The fog and low cloud came and went periodically at Vinson basecamp today. Most of the afternoon was sunny and pleasant and flyable... if one had an airplane. Ours have gone South. ALE has both Twin Otter ski planes down at the South Pole for the big celebration. Today -Dec. 14, 2011 (it is after midnight) marks one hundred years since Amundson reached the South Pole. A noble accomplishment, by any standard -and worth commemorating, but if given the choice I'd wager that Amundson would have tried to climb Vinson instead. Much more fun to be had out here in the big hills.
My team didn't fret a bit over the lack of aircraft. We were quite happy to sleep in and then sit for a two hour breakfast -bacon and eggs with lots of coffee and cocoa. Then there was time for siestas and snow-carving before a sumptuous dinner (same as last night -we liked it so much we did it again).
We'll likely be here a couple more days, which isn't a bad thing.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Yesterday we raced to set up our tents under the Araucaria trees as a fast moving thunderstorm approached. This morning we awoke in a thick snowy cloud. After an hour of skinning up an ever narrowing ridge, we rose above into glowing morning light and blue skies.
Last time we came to ski Sierra Nevada was five years ago and we got 95% of the way there, but ran out of time. Today, snow conditions were perfect for skinning all the way to the summit. On top we had impressive views of our neighbors, Lonquimay and Llaima. And crystal clear radio communication with Sergio at his lodge way down in the valley. Three hours later, after a highly enjoyable skiing experience, he picked us up in his Land Rover (it’s a gnarly road) with cold cervezas.
Some photos...
RMI Guide Tyler Reid
It's another beautiful day and the Four Day Climb teams are enjoying clear skies and light winds as well as a full moon last night. The teams reached the summit of Mt. Rainier around 5:30 AM. With the nice weather they enjoyed some time in the summit crater before starting their descent. The team will continue down to Paradise later this day and conclude their program with a celebration at Rainier BaseCamp.
Congratulations to all the climbers!
Hello from Ama Dablam Base Camp!
Are you unsuccessful when you don't reach the summit of one of your objectives?
Well, I think that if you have carefully prepared for it and put yourself in the best position for it, despite little odds in our favor according to the forecast, and you make the decision to head down because the one thing you can't control is totally out of control, then yes, you're successful.
It was windy when we arrived at our High Camp, it was windy throughout our short stay, and it was like a freight train when it was time to go. There's no way we could fight on the steep, cold and dangerous slopes of Ama's southeast ridge what "Eolus" had in store for us. So the only thing we could do, knowing that we had waited until the very last day, was to be smart and head down. Undefeated, because in the mountains what counts is telling the story. But sure disappointed to not to have been able to climb just a bit more.
But oh well, we're now back to the safety of our lodge at Base Camp, and we'll stay our descent tomorrow, eager for thicker air and why not, to start closing up our Himalayan adventure.
RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos
We awoke to our first real look at the Condoriri Group and it was absolutely spectacular. Crystal clear skies highlighted a couple climbing groups heading up a rolling glacier on the way toward Pequeno Alpamayo. For our group that path waits for tomorrow, so after a languorous breakfast, the team headed up to 16k to continue our acclimatization and practice the skills for the upcoming day. We managed to refresh everyone's prior knowledge and even add a technique or two to the group's toolbox. Our schooling came to a swift close as the afternoon clouds rolled in and forced us back to camp to lounge away the late afternoon and rest up for the long day ahead. Now the team is wrapped up in our tents watching the night sky clear above us!
RMI Guide Eric Frank
Hi Kim,Love the informative updates from the RMI guides.Sounds like an amazing trip!The Preds are in the Stanley Cup Finals! First game Monday against the Pittsburgh Penguins.Stay tuned.Travel safe! GO KIM! Love,Dad
Posted by: SHELDON KRIZELMAN on 5/26/2017 at 5:13 am
Hey Kimmer-sounds like an amazing trip so far! I love the blog entries-so poetic…Sophia’s last day of school is today so it’s summer party time in Atlanta!! Have fun and stay safe!! Xoxoxo Lora
The Four-Day climb led by RMI guides, Steve Gately and Devin Guffey, reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. The team enjoyed nice weather and a busy route.
The team will be back at Basecamp this evening to celebrate their success and all their hard work. Nice job team!
A long and easy day at high camp, preparing for the summit. There wasn't a breath of wind, which we are hoping will be the situation tomorrow as well. Still plenty of cloud about, although we seem to be near the top of it all. I spoke on the radio with Vinson basecamp and they seem to be down in the soup. Clouds shouldn't present any great problem for us though, as long as the predictions hold true and the calm continues. The forecast calls for -38 C tomorrow on top. It was far more comfortable than that in our tents today though. We napped, we drank water, we napped, we ate food, and we napped. Tomorrow we climb.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
RMI Guide Ben Ammon led a small group of climbers on a quick ascent of Mt. Baker via the Easton Glacier. This strong and quick team reached the summit of Mt. Baker today and made a complete descent. They have now completed their program.
Hello,
This is the Dhaulagiri Climbing Team and once again we wanted to apologize for the lack for the lack of communication, but as we said before we have been having a few problems with the satellite “sat” phone. But, right now we can send a dispatch.
We have been discovering the worst weather that we have ever witnessed. This Himalayan peak is pretty much keeping us working really, really hard. We are getting snow storms every day. The only time we have not had afternoon storms have been when we have all day storms! But, that hasn’t kept us from climbing. The last two days we have been working very hard being the only team on the mountain breaking trail to establish Camp 2. In the next few days we are going to be looking at the route between Camp 2 and Camp 3 which is one of the hardest parts of the climb. If that is a go we’ll have a summit bid.
Like I said, we have been receiving anywhere from a foot to two feet of snow every other afternoon and it has made our job hard. A couple of other teams have arrived, but they are not as ambitious to work up high yet. We are not going to quit until our plane leaves. We have a little bit less than 10 days here to make it happen. We have a really good weather forecast and will keep our fingers crossed that we are going to have a shot at it.
So if the sat phone keeps working for us we will keep you posted as much as we can. So please keep your fingers crossed for us. This is Dhaulagiri and we hope you all take care. We hope to communicate good news soon!
RMI Guide Elias deAndres Martos
The day started out sparkling and blue... A welcome change from the weather of the past week, but by early afternoon it was back to overcast and snow flurries. Word was that those trying to travel between Camp One and Two were encountering waist deep snow and that as much as another meter had fallen on C1 since we left it two days ago. It hasn't been normal in recent years to get so much snow in April, but we choose to look at things optimistically, and we hope that some of the snow sticks up high to make travel a bit safer on the Lhotse Face and on summit day above the South Col.
That is all a bit far off today though. We are still taking it easy and resting up for the next -all important- push up the mountain. (Any push up this mountain is all important to those of us doing the pushing)
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Amazing photos! Good going you guys. Enjoy the cervesas, salud, y saludos a Sergio!
Posted by: Wolf Riehle on 10/4/2019 at 9:35 pm
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