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Well, some snoring happened last night.  Not light cute, cuddly snoring but the real deal.  It was coming directly from the top bunk next to mine so I now have a nice visual of what a grown man looks like when running a chainsaw with his throat.   Add to that the fun fuzzy feelings of our first night at real altitude and I think it is safe to say most of the team did not experience their best night.   

By 6 am most of us were beginning to put motion to our already awake bodies which is never easy at this height.  With a few throbbing headaches everyone was in some way experiencing a mild hangover.   This is not out of the ordinary.   

After a beautiful hike around the hut which was blessed with clear and stunning views of our summit, Antisana and Cotopaxi, the aftermath of snoring and altitude began to fade.  It is common for this mountain to sock in and get rainy by 1 pm so we all motivated in good style preparing for training session on the glacier 1,200 feet above the hut.   By 8:15 we were on the move enjoying beautiful weather and vistas.  One hour later we were putting on harnesses, crampons and helmets at 16,000 feet.  

It is clear everyone on this team has climbed in the past because going through self arrest, rope travel and cramponing on steep ice was akin to getting back on the bike.  Hannah, Jaime and I just gave a little shove and off they went, making it all look easy.  

Like clockwork the rain came in at 12:30 and we descended back to the rough accommodations of soup, cheese and crackers and hot tea.  I can certainly think of worse places to be.   After snacks we rested for a couple hours and then had dinner at 5 pm.  

As I finish this entry, the moon has begun shining through our window, the team is tucked away in bed and the Super Bowl just kicked off.  Our alarms go off at 11 pm tonight giving us a midnight departure on our first big mountain summit attempt.  Cayambe is 5 feet short of 19,000 feet so we have a big day ahead of us.  

We will give the report tomorrow after the climb.  Enjoy super bowl Sunday! 

RMI Guide Adam Knoff

A hot shower... Cotton clothes... Chairs with backs... An appetite... Easy temperatures... Brain temporarily free of Icefall fixation... Must be rest day #1. Still decompressing from the last week on high and not yet laser-focused on the coming week, which will be higher still. I am tempted to call the past week a good one, since we each came down healthy and with some clarity and confidence as to what will be next, but to be honest, it was a tough week in several ways. While things went as planned for Sara, in that she got stronger and more acclimated with each day of the past rotation, that wasn't the case for her Dad. Bill, although strong and fit, was hitting some sort of personal limit in living at Advanced Basecamp and venturing to around 22,000 ft. Ultimately, we chose to get Sara the experience she needed on the Lhotse Face while her Dad stayed below. We knew eventually that we'd need to reformulate a plan for going ahead with the expedition. Sara did climb well and strong with me to 23,000 ft a few days back. She didn't seem particularly fazed by the massive exposure and steep angles. She did a good job dealing with the distraction of other climbers (mostly Sherpas going fast up or fast down) needing to pass on the fixed ropes and a single set of steps chiseled in the ice. She didn't seem any more bothered than I was by the novelty of two helicopters hovering a few hundred meters away on some rumored film project. Sara kept concentrating on clipping her safety gear past anchors and on setting her crampons securely and on breathing steadily with each new step even though she knew a medical emergency had taken a man's life just the day before on these same ropes and in these same footsteps. Many of the Sherpas and guides we met and spoke with had some involvement in trying to mitigate the sad circumstances of the day before and it was impossible to be so high on the world's fourth highest mountain without dealing with some heavy and sad thoughts on mortality. This was balanced by the incredible beauty and expanding horizons we were granted as we climbed higher... Everest, our next door neighbor for now, just kept getting more magnificent... Until it developed a bad case of snowclouds, as did Lhotse. Although we were in view of the first tents of Camp 3, which would have made a fine goal for the day, it seemed best to turn and get a little experience descending the steep face with a little less snowfall and associated sluffs streaming down the face. At our highpoint, I pulled my GPS from a pocket and we established that Sara had just crushed her previous altitude record from her climb of Aconcagua several years back. We "arm rappelled" back down the face and tiptoed on crampon points to get across the steep bergschrund at it's base. Then on easy angled glacier again, we made excellent time down to where Bill and Linden had come out to meet us above ABC. Yesterday morning we dodged a few more snow squalls and dodgy snow bridges and we even spied a spectacular avalanche off the side of Nuptse during our journey from ABC to Everest Base Camp. It all seemed eventful and a little crazy and excessive, to be honest. Lam Babu and Uberaj joined us for the walk to Base Camp and Kaji and Dawa went all the way up to ABC with heavy loads and still caught us before we exited the Khumbu Ice fall on the way down. Tcherring and Tuck were in camp to greet us with smiles and handshakes and... even better, Kumar greeted us with lunch. We were tired but quite happy to be down. Today, we sat together and developed that new game plan for the coming weeks. Bill won't climb up with us on these next rounds... he won't go for the summit and Sara will. It isn't what we wanted going into this expedition, but it seems like the smart plan under the circumstances. Bill will write of his thoughts on the matter in coming days. Best, RMI Guide Dave Hahn

Hello! And we are going up! After another rest day at Ama Dablam Base Camp, all is packed and ready and we are starting our summit bid. We know that the winds are forecasted to be strong, so it is going to be a toss up. But we continue to see blue skies every day, so we're going to do what's common in these cases, "prepare for the worst and hope for the best." Stay tuned for our progress up high! RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos

Our winds have been quite manageable today with occasional gusts, but overall very pleasant. We are resting here at Camp 1, getting used to the altitude before carrying up to Camp 2, the Guanacos Camp, to make a cache for our future move. The team took a short walk to stretch the legs and now are enjoying a siesta before dinner. Buenas Tardes, RMI Guide Jake Beren

We just had our first team dinner here in Temuco, Chile. Everyone made it today despite various fight delays and the standard rigamarole of crossing continents, hemispheres and time zones. It’s snowing in the mountains and we might just get to ski some powder tomorrow... but first we sleep. RMI Guide Tyler Reid and the Chile Ski Team

Our Four and Five Day Summit Climb Teams reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer and Win Whittaker reported clear skies above 7000' and winds at about 40mph. They have started their descent and are now en route back to Camp Muir. Congratulations to today's teams!

RMI guide Elías de Andrés-Martos and office member Bridget Schletty returned last fall from a 5-week expedition the Himalaya, completing and exploratory climb of Kyajo Ri as well as climbing Ama Dablam. By Bridget Schletty We headed to Nepal in early October with the intention of climbing and exploring in the Khumbu region. In this, our 4th trip to the highest mountain range in the world, our objectives weren’t going to be any of the 8,000m peaks in the range, but smaller peaks in the 6,000m vicinity, focusing more on the style we used to climb them. Our trip started with an exploratory trek to the base of the Mahalangur Himal, a subrange that encompasses Cho Oyu, and that contains a few unclimbed peaks we wanted to check out for a potential future climb. Reaching the rarely frequented southern base camp of Cho Oyu, the 6th tallest mountain in the world, provided great acclimatization, and spending several days in this secluded area was an incomparable experience. After breathing the thin air, looking at the Tibetan border, photographing wild yaks, and circumnavigating alpine lakes at 18,000ft, our time was up; we were ready for our first climbing objective: Kyajo Ri, which rises to 20,295’ between the trekking routes to Gokyo and Thame. We headed to the Kyajo Dranka, a valley between the renowned Cholatse Peak and the Rolwaling mountains. We did not see a single soul, save our team of porters, from the moment we left the standard trail between Namche and the presumed Base Camp around 14,400ft. At that point, we waved goodbye to them as well, pitched a tent and spent the night; the next morning we’d start our one-push climb of this remote peak. While we were focused on attempting this peak in alpine style (only the stuff we could carry in our packs, climbing straight up without doing carries or fixing any of the route), it turned out that the discoveries of beauty along the 4-day push to the summit were the true reward. We did climb an incredible, steep ridgeline guarded by a few technical pitches of rock and mixed terrain, but the hanging glacial lakes, the vertical rock walls protecting the access to the valleys, and the solitude we encountered were more captivating than our success in style and technique. With this objective tackled, we could have headed home satisfied with our climbing ambitions; however, we had laid eyes on another peak on previous expeditions, often recognized as the most beautiful peak in the Khumbu: Ama Dablam (“The Mother’s Jewel Box”), a 22,349-ft tower of rock, snow, and ice. Perfectly acclimatized now, we were charged up to try and move as quickly as we could. With a few days rest in Namche Bazaar, we had 2 days to make it to BC. Once there, we corroborated the weather forecast, and with no extra time to hang out, we had to start climbing and use the following 3 days to go up. Steep and involved from just a few hours out of Base Camp, the route only seems to be more impenetrable as you move up it. Making it to C1 proved to be a heads-up as to why this mountain is only successfully summited by less than 25% of the people who try it. Focusing on our plan, we settled in for the night, knowing the most difficult terrain lay ahead. An early start the next morning was mandatory; getting stuffed along the fixed terrain near the Yellow Tower could be a drag, and arriving there with no space to pitch a tent, a nightmare. Despite being the first party to arrive at this iconic landmark, with only 6 or 7 feasible tent spots, it was disheartening to find other teams had already claimed the prime real estate during previous carries. Luckily our minimalist style had us travelling with a small Bibler tent, which we made fit on the only remaining spindrift, a good portion of which was sticking out over the almost 5,000' cliff of the SW face. Clearly we had no choice but to spend the least amount of time possible there. We decided to forego Camp 3 and attempt the summit that very night, from Camp 2. A 9pm wake-up was delayed by high winds, but by 11:45pm, we were on the move. Ascending through mixed terrain (nearly vertical snow slopes and incredibly exposed rock traverses) proved to be demanding and involved. Fixed lines protected the exposed terrain which allowed us to push the pace to stay on schedule, moving as quickly as we could. By 4am we reached Camp 3 to the amazed, yet encouraging eyes of the team that, at that time, was preparing to depart. “Where are you coming from?” asked one climber. “Camp 2,” Elías responded. “You continuing up?” “Yes!” At that point, the high winds that had delayed our departure came back with a vengeance, and the most bitterly cold temps we’ve ever experienced convinced me to stay put, keep all my fingers and toes, and allow Elías to have a quick crack at the summit. (It would only be “a few hours.”) Benefitting from the ultimate gesture of Sherpa hospitality, I was welcomed into a small frosty tent, where 5 local climbing guides were sipping their last cup of warm milk and eating handfuls of champa (roasted barley grits) before departing for their summit bid. There was something a bit surreal about being handed a hot beverage from strangers in puffy down suits and 8,000-m boots at 4AM and dozing off to the comforting aroma of incense burning over a tiny camp stove. Just as the sun hit the tent, a voice woke me up from my slumber. Elías was back from the summit, urging me to grab gear and continue down; accomplished but tired, he was eager to return to the comforts of lower elevations. An uneventful but quick descent took us to Camp 2, with enough time to continue farther down. After a 16 hour day, Elías had gone from Camp 2 to the summit (foregoing C3) and all the way down to C1. Perhaps it was the promise of chocolate cake and a real bed that kept us speeding along towards the finish line! Three days later, we reached the Lukla airstrip, where the adventures had begun 5 weeks before. Following the obligatory “duffle shuffle” day back in Kathmandu, we arranged to spend our last day in Nepal volunteering with TRIFC, an NGO based in Bellevue, WA. This group focuses on children with disabilities. We gathered with an eager group of blind children and adults at the climbing gym in the central tourist district of Thamel. The morning was filled with encouraging cheers, lighthearted giggles, and proud smiles, as we coached our excited athletes up and down the wall. After a pleasant group meal, in which many of our assumptions about physical limits were restructured, we were shuttled to a home and rehab center for physically impaired youth. There were, no doubt, plenty of signs of adversity: cracks in the walls from the recent earthquakes, transportation complications, and the social stigma and financial struggles that families with disabled children face in Nepal. Yet spirits were high as we witnessed how well these children had learned to cope despite the odds being against them. Prosthetic limbs and other physical deformities didn’t keep any of these youngsters from going to school, playing their favorite sports, doing household chores, and even hosting a dance performance for us! We will strive to hold these memories close the next time we find ourselves wallowing in self-pity high on a frozen mountain. We are so fortunate to be able to push our bodies to their limit and venture into the serenity of remote Himalayan regions – and to do so among people who welcome visitors with open hearts and doors. _____ Bridget Schletty and Elias de Andres Martos are a husband and wife climbing team. Elias guides worldwide from the Himalaya to Peru for RMI Expeditions, and Bridget spends the summers helping out climbers in the front office of RMI. This was their fourth expedition to the Himalaya, with previous expeditions including a successful climb of Shishapangma. Elias will be guiding an expedition to Kyajo Ri this fall! They call Ridgeway, CO home when they aren't traveling the world.

Saturday, July 13th, 2013 2:30 am PST Hey this is Dave Hahn with RMI's Denali team, the last one of the season. I'm on the summit of Denali, 20,320', on one of the more magical days that I can remember up here in 30 expeditions. It's really worked out great. We teamed up with some of our good friends from Alaska Mountaineering School and Alpine Ascents International. Great to be up here with good climbers and, like I say, just the most spectacular day. We stepped onto the top at 6:40 PM, and we'll stay up here for a while. It's very comfortable. There is maybe a one and a half mile an hour breeze and massive sun. Clouds are probably about 10,000' feet under us. We will get back to you when we get back to camp. We wanted to let you know that we got extremely lucky. Bye now. Sunday, July 14th, 2013 8:00 pm PST This is Dave Hahn calling from High Camp. We got back from the summit, no problem. We spent about an hour up there, altogether. I figure it took us about 13 hours and 15 minutes round trip. We left at 10:20 this morning and we got back about 11:35 this evening. Can't do a written dispatch; it's 1:30 now. After doing dinner and filling everybody's water bottles and all the normal chores for getting us in the bed. But we'll catch you up on the story in the next few days. The long days continue. This one was spotless weather but very long day. Tomorrow promises to be one as well going down the month. We'll catch up, and let you know how things are going. Thanks. RMI Guide Dave Hahn

On The Map

Hey everybody, this is Casey from RMI checking in from the Cotopaxi Express Ascent. We are currently on the summit of Cotopaxi with everyone! We are 100% today. It was a tough climb and took just over 7 and a half hours. A little bit of new snow, definitely some slow going. Everyone did fantastic. Not too much of a view right now. We're actually up here in the clouds and can’t really see much other than our little faces. Everybody is doing well. Our plan is to take a few photos up here and then start back to the hut. We will check in a little later on today. RMI Guide Casey Grom

Saturday June 4, 2022 6:22pm PT

Today we have our first birthday of the trip! Happy Birthday Cris! To celebrate we woke up early to a speedy breakfast of Honey Nut Cheerios. We planned to walk at 8:30 am, but with such cold temperatures this morning we pushed that back and hour and stayed warm in our tents. Once the sun finally hit 14,000’ camp around 9:30 am we began our journey towards the fixed lines. Running through all the gambit of temperatures we made it to the top of the fixed lines, at 16,200', where we decided to cache our personal and group food for the day. After taking a snack, and water break we made our way back downhill. We rolled back into 14,000’ camp, where it is now lightly snowing, and crawled into our tents.

Tonight, will be a mellow evening of Ramen, and prepping for a few much needed days of rest at 14 camp. The team did great, and we are set up well!

RMI Guides Nikki, Taylor, Emma, and Team!