Thursday June 18th 10:20 a.m.RMI Guide Billy Nugent just called from Talkeetna. K2 Aviation is ready to fly the team onto Mount McKinley! Once they are settled into their first camp, Billy will check in with us from the glacier.
Our Four Day Summit Climb teams led by RMI Guides Brent Okita and Mike King reached the summit this morning around 7 am. The teams enjoyed clear skies and warm temperatures with some windy conditions. Both teams will descend to Camp Muir and then continue down to Paradise later this afternoon.
Congratulations to today's Summit Climb Teams.
What an amazing experience. Brent, Lance, & JM did an incredible job getting us to the summit and I had a great time meeting our team. Definitely a trip to remember. Kudos to the RMI staff for a job well done.
Posted by: daniel on 6/11/2015 at 12:21 pm
Zach and Molly…....way to go! Summit day 4….we are so proud of you!!!! YAY Marquette flag on top! XOXO
Posted by: Christiane & Jim on 6/10/2015 at 4:04 pm
The Expedition Skills Seminar – Muir led by RMI Guides Seth Waterfall and Mike King reached the crater rim of Mt. Rainier around 7 am PDT. Seth reported crystal clear skies and light wind. From the summit the teams can see down to 6,000’ where the cloud deck begins. The teams will spend a little time on the summit before beginning their descent back to Camp Muir for their final night on the mountain. We look forward to seeing them in Ashford tomorrow afternoon.
Congratulations climbers!
The Five Day Summit Climbs, led by Tyler Jones and Mike King, reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning! At 9:30 am PT, the team began their descent from the crater rim. Tyler reported no wind, sunny skies, and warm temperatures with a cloud deck around 7,000’.
Congratulations to RMI's first summit teams of 2015!
We are currently back in Plaza Argentina enjoying some well deserved pizza and ice cold beverages. The team cruised down hill this morning, picking up gear and waste, leaving Aconcagua in better shape then we found it. When your descent takes only 4.5 hours compared to the 9 days it took on the ascent, you have to just shake your head a little.
The team is all smiles, waiting on shower water to heat up, enjoying time out of their boots and laughing.
This will be our last dispatch of the climb. We will walk to Leñas on Saturday for an amazing Argentine BBQ (that's slow cooked beef for you non-southerners). Sunday will see us with a short hike to the road and back in Mendoza.
Thanks for checking in on us during the climb.
RMI Guides Mike King and Steve Gately
February 12, 2015 - 11:56 am PT
Update:
The team is all safely back at Camp III after a successful summit day! Warm temps and literally zero wind made it one for the record books!
RMI Guide Steve Gately
9:20 am PT
Hi, this is Mike King with RMI Aconcagua Team 7 stand on the top of South America! We had a challenging day with extremely cold weather, and wind in the morning. We had a lot of new snow and scree on the way up on the upper mountain. The team did great. We're gonna be heading back down in about 20 minutes. A beautiful day, I don't have ever seen a more beautiful day on the top of Aconcagua. We will call or send a posting when we get back to high camp. Thanks for joining us!
RMI Guide Mike King
Mike King Calling from the Summit of Aconcagua February 12, 2015
We finally got around to packing up camp and climbing up to 19,600 feet, our High Camp for the expedition. Extremely cold and calm morning with a new blanket of snow on the surrounding Andean peaks made for a scenic day.
High Camp is never anyone's favorite camp for a few reasons:
1. Sleeping at 19,600 feet can be difficult.
2. There are no 'great' tent sites due to how the wind swirls around.
3. Lack of snow makes drinking water a time consuming process.
Good thing we are making our summit bid tomorrow and will be back in Base Camp telling stories before to long.
Wish us luck! We will check in hopefully from the summit on Thursday afternoon.
RMI Guide Mike King
The Gambler said it best, "you have to know when to hold em, know when to fold em". He wasn't referring to his chain of Kenny Rogers' Roasters, but to our team taking another weather day at Camp 2.
We received only a few inches of snow, and with strong winds our tents were drifted in this morning. A cloud reminiscent of Mordor hung over the upper 4,000 feet of Aconcagua until 11am. Instead of getting a late start and arriving in High Camp later in the day, we will dry our sleeping bags and acclimate.
Our summit day will be the 12th. The Gang is hangin' tough and enjoying the saxophone riff from WHAM's "careless whisper".
RMI Guide Mike King
This morning we woke to the traditional Aconcagua weather pattern, cold temps and consistent winds. We watched snow billow off the upper Polish glacier into the sky forming clouds that resembled smoke rising from a 23,000 ft bonfire.
Everyone is chomping at the bit to move camp and begin our summit attempt, but we will spend one more night at Camp 2 and hope the forecast of 5-20 mph winds holds out.
Quesadillas for lunch and more tent time. If you are reading these blogs with any desire to go expedition climbing get a Kindle and crush tent time like a pro.
RMI Guides Mike King and Steve Gately
Rest day at Camp 2:
Our coldest morning of the climb here at Camp 2 on Aconcagua. Our water source is a large snowfield, that lately has been a raging torrent due to warm temperatures and almost zero snowfall this season. The amount of water and ice that has melted at Camp 2 has begun to erode tent sites that have been staple spots at an already cramped camp.
We are going for a walk to 19,000' this morning to stretch our legs and lungs. 18,000 ft is the highest our group has slept and the guides are pleased with how everyone is acclimating. We are still anticipating high winds tomorrow and remain flexible in our ability to move up if we see a significant difference in the forecast.
RMI Guides Mike King, Steve Gately & Team
I’ve got a detailed map of Aconcagua, and it’s extremely cool to see your photos and locate them on the topo map. I can’t wait to take a shot at Aconcagua! It may still be a year or two away, but I’m working my way up to it.
Great looking team you have there ! Stay safe & brng home lots of stories!!
Posted by: Irma Ross on 6/22/2015 at 4:09 pm
great picture !
Posted by: MARK AND HELEN WALSH on 6/22/2015 at 1:46 pm
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