Entries By jm gorum

Unless you are at Camp Muir, 10,080’, this morning you most likely can’t see Mt. Rainier.  Fortunately for the Four Day Climb August 19 - 22, that’s exactly where they were.  With a little patience, improving weather and a bit later start from Camp Muir the Climb teams were able to reach the summit shortly after 7:15 AM today.  RMI Guide Casey Grom reported light winds and clear skies about 7,200’. 

Congratulations to today’s Summit Climb team!

The Four Day Climb led by RMI Guides JM Gorum and Ben Ammon climbed above the clouds and reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. Ben reported clear skies and chilly temperatures. The team has started their descent and are en route back to Camp Muir.

Congratulations to today’s team!

RMI Guide JM Gorum and the Expedition Skills Seminar - Emmons reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning via the Emmons Glacier route. The team will return to Camp Schurman for a final night on the mountain. They will return to Ashford tomorrow.

Congratulations climbers!

The Expedition Skills Seminar - Emmons July 20 - 25, 2019 led by RMI Guide JM Gorum made their summit attempt this morning from Camp Schurman.  Unfortunately high winds forced the group back to camp after reaching 12,200’.  The team has returned to high camp, Camp Schurman, and will spend their final night on the mountain.  After some additional training they will return to the trailhead tomorrow and arrive back to Rainier BaseCamp tomorrow afternoon.

We made it to the top of Europe this morning! The weather forecast turned out to be horribly wrong, but in our favor. What was supposed to be a pretty marginal day turned into one of the best weather days we’ve seen this whole trip. After we hit the top of Mt. Elbrus, we boogied back down to camp, packed up our things, and moved back down into town. We’ll have our celebration dinner down here tonight, after some well earned showers. Everyone sends their best!

RMI Guide JM Gorum

On The Map

Well, we had our fill of pizza, thick air, and dance remixes of American top 40 pop songs. We’re back on the mountain now, preparing for our summit attempt tonight. We just enjoyed dinner and a movie, chicken and couscous while watching a Russian overdubbed version of Twilight. The weather is better than it was last time we were here, but I wouldn’t say it’s remarkable. We can’t control what the weather does, but we can give it our best and see what happens.

Wish us luck tonight, and we’ll check in tomorrow!

RMI Guide JM Gorum & Team

Last night a large electrical storm passed over Mt. Elbrus. It brought hail, strong winds, and shaking thunder. We woke up this morning to find a few inches of fresh snow at our doorstep and a lack of electricity flowing through our local power grid. After our standard 8:00 AM breakfast, the winds and snow picked up considerably until it became unpleasant to venture beyond the impenetrable comfort of our repurposed shipping container homes. The forecast for tomorrow showed no improvement in weather.

We decided that instead of sitting in the wind and snow doing nothing for two days, we would ride the lift back down to town, eat pizza, and sleep in real beds. That’s precisely what we did, and it has been nothing but enjoyable. We’ll spend the tonight in Cheget, and tomorrow afternoon we’ll ride the lift back up to camp in preparation for our summit attempt on Sunday.

RMI Guide JM Gorum

On The Map

This morning we had our standard breakfast of oatmeal and eggs at our standard time of 8 am. We then suited up for our walk up to 15,000 feet on Mt. Elbrus. The weather was pretty marginal, but it was a great opportunity to test out our various layering systems.
We spent about five hours out in the wind and snow today, made it up to 15,000 feet, and only got blown over once or twice. The views were minimal, but we had fun. That’s all for now.

RMI Guide JM Gorum

On The Map

The team is officially on the mountain! We’re living our best lives, as they say, up here at 12,600 feet. We took advantage of a series of gondolas to get us here, but we did have to haul our duffels the last 100 feet to our doorsteps. Working smarter, not harder.
We took a short break after moving in, and then went for an exploratory jaunt above camp. After we walked as far as we felt like walking, we turned around. We did spend some time practicing our footwork and balance on steeper snow. Some team members took to boot skiing like they were born for it. Others…not. Ultimately we all found our style, and descended with class and grace back to the huts in time for lunch. The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing, mingling with other climbers, people watching, and story telling.
Now the sun has set, and there’s no reason to be outside anymore, so we’re going to bed. We’ll check in tomorrow.

RMI Guide JM Gorum

On The Map

  Moscow is cool and all, but it’s nice to wake up in the mountains. Cheget is a quiet little place, and there isn’t much going on in the morning hours. We had a casual start to our day, with an 8 am breakfast being the first item on the agenda. Breakfast was pretty normal fare. Eggs, toast, oatmeal. I usually can’t stand oatmeal, but here it’s basically soaked in cream and butter, so I can’t really complain about that. The team did a great job fueling up for our late-morning chairlift ride. I believe that everyone left breakfast on the edge of being uncomfortably full, which is really the sweet spot.
  From the hotel it’s about a five minute walk to the bottom of our chairlift. We hopped on, and skimmed the tops of the trees for about fifteen minutes. It really was quite a stylish ascent. We had butterflies, wildflowers, and chirping birds below us, and nothing but blue skies above us. We unloaded at the midway station, and walked to the top of the next lift. At around 10,000 feet we hung out, took some photos, discussed the climb, and soaked up some sun. I think about 1/3 of the team have earned nicknames at this point. Some not suitable for print.
  After we were satisfied with our day’s exercise, we rode the chairlift back down, more or less onto the deck of our lunch cafe, ate again, and then spent the rest of the day exploring town or relaxing. Tomorrow we’ll head up onto the mountain and stay there through the weekend. I think we’re all looking forward to it.

RMI Guide JM Gorum