RMI Expeditions Blog
Clouds and murk rule the Ellsworth Mountains for the moment. But even so, the weather isn't all that bad down here on the Branscomb Glacier. We did a normal mid-morning wake-up at Vinson Base (earlier than that one risks discomfort from cold shadows and down glacier breezes). A leisurely breakfast was followed by a brief review of the basic mountaineering techniques we'll employ for travel on the lower mountain. In mid-afternoon we set out to carry loads up the long gentle hills between base and the big ninety degree turn of the glacier at the foot of Vinson's massive Western escarpment. This carry wasn't performed so much out of a great need to get supplies up the hill, but more out of a desire to test systems and our legs and lungs. All good. We cached the load at around 8,700 ft and walked easily back to our 7,000 ft Basecamp. We even got a few grand views of the endless ice to the west. These had to suffice for scenery since the clouds closed in while we were eating dinner and put us in a world of gauze and grey. The sun will come out tomorrow. Possibly.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Posted by: JJ Justman, Geoff Schellens
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
Elevation: 13,800'
Hi All,
RMI Aconcagua team one here in Base Camp watching the torrent on the upper mountain as we pack and organize gear for the mules. After soup and snacks we moved on to sports and movie trivia with some of our German climbing friends. Although we are all disappointed to be leaving the mountain with out a summit, the foul weather and thoughts of steak and wine are reassuring.
We will start our hike out tomorrow and get back to Mendoza on Thursday the 20th. Thank you all for all the support and we look forward to talking to all our friends and family soon.
RMI Guides JJ Justman, Geoff Schellens & Team
Union Glacier camp was a busy place this morning. There were snowcat sledge trains and big-wheeled vans and tracked vehicles and snow machines of every sort and size zipping from A to B, plowing things flat, and simply hauling freight and people. Fuel drums were being fed to the Twin Otters and names were being written on luggage tags. The ALE staff were in overdrive and sixty outbound climbers and Antarctic enthusiasts were pleased, mellow and smiling. It was "Ilyushin Day".... Out with the old and in with the new on a grand scale.
My successful climbing team packed their bags and knocked their tents down in about five minutes... Ready to go home but also a little sad to be leaving this cold paradise. Around 1:30 PM, the big four engine Russian jet touched down with a great roar of reversed thrust out on the ice runway. My old gang got in one big offroad van with Seth Waterfall and headed for the plane and Punta. I'd shaken their hands and advised them to have a heck of a victory feast in town. They'd earned it. I stood for a while watching all the action and before long another big offroad van pulled up with my new climbing team.
Nicole, Brian, Joe and Bart were snapping pictures in all directions and smiling broadly. We got acquainted and oriented, waited a bit and then hurried up for a flight to Mount Vinson. By then it was dinner time and the Union folk felt bad about kicking us out of camp without a big feed, but clouds were closing in and we needed to get to the mountain. Mission accomplished (with a big pan full of hot pigs-in-a-blanket for inflight food) despite the encroaching storm, there were still a few thousand peaks to be seen out the windows of our ski plane. We landed at Vinson Basecamp around 8 PM and built our tents in our new home. My climbers haven't yet seen their mountain as it is cloaked in mist and light falling snow, but they will see plenty of the big hill, soon enough.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Posted by:
Categories: Mountaineering Fitness & Training
Air and automobile travel, shopping, traffic, in-laws, it’s dark, cold and wet outside...the Holidays are here!
Does all of this have an impact on physical fitness? It can, and as a result I need a workout I can do anywhere and in a short amount of time. Here is a favorite, I call it the Four Hundred by Two by Ten. Let’s call it the Holiday Workout. Try it two or three times this week.
The Holiday Workout goes like this:
1. Run or walk 400 meters. Conveniently, this is the distance around an athletic track (or around a football field). You can also do it on the trail, even if you have to guess the distance (or use a watch and run/walk for 2 minutes).
2. Do two strength exercises. I suggest ten repetitions of Bicycle Crunch and Push Up, or the Russian Twist and 30 seconds of the Plank. You can chose whatever you like and try to make one an upper body and one a mid-core exercise. For an explanation of the strength exercises, and a list of others, see the Daily Dozen.
3. Repeat ten times and that’s it - an all-body workout that trains both strength and cardiovascular fitness! Stay focused and it will only take you about 45 minutes.
You can make it a social activity by doing it with friends and family. If someone is more fit, try to double up on the strength exercises. If someone is less fit, give them a head start on the run/walk section.
Happy Holidays!
- John Colver
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.
Questions? Comments? Share your thoughts with John and other readers on the RMI Blog!
Posted by: JJ Justman, Geoff Schellens
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
Elevation: 13,800'
Hello everyone! It's Team One on Aconcagua. Well, it's a bitter sweet. For the good news, the entire team is safe an sound in base camp. For the not so good news Aconcagua is angry. I don't think we did anything to offend her but it is clear she is not in a good mood.
For two days our team survived restless hours in the wind at 18,000 feet. Yesterday, the winds calmed to 35 mph allowing us to climb to 20,118 feet. When we returned the forecast that was given to us came true. The wind picked up again and it was time to batten the hatches.
Our plan was to do our last acclimatization day yesterday, which we did. Then to rest today, then move to high camp, then summit. The winds on the summit currently are close to 100 mph and they are predicted to be stronger through the 23rd. Well past our window of opportunity.
Our team made the decision to head toward safer and calmer territory. We are all in basecamp after a tough day carrying heavy packs downhill.
It may seem disappointing but when the mountain says No, you have to accept the fact there is nothing you can do about it. The team is in great spirits and we are thankful we are down out of the hazardous wind and bitter cold.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
On The Map
Glad you all are safe at Basecamp. Now it is time to tango in Mendoza! Pay the mules to cross the river. Love to you all.
Posted by: elsie Bemiss on 12/18/2012 at 5:00 am
Hello everybody back home. This is Casey Grom checking in from the Ecuador expedition. Just wanted to let everyone know that we are standing on the summit of Cayambe right now! Beautiful day, a little chilly though. There's a slight breeze. We had a total of 10 climbers reach the summit... One climber and one guide turned around at about 18,200', just short of the summit. It's been a really long day. The route is in good shape, but it's just a really long route. Took us six and 1/2 hours for the first group and about 7 hours and 45 minutes for the second wave of climbers to reach the summit. Everyone's been doing great, pushing real hard and are pretty tired. We're going to take a few minutes get something to eat and drink and start making our way back down.......... We look forward to talking with you soon.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
Casey Grom calls from the Cayambe summit!
On The Map
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Seth Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Vinson Massif
Elevation: 7,200'
An easy and slightly surreal day for the team, after so much walking and dealing with discomfort... to be thoroughly inactive, waited upon and flat out comfortable in the luxurious dining tent at Union Glacier.
The team wasn't visibly anxious to be missing out on exercise, nor did anyone seem worried over whether the Ilyushin airplane would fly on time. We sat, we ate, we concurred. Life is good. There was a persistent and slight breeze blowing all day long at the Union Glacier camp, but the air temperature is so warm (compared to anywhere on Vinson) that we routinely walked from tent to tent without gloves or jackets, crunching along on well-packed snow.
If all goes well, the plane will fly from Punta Arenas tomorrow and the RMI Vinson team will head back to South America and a victory feast with Seth Waterfall. I'll stay in to greet the next RMI Vinson team and get started on a new adventure. Many thanks to those who have followed our trip for the past two weeks. Your comments were passed on to us (we don't surf the web, but we exchange email with RMI headquarters) and produced many smiles on twelve sunburned faces.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Thanks to you Dave & Seth and the whole RMI team. Sterling had a wonderful experience.
Sue
Posted by: Sue Foreman on 12/17/2012 at 9:39 pm
Dear Dave & Seth: Thank you very much for taking the time to write all those informative blogs every day after a hard day of climbing in extreme cold. They were the first things I checked for in the morning and last things I read at night. They made me feel like part of the expedition (albeit in the comfort of our home), living the ups and downs of our loved ones through your postings. Thanks for guiding another successful climb! Happy Holidays! -Fan
Posted by: Fan on 12/17/2012 at 7:46 pm
Posted by: Dave Hahn
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Vinson Massif
Hi RMI,
We gathered with about 30 other climbers this morning for our pre-trip briefing with ALE. Mike Sharp, one of the owners, gave a very detailed presentation about what is going to happen over the next few days. As you might imagine, logistics for getting to the "bottom of the world" are complex. Even though we have already traveled thousands of miles to get to Punta Arenas, we have about 2,000 more miles to fly and two different airplane types to go before we get to Vinson Basecamp. Covering everything from flight plans to arial maps of Union Glacier and the climbing route to ways for dealing with the extreme cold, it is critical information to know before we fly out of here and land in the middle of Antarctica.
After the meeting, we weighed our bags and sent them off to the airplane so they can be loaded and ready for our flight.
Weather permitting, we are planning for an early flight tomorrow, with the airport transfer scheduled for 7:00 am. Next dispatch will hopefully be from Union Glacier.
All the best,
RMI Guide Jeff Martin
Hello, this is Eric Frank and the Ecuador crew checking in from climber's hut here on Cayambe at 15,300'. The sun's just gone down and we had a pretty restful day. We slept late this morning, had a big breakfast, and then climbed for about an hour and a half to get up to the toe of the glacier. We trained for a couple hours, talked about the climb and then came back to have a big dinner. We're hoping to be in bed in the next thirty minutes. And we'll be getting up in the middle of the night to make our attempt to climb Cayambe. So check back tomorrow, hopefully will be giving a call down sometime in the mid morning to early afternoon to let everyone know how things are going. Have a great night.
RMI Guide Eric Frank
RMI Guide Eric Frank checks in from Cayambe.
Looks like Kristen and Chris made it. It looks beautiful. Glad to see everyone is OK. Love to all and stay safe.
Posted by: SaSa on 12/17/2012 at 8:30 pm
Hi Scott & Kelly,
looks like you have a great team and leader to take on the summit. I am so glad the weather has been good. Excited to see the pics from the summit. Keep on treking…
Keith
Posted by: Keith Kite on 12/17/2012 at 6:37 am
Posted by: JJ Justman, Geoff Schellens
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
Elevation: 18,000'
Hey all, this is Geoff and JJ with Aconcagua Team One. We are currently back at Camp Two after an acclimatization hike up to 20,000' today. Moderate winds, a cloud cap pretty heavy this morning, breaking up this afternoon, pretty clear now with still some winds hanging in there. We are all doing well and everybody's happy and we are just waiting for a good weather forecast come our way, which would be great. That's all for now, bye.
RMI Guide Geoff Schellens
RMI Guide Geoff Schellens with today's update.
Good Luck to the whole team and if I don’t get back to you have a MERRY CHRISTMAS…from the Olympia Branch of the Mountaineers….Be safe Have fun take lots of pictures!!!
Posted by: Jamer Lange on 12/16/2012 at 4:39 pm
We’re cheering you on, Joe! Love to you from me and the girls!
Posted by: Stacey Brus on 12/19/2012 at 8:53 pm
Good luck to Brian and the team. We’re super excited for you. You have a lot of people here following you and cheering you on!
Posted by: Katie Koppenhafer on 12/19/2012 at 9:40 am
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