Entries By nick hunt
RMI Guide
Nick Hunt and the Expedition Skills Seminar - Emmons team completed their week of training today. Yesterday, the team made a summit attempt via the
Emmons Glacier route on Mt. Rainier. The team was forced to call 12,800' their high point due to poor route conditions. Despite not reaching the summit, the team had a great climb complete with steep alpine climbing. All in all, the team enjoyed a great week of training and climbing on the Emmons Glacier.
July 11, 2016
Posted by: Nick Hunt
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The
Five Day Summit Climb July 7 - 11, 2016 led by
RMI Guide Nick Hunt reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. The team reached Camp Muir on Saturday and enjoyed their time on the mountain before making their summit attempt this morning. Conditions were very nice this morning on the upper mountain. A cloud deck sits below Camp Muir around 9,000'. Today's team will return to Camp Muir and then continue down to Paradise and Rainier BaseCamp where they were complete their program with a team celebration.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
June 10, 2016
Posted by: Seth Waterfall, Nick Hunt
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 11,100'
The
Four Day Summit Climb team led by RMI Guides Seth Waterfall and Nick Hunt were unable to reach the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. The teams turned back at Ingraham Flats this morning.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall called from Camp Muir shortly after 7 am, reporting 8-10” of fresh snow at the Ingraham Flats and very cold temps. Both Summit Climb teams have begun their descent from Camp Muir to Paradise.
June 6, 2016
Posted by: Seth Waterfall, Nick Hunt
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
The
Four Day Summit Climb led by
RMI Guides Seth Waterfall and Nick Hut reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. The team reported clear skies and great climbing conditions. They were able to some time on top enjoying the views before starting their descent.
Congratulations to today's teams!
May 22, 2016
Posted by: Casey Grom, Nick Hunt
Categories:
Elevation: 14,410'
The
Four Day Summit Climb teams were approaching Mt. Rainier's crater rim at 7:30 am.
RMI Guide Casey Grom reported clear skies, cold temperatures and very little wind on their summit climb today. The cloud deck is around 9,500' and its beautiful above. The teams left the crater rim just before 9 am to return to Camp Muir. They will continue down to Paradise later today.
Congratulations to today's climbing teams!
The
Four Day Summit Climb teams lead by
RMI Guides Elias de Andres Martos and Nick Hunt reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning under clear skies and nice conditions. The teams began their descent from the crater rim shortly after 9 am en route to Camp Muir. The teams will rest and re-pack then start their descent to Paradise.
We look forward to seeing them at Rainier BaseCamp later today.
Congratulations to today's Summit Climb teams!
January 16, 2016
Posted by: Adam Knoff, Nick Hunt
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Elevation: 20,561'
Summit day on Chimborazo. Not only were our bodies still recovering from the two previous big climbs of Cayambe and Antisana, we saved the trickiest and tallest climb for last. Towering over the surrounding landscape at 20,700ft, Chimborazo was our final objective. And boy, did it deliver!
Even in the best conditions, this peak isn't an easy target. But coupled with uncharacteristically dry season this year, this climb proved to be the most physically and mentally demanding of the trip.
We hiked up yesterday to our High Camp at around 17,500', made some dinner, and hit the sack. Our climb this morning began with our 11pm alarms waking us from our sleep. After tidying up camp, slamming some calories, and chugging some coffee, we pointed our tired feet uphill towards the summit.
The climb began with about an hour and a half of walking on trail, exposed ridges, and a couple of 5th class climbing moves. As the trail steepened, we cramponed up and prepared to hit the glacier.
Because of the dry spell Ecuador has been experiencing, the glacier was a challenging beast! Steep, firm, icy, exposed. Perfect footwork was required for the entire ascent, but our team delivered! From challenging cramponing to sections of pitched-out steep ice, this team persevered and tackled everything that crossed their paths. After a grueling 7.5 hours, we reached the Veintemilla summit at 20,561', 30 minutes later we had turned tail and began the descent.
The steep ice and exposure made the descent as difficult as the ascent, but the team kept their heads in the game and we made it safely back to high camp by 2pm. Our porters had already packed up camp for us, making it easy for us to continue on our final descent back to the bus.
The (thoroughly exhausted yet happy) team is now back at Estrella de Chimborazo, enjoying some much earned beverages, and reminiscing about these crazy last two weeks. It's hard to believe we're heading back to the big city tomorrow and flying home!
We will have one more update for you guys tomorrow, but we'll all be home to tell you more stories firsthand before you know it!
Until tomorrow,
RMI Guides Nick Hunt and Adam Knoff
January 15, 2016
Posted by: Adam Knoff, Nick Hunt
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Elevation: 17,500'
Hey Everyone,
We woke this morning and had a great breakfast. After we were well nourished we decided to brush up on our crevasse rescue skills. This afternoon we packed up and headed for the
Chimborazo Reserve, from there it was a three hour hike to 17,500' where camp was set up for us. The team is doing great we had a great dinner and now it's off to bed, for an alpine start awaits us. The summit of Chimborazo beckons...Wish us luck!
RMI Guide
Adam Knoff & Team
January 15, 2016
Posted by: Adam Knoff, Nick Hunt
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Elevation: 13,123'
Today we awoke with the same tired bodies we experienced after climbing
Cayambe but this time there was no packing up bags preparing for a walk to the bus. Here at Guaytala they prepared us a great breakfast, had hot showers and gave us free range over the espresso machine which helped shake out the cob webs more than anything. At 10:30 Victor arrived and we loaded our luggage once again into the magic bus for our final migration to Ecuador's tallest mountain,
Chimborazo.
Six hours after leaving the foot hills of Antisana, we arrived at La Estrella De Chimborazo, "the star of Chimborazo". Here we definitely saved the best for last. It was agreed that no other hotel or hacienda has displayed such forethought in its layout, architecture and decorating. This place is made for climbers. With pictures of
Chimborazo on almost every wall and a literal museum of climbing photos and old equipment hanging from every rafter, we can't help but to be inspired to push ourselves one last time into the high alpine in an attempt to make history of our own.
We are all feeling tired from two big climbs but ready for one final go. The weather had been great and most other things have gone as planned. Wish us luck as we move to high camp tomorrow. Adios for now.
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
January 14, 2016
Posted by: Adam Knoff, Nick Hunt
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Elevation: 18,000'
Post
Antisana. Hmmmm? It is hard to put into words how a body feels after running full speed ahead for 36 hours without sleep. I take that back, we did close our eyes from 7 to 10 pm last night but if you asked anyone to tell you about their dreams they will half heatedly recount how their tent partner and the thought of eating instant oatmeal at 10:30 pm was more of a nightmare. So sleep was hard to come by.
Once "awake", we forced down what calories we could and loaded our climbing kits into the jeeps. From base camp it was a 20-minute 4x4 trail to the starting point. Like all the other mountains down here the first hour starts with a dirt trail before gaining the toe of the glacier. We all did so about 1am and despite this being our second big climb in a row, everyone showed good spirit and stamina.
For the next three hours we crossed spectacular crevasse bridges, cramponed up steep pitches and weaved through giant ice features.
At 18,000 feet, we took a break to search out the final piece of the route finding puzzle which ended at the summit ridge. Once the ridge is gained it is a straight forward climb to the top. Unfortunately there was nothing straight forward about the terrain from our position to the ridge. With a mandatory 55-degree slope exposed to a crevasse below and having very tricky snow conditions, the risk of taking our team into that terrain was just too high. So it was here I decided to turn the climb around. The good news was, up to that point everybody climbed really well and said unanimously that
Antisana was one of the coolest mountains they have ever been on.
After a safe descent we rested at camp for a couple hours then took the magic bus to a hacienda for some much needed food, beer and rest.
Tomorrow we are off to our final and most challenging mountain,
Chimborazo.
Stay tuned for the next chapter.
Adam and team wishing all of our loved ones back home big hugs. We can't wait to come home and see you.
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
Yay!! Huge congrats to Gregg, Kacey, Ron, Brad, and Ryan for reaching the summit on your second attempt! Wish I could’ve been with you this time around. So proud of my fellow Portland State U alumni!!
Posted by: Charlotte W. on 7/12/2016 at 2:19 am
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