Another casual morning... We ate some breakfast, checked out of the Mercure (our hotel) around 8 am or so, loaded up the van and Jaime's truck, then hit the road. Heading north on the PanAmerican Highway, we left Quito and passed through the town of Otavalo, famous for it's large open air market. Eventually we turned off the highway and headed up into the countryside on our approach to Cerro Fuya Fuya. After many kilometers of driving on a cobblestone road up into the mountains we reached Laguna Mojanda and the base of Fuya Fuya. The lake is actually a giant caldera filled with water (think Crater Lake in OR) and made for a great backdrop to our second training hike. A couple hours of hiking and scrambling brought us to the summit at well over 14,000'. We enjoyed clear and sweeping views from la cumbre of the two valleys below in addition to the big Laguna. After a quick break on top we beat feet for the cars to try and out pace some menacing clouds. Everyone was feeling great.
After another short trip in the van we arrived at the beautiful Hosteria San Luis. Talk about traveling in style, there are beautiful gardens, stables, classic colonial architecture, a pool, and a pond. The gang is settling in and enjoying the last bit of luxury before heading up to the climber's refugio on Cayambe.
I'll call and check in tomorrow night from the refugio,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
Hello to all from the June 19 Denali expedition. If the saying "make hay while the sun shines" applies to mountaineering, this team could feed a lot of cows.
I am thrilled with our team dynamic and progress. Yesterday we ate breakfast, got ready and were blessed with clear conditions at base camp. K2 Aviation worked hard to get us all on the glacier which allowed us to pack up and move out. We arrived at the base of Ski Hill by dinner.
Today we woke to perfect weather and the team again showed great enthusiasm to get moving. By 6:45 a.m. we were marching up Ski Hill with full loads. We arrived at 9,800 feet by 11:30 and are now enjoying a steamy afternoon sun bathing. Stay tuned for tomorrow's next episode. This is Adam Knoff signing off.
RMI Guides Brent Okita, Tyler Reid and our Four Day Summit Climb team reached the top of Mt. Rainier today. The teams climbed in the clouds and have started there descent back to Camp Muir.
Congratulations!
Sally…congratulations on an incredible achievement! We love you! (Still waiting for the Skype call from the summit…next time, right? Haha!)
Posted by: The Schroeders on 6/24/2012 at 7:50 am
Sally, you made it! God has blessed you so much, He had to bless you this time too. You and your team are an inspiration to us all. Love, your Brother Dan
Hello everybody this is Jake and crew at the start of the Kahiltna Glacier at 11,000’. Today we descended from 17,000’ down to 11,000’ where we are making a camp for a few hours before trying to walk on the lower Kahiltna while it’s still frozen in the early morning. With any luck we will be at the runway in time to catch a flight back to Talkeetna.
We hope everyone is doing very well there and trust that we are doing well here. With what may be our last night on the mountain. Hopefully, I didn’t jinx us and that we will be heading home soon.
So see you all then.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
RMI Guide Jake Beren checks in from 11,000 ft on their descent.
Happy summer solstice from the land of the Midnight Sun!
Our team had a pretty relaxing day today; it started with a leisurely breakfast, then we went back to Windy Corner to retrieve our cache, and then we relaxed all afternoon. The two hour round trip to Windy Corner was a good leg stretcher. And the relaxing afternoon sure felt good also.
This afternoon we welcomed Jake Beren's team back to 14k after their successful summit bid. It was good to see the whole team in good shape after their climb. And it was a pleasure to have water waiting for them and to make them bacon quesadillas as they repacked their backpacks and rested here. They continued their descent to 11k, and are planning to be at the airstrip tomorrow.
We are planning on taking a rest day here at 14k tomorrow, in order to be strong for our carry up high above 16k.
We'll be in touch again tomorrow...
RMI Guide Mike Walter
So glad the trip is going well. It is amazing to see all the snow and think of the cold while we hit 89 today and it is dry, dry , dry. Enjoy your rest day and thanks for the updates.
Missy
Posted by: missy prudden on 6/22/2012 at 8:46 pm
For someone that lives in snow country, you guys have a lot of snow
It sure seems incredible, hope every one is well and all continues to go well.
Matt, This has to be the high light of your life. All Take care, climb safely
Thanks so much for the updates. Don Pennington
Woke up today to blue skies and a bunch of climbers eager to get the adventure started. We had a quick breakfast in the hotel cafe and then the team met up with Jaime, one of our local guides, before we set out in taxis for a ride up the teleferiqo (gondola) to a perch high above the city. The skies were clear, affording us an awesome view of Cayambe, Cotopaxi, Chimborazo, and the Illinizas. After taking in our surroundings we started our training hike that eventually took us up to the summit of Rucu Pichincha at nearly 15,500'. The team felt great and was moving incredibly well considering that most of us had come from very close to sea level in the U.S. just a couple days prior. Unfortunately, we were socked in the clouds on the summit but shortly after beginning our descent we emerged from a higher cloud layer and again had the opportunity to enjoy sweeping views of the mountains and the sprawl of Quito.
We hopped in a colectivo van for a ride back to the hotel and most of us took a quick siesta before heading out on the town for another team dinner, this time at La Boca del Lobo. We even enjoyed some pretty awesome views of the urban wildlife on our walk back from the restaurant. The crew hit the sack pretty early tonight tired from today but also in preparation for another early start tomorrow as we head out of Quito and begin our journey towards our first big objective, Cayambe.
Will check in again tomorrow,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
We had great weather today and the team climbed strong, moving our camp up to 14,200'. We are now well established on the upper mountain as we continue to acclimate. Tomorrow we will make a quick trip back to Windy Corner to retrieve the cache of supplies that we carried up there two days ago.
We recently spoke via radio with RMI Guide Jake Beren and their team as they were descending the summit ridge after a successful summit. Congratulations to the team! We look forward to seeing them tomorrow when they descend from high camp.
That's it for now. Time for some shuteye.
Cheers,
RMI Guide Mike Walter
All the best. It is fantastic that you are now on the high part of the mountain. We are looking at the magnificent pictures on the website. It must be an incredible experience to be at that altitude getting close to the top of the world. We look forward to the stories. Keep safe.
Love Dad, Mom, Brooklyn and Spencer
Posted by: charles selby on 6/22/2012 at 7:22 am
Best wishes from Colorado. Kobi is loving life here in Cdale with his buddy Bayou!
Posted by: Wesley Reynolds on 6/22/2012 at 5:46 am
The Four Day Summit Climb teams led by JJ Justman and Kel Rossiter reached the Summit of Mt. Rainier today. JJ reported good, but cold weather with calm winds. The teams are enjoying the views from the top and will make their way back to Camp Muir shortly.
Congratulations to today's teams.
A most excellent trip! We gelled as a team early and JJ, Josh and Gilbert were awesome. Look forward to climbing with you guys again. No one legged midgets though, please.
MP
Posted by: MIKE PROBSTFELD on 6/25/2012 at 8:38 am
Thanks to JJ, Josh and Gilbert for a great & fun trip and JP for getting the whole shootin match organized! Great way to start the summer of 2012
Hello, this is Jake calling from 17,000’ camp on Denali after what was an unbelievable summit day. The team is back in camp safe and sound. We are having some dinner before turning in for a very well earned night’s sleep. Everybody did fantastic today, we had perfect conditions. It was a really beautiful climb. I’ll give a little more information after we get down.
Just know that everybody is safe after a wonderful day here in Alaska.
Alright, that is it for now.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
RMI Guide Jake Beren checks in after the team's summit day.
Bob, one more peak under your belt! What a huge accomplishment! All your training and determination is paying off. The girls and I are at the lake and we had spotty communication, but I was following your progress daily, sometimes multiple times daily! Keep your balance on that descent and don’t come down the mountain faster than you should!! ;-)
Kathy
Posted by: Kathy Spinks on 6/22/2012 at 8:11 am
We are SO impressed! Congratulations! Roger and Charlie
Hi everybody and welcome to the first installation of many dispatches from this summer's Ecuador Volcanoes program!
The team finally met each other as a complete group this morning for breakfast after several hectic laps between the airport and hotel late last night. Team members were trickling in gradually through the night and the crowds of Ecuadorians awaiting family members made for quite a scene. Actually, it was more like a zoo with a traffic jam outside. Fortunately, Jaime and Victor (our expert locals) were incredibly helpful in scooping up our climbers and adept at navigating the melee. Anyway, after a decent breakfast and getting to know each other a bit the team headed out for a day cruising around Quito as full-fledged tourists of the sight-seeing variety. With the majority of the city situated at over 9,000' we have actually already begun our acclimatization process. After a long day of travel just to arrive in Ecuador, it was nice to have a day to just cruise around and get comfortable.
The city tour hit up lots of old colonial and contemporary sights including religious, governmental, and culturally significant buildings. We climbed the rickety catwalks high in the Basilica and caught tremendous 360 degree views of this huge metropolis of more than 3 million citizens and later went to the exact geographical equator where we played around with the strange forces the earth's rotation creates uniquely on the middle of the planet. The equator museum also had a cool sort of natural history museum with a collection of flora and fauna and anthropological relics from Ecuador's various regions. We're talking giant anaconda and boa skins, real human shrunken heads, and a gnarly, preserved amazon candiru - look it up... The team had fun getting to hang out in a casual atmosphere and we aim to keep the fun going as we begin some of our physical activity tomorrow with a training hike up on Rucu Pichincha, a volcano right above the city where we will hopefully hit nearly 16,000'. That should help jump start the acclimatization followed by a night's rest at relatively lower altitude in Quito.
Well, headed off to dinner with the crew, more to come as the situation develops,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
Tim you are half way there. I am sure you are thinking this is no problemo. Keep the calories up to keep the fire burning. Skip
Posted by: Skip on 6/24/2012 at 10:57 am
You’re a long way from Oklahoma buddy! Diane and all the turkeys miss you. Ate one last night!
Posted by: Fanta on 6/23/2012 at 3:02 pm
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