Entries By tyler reid

Wanting to make the best of our closing weather window, I managed to convince our team to forego our rest day today and go for our third summit in three days, Villarrica. Our alpine start began with a three-hour drive, arriving at a socked-in trailhead. Was this a good idea? It didn’t seem like it until the early afternoon when we popped above the clouds. The mental fatigue of skinning in a whiteout gave way to nice views and general alpine enjoyment, even as the wind increased. We tagged the top, peered into the active crater, and 5,500 feet later were drinking beer in the parking lot. Tomorrow the storm arrives, and we rest.

RMI Guide Tyler Reid

Today we returned to Lonquimay for redemption! Our team summited in perfect weather with views of eight volcanoes to the north and south. Skiing conditions off the top were perfection. Now we are getting ready for one of the most important events of this trip: Sergio’s famous asado.

RMI Guide Tyler Reid

This morning we awoke to flapping tent fabric and snow blowing all over the place. Not what the forecast predicted. So we dragged our feet and sipped our coffee slowly. Our “alpine start” consisted of skinning out of camp at 10am. It was a battle with the wind for the first couple hours but things got better as we got higher. As the terrain steepened, we put our skis on our backs and cramponed up steep, styrofoam snow. Avoiding the evil ice patches was the name of the game, but as we got higher the permanent ice formations were unavoidable. The summit of Llaima is one of the worst optical illusions I’ve ever experienced, and today was no different. It just doesn’t get any closer, despite seeming close. On top we took some pictures and tripped out on the super young lava rock, some of which is less than 10 years old! The skiing was not good until a couple thousand feet lower - and then, it was really good. Another amazing day in Araucanía.

RMI Guide Tyler Reid

Yesterday we had a great ski tour on Lonquimay, climbing above the clouds. We didn’t quite make the summit due to avalanche conditions that had formed overnight with steady wind loading on the face we were hoping to ski. But we might try again later in the week. For now we’re headed out the door for Llaima!

Stay tuned, and photos to come…

RMI Guide Tyler Reid

Greetings from our camp on Llaima. We’re nicely nestled in at 7,000’ and the weather is beautiful. The winds are mellowing out and we’re looking forward to what is supposed to be a nice day tomorrow. Today was a fun adventure getting here including two hours of exciting four-wheel drive roads. This afternoon we went for a little scenic tour above camp and got some amazing views of the surrounding volcanoes. All is great with us…

RMI Guide Tyler Reid

Hola Amigos,

We had a nice day of sunny powder skiing as our reintroduction to ski season. A meter and a half of new snow has fallen in the last couple weeks and the coverage is excellent. We took advantage of the spinning chairlifts today and got eight laps in, with the company of our host Sergio, and a small fox. Only one person fell off the chairlift today! (from a low altitude). And he will be hearing about it for the rest of the trip.

RMI Guide Tyler Reid

Greetings from Temuco, Chile! The whole crew has arrived after traveling from Washington State, New Mexico, Illinois, and all the way from Sydney, Australia. All is well and we are excited to go skiing tomorrow. Stay tuned…

Cheers,
RMI Guide Tyler Reid

The Mt. Rainier Summit Climb teams, led by Pete Van Deventer and Tyler Reid, reached the summit this morning!  The guides reported the weather is perfect with no wind and a cloud deck around 7,500’.  Both teams began their descent around 7:45 a.m.

Congratulations to today summit climb teams!

The Four Day Summit Climb June 14 - 17 Teams were turned back by poor weather this morning.  RMI Guide Brent Okita reported that the teams climbed to 11,000’ feet before high winds, snow and poor visibility forced them to retreat to Camp Muir.  The teams will descend to Paradise and then Rainier BaseCamp later this morning.

RMI Guide Ty Reid and the summit climb team were approaching the true summit of Mt. Rainier, Columbia Crest, at 6:20 a.m.  The weather is warm and not smoky above 12,500’.  By 8:35 a.m. the team was at the top of Disappointment Cleaver on their descent.

Congratulations to the summit climb teams!