The Dhaulagiri team called the RMI Office this morning to check-in. Here is a summary of our conversation:
First and foremost, everyone is healthy and in good spirits. The weather forecast is calling for more of the same—gorgeous, clear mornings followed by afternoon snowstorms. They are refusing to let the plethora of new snow dampen their spirits. A new team has arrived at base camp and everyone is enjoying the new company. The team is getting ready to head to bed for the night. In the morning they will begin heading uphill to get into position for their summit attempt.
The team sends their love to everyone following along! They will keep us posted on their upward progress.
Hi everyone, this is JJ Justman with the Everest climbing team, sitting here at base camp another day. It is the evening, right around 8 o'clock. We just finished another great dinner prepared by our sous chef. Today we had a really great day. It was our second day of training in the Icefall. We set up a nice obstacle course and got everyone familiar with some of the ups and downs and the crosses of what the Khumbu Icefall is going to entail. Everyone's doing really well. It's nice to have some practice on some fairly solid ground before we get to the real thing. Everyone just did a tremendous job. It's really good to see great teamwork. Tomorrow we have some more teamwork with everyone- Sherpas, kitchen staff, climbing team members, Jeff [Martin] and Mark Tucker, our base camp manager. We are having our puja tomorow. That's a nice little ceremony before we actually head up onto the mountain. We'll tell you a little bit more about the puja tomorrow. Everyone's doing well. It's a beautiful night here. We're going to play a little poker, some chess and have another great evening here at Everest Base Camp. Take care everyone. Thanks for following along. Ciao.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
RMI Guide JJ Justman calls in from Everest Base Camp.
Hello JJ ....espero que todo bien en esta nueva expedicion ¡¡¡ un gran abrazo desde Tu otro hogar aca en la bella Mendoza¡¡¡ Cuidate bol….... you know¡¡ je cuidate y exito¡¡¡
Posted by: rodrigo on 4/14/2014 at 8:39 pm
Hey Choo,
Glad to hear you are well and relaxing up on the mountain eating good food and playing poker. Really roughing it this time..LOL! Stay safe, keep the feet healthy. Keep you and your team in our prayers. Kendra
Monday, May 27, 2013
At 6:00 am few climbers are stirring, preferring to crawl out of their tents when the sun is a little closer to chasing the cold shadows of the night away. But we had a big day ahead of us, and knew we would be comfortable having breakfast and hot drinks in our Posh tent.
A skiff of snow barely covered the tents and the gear we left outside, and a few more clouds lingered around for a short while after we lit the stoves, but the sun was also out and we knew it was going to be good enough to make our carry up to 13,500'.
The crew was super quick getting ready this morning, eager, and certainly a little anxious about the climbing to come. After all, it was to be the steepest terrain we've been on. And as I suspected, everyone climbed well. A very slight breeze kept us comfortable until the last fifteen minutes when the wind stopped and things got hot. We got to our cache site at 2:00, a very respectable time by any measure. Everyone was tired but smiling and happy. The descent was just as smooth, allowing us to enjoy a few hours of well deserved R&R before dinner.
Our plan for tomorrow is to move up to 14,200' camp if we're all feeling good in the morning. Otherwise we'll take a rest day. If we do move up, we'll definitely be taking a couple of rest days there, which are key to our acclimatization to the elevation of camp.
After dinner we read all your posts! Thanks so much for the kind words and well wishes. It was another bright spot to an already good day.
Until tomorrow!
RMI Guides Brent, Logan and Leah
Hey Derek,
Mate we are all following the climb here at DAL3, steamy Darwin,Australia. All those shuttle runs paying off now!! Good luck , be safe mate.
Posted by: Gareth on 5/28/2013 at 10:53 pm
Jeff (dad)
We love reading about your day. Keep it up!
Love Kenny, Alex and Sophia
P.S. I got a hit today dad - Alex :)
Posted by: Veronica Hooper on 5/28/2013 at 10:11 pm
The Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guide Win Whittaker and the Five Day Summit Climb led by Lindsay Fixmer reached the summit of Mt. Rainier early this morning. The teams were able to spend an hour on the summit before starting their descent. At 7:00 am they were approaching the top of Disappointment Cleaver on their descent. The weather is beautiful with clear skies, warm temperatures and light winds.
Congratulations to today's summit climb teams!
Thursday, July 4, 2013RMI Guide Mike Walter checked in at 10:50 am PT from the summit of Cotopaxi. The entire team had reached the summit of Cotopaxi and was enjoying beautiful weather with scattered clouds and no wind.
The team will descend completely today and drive to the Hosteria La Cienega for a well deserved dinner and spend the night.
Congratulations to the team!
Fresh snow and deep drifts greeted us this morning as we lay in the tent listening to the wind blow. Without being able to differentiate up from down, we decided to take a rest day and stay in camp. Our job became rest and recovery, which our team much appreciated. We are hoping for better weather and a move to Camp 2 tomorrow.
We are currently sitting in Namche Bazaar high in the Khumbu sipping on milk tea at the Nirvana Home Lodge. Happy to be here after a good day of crossing high bouncing suspension bridges and climbing up the Namche hill to arrive here at 11,200 feet. Everyone in the team is doing so well and climbing strong. Halfway up our hill climb for the day, the clouds parted and we got a view of Everest way up valley. Namche was the primary trading village for hundreds of years between the salt traders of Tibet and the spice traders from India. Now Namche is still a major hub for goods and people coming and going.
Tomorrow well take a rest day with a nice morning hike to stretch the legs and the afternoon to appreciate this town. Our lodge sits high on the edge of town with the best view of all the goings on. When the clouds clear the giant peak, Thamserku, towers above everything just out our windows.
Now off to eat some momos!
RMI Guide Christina Dale
We have left the creature comforts of Moscow and are now enjoying the creature comforts of Cheget. It is nice to be in this quaint little mountain town.
Our staff here at our hotel were happy to see us once again and they prepared a celebration dinner for our arrival. Celebrating what you may ask...well, for enjoying the good life in the mountains.
After dinner we are going to go for a stroll around town and we will have some photos and video of our day tomorrow. Our plan is to hike to the summit of Peak Cheget to acclimatize.
Stay tuned...
RMI Guide J.J. Justman
Huge icefall last night off of the nearby peak called Pumori. Named by Mallory in 1921 it means sister or Daughter peak. This mountain is rarely climbed, at over 7,000 meters, it being very steep and with no way to the top without exposing yourself to loads of hanging hazards.
A perfectly clear and calm evening turned into a wild scene as I peaked out of my tent after such a rude awakening by the loud crack, as what I can only imagine were millions of tons of ice being pulverized into powder as it hits the rock and ice surface after its 1,500-foot freefall. Being so bright out with so much moon, it was pretty fun to watch this huge dust cloud come barreling at us. Just as it hit my tent I closed the flap and listened to the rattle and knew why in the morning we had this layer of snow covering our camp.
Dave, Sara, Bill and myself just returned from a hike up to Pumori Camp 1, which sits at 18,600'. And no, we were not exposing ourselves to the hazards I just mentioned, those are farther up the mountain. What we did expose ourselves to were some of the best views of Everest you can imagine. I will let Dave's pictures do the talking.
Linden, who climbed Island Peak this week, just now arrived at Basecamp, so the team is now all here.
Cheers,
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Hi, Bill. I liked your post about how this is giving you time to connect with your daughter, Ms. Ship in the Night, Soon to Grow Up and Away. We went hiking almost every weekend and summer vacation when I was growing up, and as Dave (my “little” brother) can attest to, it is an amazing and wonderful memory, one of the purest and most magical things you can give her—time together. Good luck on your climb! Say hi to David (I know, Dave to everyone else…but—glad you caught his essential Dave-ness. One foot in front of the other—you are in very good hands).
Posted by: Carolyn Hahn on 4/24/2011 at 3:42 pm
Love the blog and pictures!! I’ve read books about Everst but it is amazing to experience through your team. Bill we need your signature, and I thought it would be great to get it when you are crossing a ladder in the Icefall. Have a great time and hats off to Sara.
Hello from Everest Base Camp,
This is my first chance to take a breath here at Base Camp. If you can call it that. Breathing here is always a challenge. It is crazy to think that with all the hard work Jeff Martin put in here at base camp prior to my arrival, it was still non-stop this whole last week. However, the first big reward came today when RMI Guide Dave Hahn and company called down from Camp 1 reporting that all is well. We have the best of the best when it comes to a team of climbers. And the support we give them to make this climb a bit easier is very much a group effort from Kathmandu to the USA.
We had a wild thunder storm this afternoon with a trace of snow but the clouds have cleared and it is pretty clear now. The RMI team left Everest Base Camp at 5 a.m. this morning and made it to Camp 1 in under four hours. That is a very respectable time for the climb of almost three thousand feet. It looks like all the training paid off.
We had a nice dinner in the cook tent with the Sherpa team and I am looking forward to my favorite hot water bottle and a good night's rest.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Good luck to the team and stay safe!
Posted by: Barbara Schwarz on 5/1/2014 at 11:27 am
May The Force be with you. Your strength, will, and wisdom make an awesome contender for Mother Nature. Power on.
Posted by: nsb on 4/30/2014 at 10:29 am
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