Entries By geoff schellens

June 8, 2016 - 10:04 pm PDT The weather gods heard our prayers last night and rewarded us with cold clear skies this morning and views south towards Kahiltna Dome and Mount Foraker. Views to the Northeast revealed the first obstacle of our next leg, Motorcycle Hill, and further in the distance the Southern end of the West Buttress and the Upper Peters Glacier. Our team enjoyed a hearty breakfast of eggs, bacon and hash browns and with full stomachs we promptly went to work fortifying our camp by building snow walls around our tents, kitchen and most importantly building a bathroom fit for a Kings royal tush! The rest of the day was spent snacking, lounging and preparing for our carry tomorrow. For the rest of our ascent we will carry part of our gear and food higher on the mountain, in this case to somewhere between 13,600 - 14,000, and then return to our previous camp (11,000) This process not only helps reduce the weight needed to be carried between camps but will also allow the team to begin acclimatizing by climbing high and sleeping low where our bodies can better recover. We're now settled in for the night and the clouds have rolled back through camp and a light snow is falling. Everyone is doing great and were all excited to be trading sleds and snowshoes for crampons and an ice axe. From here on out we're climbing! RMI Guide Steve Gately & Team

June 6, 2016 - 10:20 pm PT Welcome back folks! Our team woke this morning to clearing skies down the Kahiltna Glacier with views of Mount Frances, Mount Hunter and Mount Foraker. This is really the first opportunity our team had to get a sense of where we were and what's around us. What a brilliant way to start our day after a stormy evening yesterday! After a quick breakfast we broke down camp, packed our sleds and headed north towards 11k Camp. This day is hard work. Faced with about 1,800ft of vertical and 100lbs of gear per person, it's easily the hardest day we've had so far this trip. But, it's also our last day with heavy sleds until we start our descent. Our team quite excited by that prospect basically drug us to 11k! Okay, well, not quite drug us but they out performed our expectations by a long shot! We're now settled into camp after a few hours of hard work shoveling and digging tent platforms. The clouds have eased there way back in but were hoping for clearer skies tomorrow for the first well-earned rest day of the trip. Thanks for following along! Stay tuned for more! RMI Guide Steve Gately

June 5, 2016 - 11:33 p.m. PDT After a late night walking the lower Kahiltna Glacier we decided to sleep in. We had coffee and brunch around 10:30 and then waited to see if the weather would improve before breaking camp. We passed by Jake's crew and woke them from an afternoon nap, and then on towards Ski Hill. With a heavy pack and sled, there is no way to make the climb up ski enjoyable. The team did a great job gritting their teeth as we slowly made our way up Ski Hill. As we made our way above 9,000' the light snow we had become accustomed to picked up with the wind so we found a flat place around 9,500' and settled in for the night. After pesto tortellini and a hot drink, we crawled into our sleeping bags. Everyone is doing very well and having fun despite the mediocre weather. Thanks for following along, more tomorrow. RMI Guide Geoff Schellens and the UWR Team

On The Map

June 4, 2016 - 11:46 a.m. PDT The team played a lot of hurry up and wait most of the day in Talkeetna. We put the final touches on packing, weighed in for the flight, and waited for a weather window to get into the Alaska Range. Our window opened right around 5 PM and we snuck into Kahiltna BC just before it socked in again. Once on the glacier we spent a few hours rigging for rope travel and re-packing before we hit the dusty trail. Everyone did a fantastic job and just before 1 AM we set up camp at 7,600' on the Kahiltna That's it for now. We're all really excited to be here. Thanks for following along, RMI Guide Geoff Schellens and The UWR team

June 3, 2016 - 10:54 pm PT The Upper West Rib team started the day like any reasonable person in Talkeetna would, lots of coffee, eggs and bacon at the Roadhouse. From there we headed down to the K2 Hangar and went through all our gear and got packed up for flying into the Alaska range tomorrow. In the afternoon we had our NPS orientation and put the final touches on gear packing before relaxing a little. It began raining here in town but even the inclement weather couldn't bring down the stoke in our group. Everyone is extremely excited to get into the Range. Keep your fingers crossed for good fly weather for us tomorrow. RMI Guide Geoff Schellens

June 2, 2016 - 1:27 pm PT The 2016 Upper West Rib team met today in Anchorage after months of preparation, training, and anticipation. With the team and all our gear in Alaska we took a shuttle up to Talkeetna, had a great group dinner at Twister Creek, went to bed. Tomorrow is our in town prep day and meeting with the NPS. Thanks everyone for following along as we begin our expedition. RMI Guide Geoff Schellens

Today’s Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guides Casey Grom and Geoff Schellens reached the summit of Mt. Rainier around 7:30 am. Casey reported winds up to 30 mph and clear skies. The teams will spend some time on the summit before beginning their descent. We look forward to seeing the teams in Ashford later today. Congratulations climbers!

The Mt. Rainier Four Day Summit Climb teams led by RMI Guides Jake Beren and Geoff Schellens reached the summit crater around 7:45 a.m. Jake reported light winds and pleasant conditions. The teams spent about an hour on the summit before beginning their descent just after 9:00 a.m. We look forward to seeing all of the climbers back in Ashford later today.

It's been a mixed day of weather here on the flanks of Ixta. The group awoke to clear skies and pleasant temps this morning, but an ominous forecast threatened that the good weather would probably not last. We loaded our packs after breakfast and began climbing toward our high camp at 15,000ft. Slowly the wind began to pick up as we gained altitude until it was blowing 25-30mph when we arrived at camp. It was an easy decision to leave our tents packed and we opted instead to move into the nearby Refugio De Los Cien. We are currently spread inside the Refugio listening to the wind blow in strong gusts. Every so often someone builds up the courage to venture outside to go to the bathroom but is quickly forced back inside. We have our fingers crossed for improving weather, but the conditions right now don't give us much hope for a summit bid tomorrow. RMI Guides Geoff Schellens and Eric Frank

This morning we woke up, packed, and loaded into our van without coffee!! We made this bold move knowing that 40 minutes down the road we would be rewarded with perhaps the best breakfast buffet in Mexico. We ate our fill and loaded back in the van, now fully caffeinated, to drive onto Amecameca to resupply on water and fresh food. Here we also met our local guide, Alfreado, and our support team. After an hour we were back in the van winding up the mountain roads to Paso De Cortez and onto the Altzomoni Hut at the foot of Ixta. Our home in the clouds, at close to 13,000' the Altzomoni Hut is a great step in our overall acclimatization schedule. Unfortunately the weather is cloudy and windy so we haven't yet been able to see Ixta; hopefully tomorrow. We are currently enjoying a delicious authentic taco dinner and discussing logistics of our hike to high camp tomorrow. Everyone is doing very well and having fun. Keep your fingers crossed for good weather for us and thanks for following along. The RMI Mexico Volcanoes Team RMI Guides Geoff Schellens and Eric Frank

On The Map