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The Four Day Climb August 7 - 10 led by RMI Guides Dustin Wittmier and Avery Parrinello reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning around 6:30 am PT. The team enjoyed a light breeze and good visibility under an overcast sky. They spent time crossing the crater to reach Columbia Crest, the highest point on Mt. Rainier and in Washington. After taking all the photos and enjoying the views, the team left the crater rim just after 8 am PT. They will travel 4.5 miles and 4,500' retracing their steps from early this morning to return to Camp Muir. Once they have removed their glacier travel gear and repacked their backpacks, they will continue another 4.5 miles and 4,500' back to Paradise.
Nice work today team! Congratulations!
The entire team arrived safely in Mendoza with all our gear (almost). One delayed bag should be arriving tomorrow in Mendoza.
It is after midnight here and we just returned to the hotel after our first team dinner. We had a great meal enjoying the local flavors of Malbec and of course some Argentinian beef. We were busy all day with everyone's arrival and our first team meeting. We are now just finishing the day.
Everyone is excited to start the trip and is looking forward to get closer to the big mountain.
Cheers
Gabi, Pete and Gilbert
Today was a well-timed rest day. Following our recent daily pattern, it was sunny and calm in the morning and snowing and socked in by noon. The team took the chance to wash up and get clean during the sunny hours, and then hunkered down within the tents for the afternoon. The much talked about
Everest Basecamp WiFi hotspots and 3G cell coverage have both been dysfunctional in the extreme of late, bringing the teams back virtually to the 1990's in terms of connectivity... roughing it. Yesterday was a very popular day for Puja ceremonies and so the drab moraine rubble we call home was transformed by a vast spiderweb of interconnected colorful prayer flags streaming from the numerous chortens. Tomorrow, our Sherpa team is geared up for a carry to Camp II while the climbers have a conditioning hike to Kalapathar in mind.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Dress Rehearsal Day. We were up at 4 AM, breakfasting by 4:15 and throwing on our packs about an hour later. By the time we were getting our crampons on, it was just lit enough that we no longer needed the headlights. The goal today was a "practice run" up to the midway point of the
Khumbu Icefall route. We were lucky in that there was very little traffic on the route this morning. Blame that on the New Year's observances, I suppose, but it all worked well for us. We moved up through the "first ladders" area and then up the steep and airy "popcorn" section. The word last week was that the route had initially been established with only one ladder... but without a doubt we went up and over at least fifteen ladders to the halfway mark. The glacier is on the move, with the route consequently changing a little every day. We had a quick snack in the morning shadows at the "Dum" short for the "gear dump" which used to be a halfway camp and or gear staging area in the mid point of the Icefall. Then it was down... carefully, since every cramponed boot needed to be placed exactly to avoid drop offs and crevasses. We did quick arm rappels down one little ice wall after another until we were able to get down below the first ladders and out of the zone where we were endangered by ice over our heads and voids under our feet. Life got better then. We were back to
Basecamp for lunch and afternoon naps.
In the afternoon, the sky clouded up and it appeared to be snowing on the upper halves of all the big peaks. At three I went to the first meeting of team leaders. It was something of a reunion since everybody there was an
Everest repeat offender. We tried to hammer out a few details about radio frequencies and placements for rescue gear, among other things.
It turned into a good afternoon for hiding in tents, but that was fine. We did good outside work in the morning.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
An easy day for the climbing team at Basecamp... Those without coughs went on big hikes, those with coughs went on lesser walks. By contrast, our Sherpa team went for a much more significant and ambitious journey. Tshering, Gylgen and Kaji carried loads from ABC all the way to the
South Col, establishing high camp at close to 26,000 ft. They then returned to ABC, and now, in late afternoon, along with Lam Babu and Yubaraj, they are descending to Basecamp. That is what we call a big day in the
Himalaya.
Unfortunately, there is a somber feeling once again around the mountain. Another tragic fall occurred yesterday, killing a climber on the
Lhotse Face. It isn't our place to divulge details and I don't wish to try to sensationalize
Everest climbing by exploiting such sadness, but I'll mention the incident in order to give proper credit to those who worked hard to make a bad situation better. Lam Babu was one of those who rushed up to the scene to render aid and who helped with the difficult job of retrieving the victim's body which they then transported to ABC. Today, a helicopter pilot finished the job with another daring high altitude retrieval from 21,300 ft... making what was once phenomenal seem sadly routine, but in the process saving many climbers from the very difficult and dangerous task of carrying the victim down through the
Khumbu Icefall.
Tonight, our entire team will be together and safe in Basecamp.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
RMI Guides
Brent Okita and
J.J. Justman are leading the Expedition Skills Seminar - Muir this week. The team hiked to
Camp Muir on Monday and has spent several days training at the 10,060' camp. Today the team is receiving instruction on crevasse rescue techniques. The weather has been clear with warm temperatures. We hope the weather holds for their summit attempt tonight.
Good luck to the team!
RMI Guide Jeff Martin called from Mweka Camp (10,000') after the team's summit day.
The entire team reached the summit of
Kilimanjaro today in great style. They left Barafu Camp after midnight with their headlamps lighting the way and reached the "Roof of Africa" as the day broke over Tanzania. After a quick celebration on top the team began their descent back to high camp where they were greeted with drinks and breakfast. They continued down to Mweka Camp and the thick air of 10,000' tired but in great spirits.
Congratulations to the team!
On The Map
Hello from Karanga Camp,
The team is doing great and we are happily nestled in at
Karanga Camp. The weather has been having a hard time making up it's mind the last few days, and today was no different. The mornings start out clear, but by mid-afternoon, the clouds roll in and stay around until dinner, and then it clears out again. Fortunately, there has not been much rain and the trail conditions have been great.
This morning when we got up, every trekker in camp was looking up at the Barranco Wall. It would be hard to miss this almost 1,000' wall rising up towards the sky, but it is when you see the first few porters working their way up the trail is when you really take notice. You can hear the nearby groups talking about the Wall followed by "we have to climb up that". The vantage point from camp makes the trail appear to be near vertical, but once you start the climb, it is very straightforward trail. In fact, most find it a lot fun and our group cruised right up it.
With most of the elevation gain for the day done while climbing the Barranco Wall, it was easy hiking the rest of the way to camp. We had a spaghetti lunch waiting for us when we arrived and then spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing. Now it's time for popcorn and tea.
We are all excited to be moving up to our high camp tomorrow and will check in from there.
RMI Guide Jeff Martin & Team Simba Sita
On The Map
A huge congratulations to this team for completing the
Everest Base Camp Trek and Lobuche climb today. This has been an amazing and challenging expedition. We have seen the cutest red cheeked children, the world's highest mountains, and some good looking chocolate cake slices. We are fortunate to have embarked on this adventure and learned more about the world, one another, and ourselves.
As we pulled into Lukla this evening, after many miles and long days, I realized how grateful I am for the positive energy of this team and the Nepali people who supported us along the way. We passed Zopkeos and porters with huge loads on their backs all working to make the trekker's and climber's experiences more enjoyable with coca cola, clean towels, and so much more. Sometimes people come to Nepal for the mountains, but the generosity and hospitality of the Nepali people is what everyone remembers.
RMI Guide Christina Dale
Tashi Delek! All is well here in
Namche Bazaar. We're having a great time so far on the trek into base camp. This morning we slept in a little bit and had a nice long breakfast. After that we hit the trail for an acclimatization hike to the villages of Khumjung and Kunde.
Khumjung is the home of one of the Hillary schools and kids from all over the area walk there every day to attend class. The villages all looked nice and tidy as the fields have all been freshly tilled and the yaks are all gone up the valley carrying gear for the
expeditions.
We were able to catch a couple of glimpses of Lhotse and Nuptse but
Everest was in the clouds all day. That was OK though as Ama Dablam and Thomserku were out and looking very proud.
The team members are all doing well and are getting progressively more psyched as we head up the valley. Tomorrow we will spend another day in Namche acclimatizing before we move on.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
On The Map
Way to go team! My son Nick was part of this group and everyone is glad they reached the summit safely.
Great work guides!
Posted by: Mike Vovakes on 8/10/2021 at 10:15 am
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