of new snow on the ground and thought it was going to be another day of waiting around for flyable weather. But when I checked in with K2 at 8:00 they said it was actually clear at Basecamp and that as soon as the snow showers in town stopped we'd potentially be on our way.
Well, the clouds broke around noon and our intrepid crew loaded up onto a pair of otters and headed for the Alaska Range. Clouds enroute nearly forced us to turn around but our pilots were able to make it happen and delivered us safely to the Southeast Fork. Some unfortunate planes were forced to turn around after the runway shutdown because of a bank of clouds that rolled in soon after our arrival. These folks eventually made it in later on in the evening when everything cleared up. The views here are breathtaking, if a little humbling.
Wish us luck as we head out on the route first thing tomorrow!
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
Today we woke up with clear skies! After breakfast we shouldered our packs and went for a hike to the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier. The Fork offers spectacular views of the North Buttress of Mt. Hunter, South Face of Radio Tower, and the West Face of Kahiltna Queen. We also learned about snow anchors and glacier travel. It was really nice to be able to stretch our legs and hike around. It certainly was a fantastic day.
We also had the opportunity to eat dinner outside enjoying the incredible views. The weather is looking nice for the rest of the week, so we will be getting around.
Everyone is doing great!
RMI Guide Andres Marin
Wishing you and the team sunny skies for the remaining part of the trip.
Nicole
Posted by: Nicole areson on 5/20/2013 at 10:32 am
So glad the weather has cleared! The photo is awesome, I can’t wait to see the final pics of this spectacular region. Godspeed and I hope that the weather cooperates the rest of the week. JIm Vaughan
The Four Day Summit Climb led by Brent Okita and the Five Day Summit Climb led by Tyler Reid both reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning just after 7 am PT. Brent reported beautiful weather - bluebird skies without any wind. The low marine layer of clouds we are experiencing in Ashford tops out around 6,000' -7,000’.
The teams started their descent around 8:30 en route to Camp Muir. They will take a break there before continuing their descent to Paradise.
Congratulations to today's teams!
Awesome job, so glad you made it! So proud of my husband Curt! Yaaaay
Posted by: Rebecca McCLellan on 5/19/2013 at 5:01 pm
You did it! Scott I’m so excited to hear you made the summit! You must be so proud! I know I’m proud of you. I can’t wait to hear the stories! Safe travels home. I love you.
The weather has definitely been improving for us. The winds have calmed, and only light snow has fallen today. The storm produced a little over two feet of snow, with deeper drifts. Hopefully the improving trend continues and we can move camp tomorrow. We're all ready and rested for some more climbing.
That's all the news from up high today.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
Congratulations to the Four Day Summit Climb team led by Adam Knoff! They reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning! The team left Camp Muir with clear and pleasant weather. As the climb progressed a front moved in and the team experienced some light snowfall and 10 mph winds. They spent some time on the summit and began their descent at 9:15 a.m.
Woke up this morning to snow on the ground and sleet falling from the sky. It turns out that this doesn't make for the safest bush flights or glacier landings so we spent another day hanging out in Talkeetna. We ate a lot of food, hung out some, practiced crevasse rescue, hung out some more, and some of us even drank a couple beers. Tomorrow is calling for more of the same but with a chance of partial clearing later in the day. We have our fingers crossed...
More to come as our expedition gets off the ground,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
It is fascinating how much the weather can test us. One more day of a strong storm kept us in camp, but we find things to do to keep ourselves busy.
Here is how the day went for us:
Woke up with about a foot of new snow, had to do some maintenance in camp before any items got buried. Then time to eat breakfast. Lisa, Kahiltna Basecamp Manager, rallied everybody in basecamp to stomp the runway, then we did a class in avalanche decision making and transceiver and probing work. After dinner, Akira finished snow blocks to make an arch that marks the entrance of our bathroom. Impressive work!!! Now it is time for us to go sleep.
The strong front that is passing should start weakening tomorrow. High hopes for that.
We all are staying happy and learning from the mountain.
Living the dream!!!!
RMI Guide Andres Marin
Update 6:30 a.m. PST
Hey, this is Dave Hahn calling from Camp 1 with Seth Waterfall and Dan Johnson. We finally got out of Basecamp. We're on our way down for our summit bid. A beautiful day today for the start of it at least. And then about the time we were about mid morning or so when we were getting up here to Camp 1, the wind clouds and cloud caps started forming over the high peaks. Made us a little bit worried for our friends who were going to the summit today but sounds like things went well for the folks we know up there. And we know a number of people that left for the summit today so that is encouraging. In fact, with some of the cloud play up there, we were able to actually see people on top which I don't remember being able to do from Camp 1 before so that was pretty exciting. And neat to go through the Icefall again, actually very frightening to go through the Icefall again, but neat to work our muscles and get up here close to 20,000' again. Lam Babu and Yubaraj are up at Camp 2 tonight. And they're getting Camp 2 ready for our arrival tomorrow. That's our hope is to get up early in the morning tomorrow and move what should be a relatively easy day up to Camp 2. But like I say nice to be up here. We've been talking to Mark Tucker down at Basecamp. Sounds like all is going well and the forecast is still looking good for when we want to get close to the top in four days or five days, something like that. And so keep following along. And hopefully we'll keep making upward progress. Bye for now.
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
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Take it all in. Savor each moment. Fill your senses with the beautiful creation. Enjoy your climb, enjoy each other, enjoy the views.
Posted by: Craig and Marilyn Miller on 5/21/2013 at 9:22 am
Just saw the pictures! How awesome Jared!!
Posted by: Kris Reene on 5/20/2013 at 4:52 pm
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